Lessons learned in the kitchen, part three zillion

1. A Pasta Bowl is not a good substitute for a mixing bowl, unless you really enjoy cleaning up sloshed cheesecake filling off your microwave door and begonia.

2. Guessing at how much butter is in 2/3 cup is not as easy as looking at the wrapper on the stick of butter. It will tell you.

3. A good substitute for an electric mixer is your arm, some ibuprofen (for afterward) and a serving fork. Well, if you don't have a wisk OR a mixer that is...

4. When the good people at Jello tell you that the cheesecake filling will thicken they are SO not kidding. You could Spackle with that stuff! And "gently pour onto crust..." Yeah, who are you kidding?

5. Sometimes it helps just to have your dad on the other end of the phone, laughing along as you blunder your way through a new recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! (Or, happy Slapsgiving to all you "How I Met Your Mother Fans...")