BoomerGirl Diary

Laughing All The Way by Pat Detmer

The Pumpkin Cheesecake Flu

Lots of folks in the Seattle area got the flu for Christmas. Unfortunately, there was no way to return it, although there were plenty of ways to re-gift it. We had friends who were laid low, and sister Susie's husband didn't make Christmas Day dinner because of it.

We had a party at our house on the 19th and we served a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Since I can barely manage to make instant oatmeal without harming myself, I never considered trying to make it myself. I spent 40 bucks on it, plus another 5 to have it cut into slices. It was met with great praise at the party, but we barely ate a quarter of it. I froze the rest for Christmas Day at sister Barb's house.

Trying to maneuver a 2-story cheesecake into containers for the freezer was no picnic, and in the end it looked less like double-level pumpkin cheesecake and more like a relaxed chunky pumpkin mousse. But no matter. It was delicious, and when I slept that night, I dreamed of eating it again. On Christmas Day, only two of us sampled it: myself and hostess Barb.

The day after Christmas I ached all over and couldn't comfortably get more than two rooms away from the bathroom. I never get sick, and so I cast about for something to blame, and never mind the fact that the Puget Sound area was collectively shivering under blankets and drinking plenty of liquids. I assumed that I had been poisoned.

Without checking with any other dinner participants, I blamed the cheesecake and condemned it to the garbage disposal. Having both the tightwad tendencies and gastronomic genes of my late mother, I wept as I flipped the switch and watched it disappear.

Later I touched base with family members. They were all down with the flu except for Barb, the only other person who had eaten the cheesecake. I wondered what that said about me, a person who would rather assume a poisoning than weakly submit to the 24-hour flu.

But I am being well-punished for my pride. I would kill for a piece of that cheesecake today ...