Take 2, Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

Made these today for a co-worker's birthday! Turned out pretty good...
Once again Chloe and I in the kitchen had an interesting start..
She had the hiccups the entire time. I totally started coughing and I think at one point choking (don't worry it wasn't over the food, I promise!)...and while all that was going on, someway, somehow the lid to the salt shaker wasn't on all the way...oh my. I scooped out the excess as best I could. I think it worked, cause they still tasted delicious.
We even were as bold as to do a little experimenting by adding a little milk into the batter even though the recipe didn't actually call for it. I'd say all in all it was a success.
Sorry no pictures this time. :*(

Recipe #1, Mocha Mousse

This recipe was a great way to start...super easy and all the same super tasty...However, just cause it's short doesn't mean there weren't multiple opportunities to mess it up! Thankfully, another friend, who we will call the expert chef has decided to join us! Thank goodness!! She saved us from not whipping up our egg whites enough and also from substituting unsweetened cocoa powder for hot-chocolate mix (which is why we made mocha mousse instead of fudgy brownies).
And then there's the multipe times I spilt the fluffed egg whites on the counter after the expert chef asked me if we'd rather her not give us instructions so we could make mistakes and learn from them...just as I said "yes, let us make mistakes!", I drop the egg whites! Oh my.
But most importantly Chloe (that's her alias name, I know she doesn't really like it...we will change it soon!) learned how to crack an egg and divide the yolk from the egg whites. Score one for learning at least something important today!
The result was oh so good...a little strong kick with how much coffee we put in, but delicious nonetheless! One down. Seventy Four to go.

75 Recipes, 105 Days

Yes, yes, Julie & Julia all over again...but this time it starts in my kitchen with my best friend; who if you ever saw the two of us in a kitchen cooking together, you would be scared already.
Sure the movie definately inspired our idea to work through an entire cookbook together this summer, but even more so did our experience making sushi together last summer.
After picking up Sushi for Dummies and An Idiot's Guide to Making Sushi we thought we were set...
Yeah right. I will never again take for granted wonderfully made sushi at places like Wasabi and Kenko. Never.
My best friend Chloe likes to take short-cuts...(she was really hungry at this point of washing rice, two hours into the process)..

Sushi for Dummies as read by me: "Let rice cool down completely"
Chloe: "I have an idea...let's just stick it in the freezer for a bit!"
Sushi for Dummies as read by me: "Note: Never EVER refrigerate the sushi"
And the last hour of making sushi (completing 3 hours in the kitchen) consisted of repeating that scenario with every step of the recipe.

And so what better of an idea then to teach ourselves how to become proper cooks (we may just end up being better wives someday in the process!) by working our way through a cookbook. However, since we also added working out at the gym on our summer list of things to do, we decided not to counter-act our efforts by purchasing "Cook Yourself Thin Faster: Have Your Cake and Eat It Too" for our recipes.
So here's to the begining of an early summer and learning how to cook, regardless if we ever become as good as Julia Child, or even Julie Powell.