Feast days!

Each year, each of our children contribute to the holiday season with the preparation and presentation of a special feast for the family. This year, it will be 6 feasts- since we only have six children at home. Seems like a small number to us, but plenty enough to still have a wonderful time. All year, the children are planning for the feasts, changing their minds as many times as they can until they are settled into the perfect celebration. All is done behind closed doors in the secrecy of the kitchen. Each child trying to out-serve each other. Now isn't that a wonderful thing to contemplate? We have scheduled two feasts a week. Enough to hold the winter doldrums at bay. And before any of you think that the date on my posts is somehow off- yes, I realize that there's still a tree in my house. And it is most definitely the middle of January and I have no intentions of finishing up with the holidays until the middle of February. I might be a tad behind as far as the calendar is concerned, but, as any physics professor will tell you- time as we know it is an arbitrary measurement at best.

Bekah's Feast...

Sweet Bekah, my faithful sidekick. No mother has ever had a better companion in the mundane chores of each day. She is the happiest of helpers- and a very adept one, at that. At 9 years old, I daresay that she can outcook most high school graduates. She can stir up a mean pot of gravy and soups are her specialty. She never misses a detail and can rattle off ingredients for almost anything I cook. If I am in the kitchen, she grabs an apron and is there by my side. And such a joy to have around. She is a practical little thing- no muss, no fuss. Purple is her favorite color. She loves reading more than she loves cooking- the scarier the better. She has an amazingly dry sense of humor for one so young- upon hearing the same word in as many sentences, she says, "We get the point..." rolling her eyes. Yes, I love her to pieces.

Her feast had a "fire" theme. She decorated the dining room in "flames" of red and yellow crepe paper. Her meal was a zesty compilation: Salsa(which she helped me make last summer) and chips for the appetizer. Hot wings and BBQ wings with steak fries for dinner and Coke zero with vanilla and limes to cool things down a bit. She couldn't think of a zingy dessert so she settled for Key lime pie- Jack's favorite. In fact, at the dinner table he announced that if a key lime pie were a woman, he'd marry her! Recipe follows. Her gifts were glow sticks in assorted colors- some as swords and others as fairy wands. As usual, we had to be rolled away from the table.

Key Lime Pie

One- 9" graham cracker pie shell

One- 14oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

3- egg yolks

1/2 cup- Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime juice

Combine milk, egg yolks, and lime juice.

Blend until smooth.

Pour filling into pie shell.

Bake at 350* for 15 minutes.

Let stand 10 minutes before refrigerating.

Serve with whipped cream (or Cool Whip.)