Luke's (almost) Perfect Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Luke's birthday a little early with all our friends here in Harrisonburg. It was almost the perfect birthday...

The day started out well. Luke has intentionally mentioned several times how much he loves pies and how many awesome pie recipes we have, and finally I got the hint and decided to take on this endeavor for his special day! I looked up a lot recipes, and finally found a Key Lime Pie recipe I thought I could handle.

I went to great measures to make sure that he did not find out what kind of pie I was going to make. I went to the store, took all the ingredients upstairs and borrowed our upstairs roommates' kitchen while Luke was hanging out downstairs. Everything was ready, apron on...I was ready to go. I even used fresh squeezed lime juice instead of the bottled stuff!

After a couple hours of making the pie, the sweetend whip cream, and decorating it beautifully (haha), I was able to leave the kitchen with great confidence in my pie! Before heading to dinner, Luke and I enjoyed a glass of wine and opened his presents!


Rumor has it, Luke's mom lost his diploma when he was living in the Dominican Republic, so I ordered his degree from ASU and got him a frame for it! He also got a robe (so he can stop using mine...haha) and some new work-out clothes!

Then we headed out to eat at an Ethiopian Restaurant downtown, Blue Nile with friends!

Kate and Charlie

upstairs girls, Jess and Lauren

Meg and Katie

Paul and Nichole

Steve and Debbie

The food is so good and unique!

OK so the dinner was lovely and we were in great company. I invited everyone to come over for wine and pie (haha Evan) afterward. And this is why the birthday was ALMOST perfect...but not quite.

I show the pie to Luke, and despite it not having his MERINGUE that he loved (which looked way too complicated to make) he seemed thrilled to have a home-made with love Key Lime Pie!

So after cutting the pie and dishing it out to our friends I walk into the room to try a bite myself. I do not really care for pies, so I took a bite thinking, "well, I guess this is OK, but I don't really understand why people love Key Lime pie so much." Turns out, mine just was not good.

After taking a bite I ask, "So, how is it guys?" And boldly, without hesitation, Charlie piped up and said "It's pretty bad." After realizing that he was not joking, I looked around and everyone's faces read the same thing. And then we busted out laughing. Apparently, Katie got her piece her first and felt compelled to eat a lot of it before she knew everyone else was thinking what she was. Jess flat out could not take a 2nd bite. Luke commented, "Yeah, I'm sorry, it is not great. But its the effort that counts."

Turns out evaporated milk, is not the same as condensed milk (oops!). And apparently, I had been trying to figure out how to make MERENGUE all day (the word for the Latin dance, not to be confused with the MERINGUE that goes on pies) but Meg was did not want to correct me because she said I was just really excited about my pie--she did not want to kill the mood. Then, sweet Lauren, said, "Taylor, the crust is really good though." To bad I bought the crust pre-made at the store.

So, Jess saved the day and served us her lovely Trader Joe's lemon bars that were quite delicious as we continued to laugh and have fun. So, the pie was not perfect...but we had a great time and the Birthday Boy felt loved. Maybe I'll try again in a year...