Ice Cream from Romania

This is ice cream I had in Romanian last year when I went visiting for the first time since I came to the United States. Doesn't it look pretty?

And yes, that big ice cream you see it is for just one person, not for he whole group! They had their own ice creams!

Cheesecakes MISTAKES!!

If you scroll down, you can see my first attempt at making a cheesecake. It was a total success..maybe by accident, maybe because I used Ina Garten's recipe and tips.

Now, the two cheesecakes you see above...well, people said they were very delicious, but we do see some problems going on.

• The raspberry cheesecake..well, I forgot to buy fresh raspberries from the store so I used frozen raspberries. Not a good idea! They don't hold their shape too well, as opposed to the fresh raspberries! Another thing is the color of the cheesecake itself. Again, my first attempt at making a cheesecake was successful, but every time after that, my cheesecakes cracked. There are quite a few explanations why that would happen, so I read and read and I started to bake my cheesecakes in a water bath. They never cracked again, but the New York style cheesecakes look "pale" because the cooking process is more gentle so the cheesecake doesn't "brown" anymore . I do not have this problem with the other cheesecakes I make because the batter has already "color" in it (from the chocolate, peanut butter etc).
• The chocolate-drizzled cheesecake. It is cracked not because of the baking process (when I got it out the oven it looked perfect), but because of..me! What I do 99% of the time is let the cheesecake cool completely on the kitchen counter, then wrap the pan with the cheesecake in with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight. Then, the next day I take the cheesecake out of the spring form pan.Because I was in hurry that day, I did not let the cheesecake cool enough on the kitchen counter let alone leave it in the fridge overnight, so when I got it out the springform pan it was still warm and it cracked very badly trying to get it out. Lesson learned: do not hurry things!!

Cinnamon rolls (1)

Cinnamon rolls just (before putting them in the oven)! Yet another thing I hadn't heard of until I came here! I just love them! I make them from scratch.It takes like 5 hours to make them :((, but it is definitely worth the trouble!
By the time it cross my mind to take a picture of them after they were baked and glazed, they were...gone!!

my first cheesecake!

Before I came to the United States (Nov. 2004), I had never heard of cheesecake, let alone taste one. One day,I watched Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" cooking show on FoodNetwork channel and I saw her making this cheesecake and I was amazed. I had to make it.This is my first attempt at making a cheesecake. I don't know about the looks, but it tasted soooo good!!

more dessert

cupcakes!! mhhhh!!

Another dessert that I learned how to make here!

dessert

This is an amazing Romanian dessert, called "Prajitura desteapta" ("smart cookie" the approximate translation). The dough is very liquid but when you bake it, it separates itself into 3 layers!! It is soooo good!!!

kitchen gadgets

I love my kitchen "toys"!!

Me!!

This is me and my very goofy Amazon parrot Jimmy.