Lemon Cheesecake: How hard could it be?

Tomorrow is David's birthday and he always requests his favorite dessert: Grandma Nylund's Lemon Cheesecake. Last year, however, he needed to settle for something else. Why? Good luck finding lemon Jello and any brand of graham crackers (or anything closely resembling either of them) in a German grocery store.

Our friend Dina and her kids came to visit last month and she asked us beforehand what she could bring us. I didn't hesitate: a box of lemon Jello, graham crackers, and evaporated milk (which they may have here, but I wasn't taking any chances). You can find the other ingredients, such as Philadelphia Cream Cheese, no problem.

The cheesecake isn't the easiest dessert to make. The jello must be dissolved and chilled, but not allow to set; the bowl, mixer blades and condensed milk must be chilled before mixing or the whole thing could fall flat; you have to remember to allow the cream cheese to soften, and the hardest part: you have to know when to stop mixing the different sets of ingredients or else the cake may lose its fluffiness. With this recipe, timing is everything. I know from experience all that can go wrong.

So, imagine me making the cake today. One false move and the cake would be toast as I only had one box of Jello. Plenty of graham crackers, but the Jello was key. Halfway through the recipe, I realized I hadn't bought enough cream cheese and I needed to walk (yes, walk) back to the store for more. In that time, the Jello set. Argh! I microwaved it to melt it back down, but then had to worry that it might be too warm and throw off the cake when I mixed everything together.

In the end, it all seemed to go together fine and now must chill in the fridge overnight. But I have to say that I haven't felt stress and panic like that in a while. The things I go through for my husband!!