Going Non-Asian In The Kitchen

I must have been in a weird mood this week. In the last two days, I've managed to bake a cheesecake AND a chicken pie. How un-me of well, me lol!

It was my first attempt with the cheesecake. Considering neither of us are big cheesecake fans, I don't know what knocked me in the head to even want to bake one. Oh I know, I'd gone to my room mate's home and she baked one and it was awesome! She told me which cookbook she got it from and after I found it on Amazon for almost eight bucks cheaper then the local bookstore, I ordered it :) It's taken awhile since then as I only brought the hand mixer back from our Memphis trip last weekend... so I baked it Friday evening and managed to get a slice of it last night after dinner. Hmmm... it tastes much better then it looks fortunately - and the king did some research for me on why the cake cracked shortly after I removed it from the oven. .. turns out the cold draft didn't help and apparently it's practically a badge of honor for amateurs :) See, that's what cookbooks need to tell you darn it! Ok, maybe this one just wasn't the best cookbook lol! I also didn't bake it in that water bath thingy so if I ever want to attempt baking again, I might just do that. Not much more trouble after all.

One thing's for sure however. I hate the accuracy of baking. Having to measure and mix and do all this thinking is just too much for me to have a slice of bloody cake lol! But yes, to do it from scratch, I must say, certainly gives me a sense of achievement especially since the taste is pretty much spot on.

Fortunately for the chicken pie, I didn't have a recipe LOL! Well I say fortunately now only because we have yet to taste the pie. I got up this morning and decided to get it started. After all, I had all the ingredients and why have the fridge stocked up with all that stuff right? Of course, now I have the fridge packed with a cheesecake AND a chicken pie lol :) DUH!

I've made the chicken pie before and I've tasted it a gazillion times. My sister-in-law (sil) back home used to buy us over with her cooking and her mom's baking when she and my brother were dating. Boy, let me tell you, did it work lol! Eventually, my brother and her got married, I moved back to the States and she was kind enough to give me her recipe. YUM! Unfortunately for me, the recipe together with our favorite cookbooks and recipe files were lost by USPS when we shipped it over here a couple of months ago. Guess who's screwed?! :) Worst, my sil can't find her recipe either - who needs recipes now when she's already married and has two kids LOL so i decided to wing it... yup, and wing it I did!










Like I said, I have yet to try the chicken pie but I'm pretty confident it turned out alright. I mean, how wrong can I be right?! The filling was already precooked before I put it in the oven... if this turns out right, I guess I should jot it down to make sure I know exactly what I put in and how much of it or the next time will be yet another experiment. Ahhh, I'll just wing it :D