chocolate

Elijah's friend, Clint, had shoulder surgery last week, a few days before his 16th birthday. He dove through a waterfall and the force of the water did the damage. Isn't that crazy?

Elijah decided to bake him a cheesecake—yes, my teenage son—I must be doing SOMETHING right.

My car was at the mechanic's, so I rode my bike to the store for his supplies. It took some clever stacking to fit everything into the basket, with the cold cream cheese packed neatly around the chocolate to keep it from melting in the intense Arizona heat.

As the old saying goes, "If you're going to spend the day baking cheesecake, make two." So I doubled the shopping list.

Okay. There's no old saying. But there should be.

Elijah's first time baking cheesecake was tied to the bullying incident I posted about last April. He has since baked a lot of pies, but not many cheesecakes. In fact, I regret not designing a little Summer of Pie keepsake book for him, cataloging the various pies he baked last summer. Truth was, his pies were always finished in the evenings, then decimated by morning. Attack of the pie people. Not ideal for photography.

This time he went for layered Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecakes with Oreo crusts. And he pulled them off perfectly. One cake went to Clint's birthday party and the other has been slowly disappearing from our fridge, one sliver at a time—it might be more fattening than bacon.

Then! Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, Elijah cleaned up the entire cheese-and-peanut-butter-coated kitchen. I had to snap a commemorative picture.

Clint is one lucky kid—though perhaps not when it comes to waterfalls.