Kitchen Magic With Family

On the third day of Thanksgiving week,
the Blond Duck sang off key,
"I'm grateful for my buddy Libby!"





Well, I'm not just grateful for my buddy Libby, though I do adore her. I'm also grateful for my buddies Marie and Emma (seen above. We were in a pie coma.)

These three women are essential to my life, and the first ones I turn to for very different reasons. Poor Libby gets the brunt of my whining, not that poor Emma and Marie get their fair share. But not only did Libby have to deal with me sitting on her desk and pestering her for two years, she had to deal with me dragging her over to my house as often as she had a moment in her busy social calender.

Marie often gets e-mails full of my brilliant ideas and questions about cooking. I truly believe we're kindred artistic souls--she understands things a lot of people don't about me. I love when I catch her on instant messenger and talk for a minute before I scurry off to work.

I met Emma at a writing conference. Every since then, she's shifted through pages and pages of my work and offered tons of encouragement and support. If I hadn't had her, I might have given up on writing long ago. She also listened to weeks of whining about my job and other issues.

I like to whine.



Even the Babies understand the importance of friends, as you can clearly see with Bear and the Dolphin. They've become so attached the Dolphin now follows Bear to bed every night.

And, Invisible Friends, I have to thank you. People like Prudy, Lucy, the Noble Pig, Grace, Marjie, Bunny, Jane, Linda, Kelly, Katherine, Jen and Candy supported me back when no one was reading. They were the first to like all my stories, and have offered nothing but encouragement and support. You all mean a lot to me, and I strive to make you all happy every day.



Also, considering I just ate four of them, I'm very appreciative of biscuits and all breakfast foods, including my beloved waffles.

Biscuits are tasty.


I need to get on the treadmill now.


And now, a new edition of "Kitchen Magic". To read the previous edition, go here.
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"Who's here?" Sprinkles looked up from the chocolate chips cookie and peanut butter sandwich she had just made.

"My family!" Bizzy hissed, banging her head against the window. "They're here three days early! Why are they here three days early?"

"Ask them, not me." The fairy licked her lips and shoved the cookie sandwich in her mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed and she fell back on the counter, a smear of peanut butter and chocolate spreading from her lips to her mouth. "That is so good," she mumbled in a state of reverence. "That is sooooooooooo good. I'm going to need three more of these." She sat up and began to try to shove the jar of peanut butter behind her wings.

"Would you stop eating and help me?" Bizzy snapped. "What am I going to do?" Her eyes widened and she moaned in dismay. "What am I going to do with you? Oh God!"

"With me?" Sprinkles looked up from shoving the sixth cookie behind her left wing. "I think the question is what I'm doing with you. I live here. This is my kitchen."

Bizzy rolled her eyes. "You're going to have to hide," she growled, watching her father try to peer through the wrong side of the peephole. "If they see you, everything will go to pot."

"You don't even know how to work a pot," Sprinkles retorted. "That's why I'm here." She hummed with glee and took another bite of her cookie sandwich. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head in ecstasy and she let out a very improper moan.

"Would you stop that?" Bizzy hissed, her cheeks flaming red. "You sound disgusting!"

"You would to if you were eating this," Sprinkles drawled, licking the peanut butter and chocolate off her fingers. "It's completely SINFUL." She sucked the mixture off her finger and exhaled deeply. Bizzy yelped as her parents knocked on the door.

"Bizzy?" her father's voice called. "Bizzy, are you here?"

"Hide!" Bizzy squeaked, clomping toward the door in her impractical fall boots. She pulled the old wooden door open and forced a smile on her face. "Mom, Dad! You're early!"

"We're sorry," her Mom apologized, stepping inside. "We heard the weather was going to be bad and wanted to beat the traffic."

"Plus, we wanted to help," her father boomed, his deep voice filling the tiny cabin. He looked around and raised his bushy eyebrows, ducking through the door. "Well, it's uh, charming, isn't it? Think it'll hold everyone?"

"Everyone?" Bizzy echoed, feeling her blood pressure beginning to rise. "There's just 11 of us, right? My brothers, grandma and grandpa, ya'll and me. That's 11."

Her dad grinned sheepishly at her. "Well....."

"Well what?" Bitty exploded.

"Your dad's sisters are coming with their husbands," her mother murmured. "And their children."

"And Uncle Bob," her dad added, his bushy eyebrows threatening to crawl off his face.

Bizzy took a deep breath, hoping her heart wouldn't explode into a million pieces all over the room. It was either that or screaming and bashing her skull into the hardest wall she could find.

"Mom, dad has seven sisters. And they each have four to five kids. And Uncle Bob is an alcoholic."

"And Mary," her mother added, shrinking back as Bizzy's neck physically twitched.

"And Bob's lesbian ex-wife," Bizzy muttered, biting the inside of her cheeks. Feel the pain, she thought to herself. Feel the pain. Feel the pain so you don't cause pain. Causing pain is bad. After another deep breath, she was able to keep her words calm. "Mom, this dinner is going to need to feed nearly 50. I don't have that kind of money."

"We're going to chip in," her mother said, her forehead wrinkling with worry and shame. "I'm sorry honey, we weren't trying to make you feel like you had to provide for all of us. They're just going on some hard times and your Daddy invited Sarah and she invited Mary and...well, you know how that goes."

"I know," Bizzy repeated numbly. She couldn't even peel a carrot, and she had to cook dinner for 50 people on $100. Even with a kitchen fairy, this was going to be impossible. Her chest was tight and her stomach felt as though it had been turned into a blender of acid. Any moment, she was going to be ill all over her shoes.

A loud clash rang out from the kitchen. Her dad's fuzzy eyebrows knit together and he rushed toward the noise.

Bizzy felt her heart drop to her toes and gasped. Sprinkles.

"No!" she cried, running after her dad. "Don't go in there!"

She heard her Dad swear and shout, "Wow! Oh Wow!"

To be continued.....

Tomorrow, we have a doubly delicious treat: an ode to the Blond Duck's favorite Thanksgiving foods and a delicious recipe AND a new Kitchen Magic. And by popular request, Twirl on Friday! Stay tuned for the end of Kitchen Magic this weekend and a look at the Blond Duck's Christmas decorations...remember, nothing is what it seems in the Pond! One more day until Thanksgiving!