Key Lime Cheesecake for Mom's Day

By Greg Scott

I know the title gives away the ending! My mother is getting a key lime cheesecake in May this year.

I'm sure each of us has at least one person on our list who is virtually impossible to give a gift that we know will be enjoyed. For example any kid who reaches the teen years is practically hopeless, unless we let them choose the gift. If I bought a shirt for a teenager, it would doubtless have the wrong label. If I chose a game, I'm sure I would choose the one that's considered "lame" by the recipient.

Well, my mother provides an even more difficult challenge. When I was in grade school, I could make her a pencil holder and she would be thrilled--or at least pretend to be. I'm a long way from grade school, now. Besides, I don't remember how to make a pencil holder or even a pot holder.

My mother loves to shop, and that is my curse. When she wants something, she shops for it instead of dropping casual hints about what might make a good Mother's Day gift. While she is shopping, if she sees something else she likes, she buys that too!

Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that she's wealthy and has "everything." She simply has relatively modest desires. She doesn't care about owning the most expensive jewelry or the latest gadget. I certainly couldn't give her clothing. She doesn't care how an article of clothing looks on the rack; she only cares about how it looks on her and whether she has occasion to wear it. I guess she's just a level headed, practical woman--one of her many lovable features.

A few years ago I heard a radio program about gift giving. That's not normally something I would give much attention, but I happened to be fretting about what to give my grandfather for Christmas.

The program's guest mentioned that the elderly are often hardest for gift choices. She suggested a category of gifts that I had never suggested: food. Good food is something that we all enjoy and certainly something that we can use. That registered with me. My grandfather was far from needy, but he did enjoy special treats, especially practically anything sweet. I probably spent less on his Christmas gift that year than I had in most prior years, but he enjoyed the gift more than any other. I shopped for his favorite candies.

That success led me to consider food gifts for others on my shopping list. Unfortunately, I took the easy route. I stopped at one of those kiosks in the mall that seem to spring up around the holidays. I spent probably an hour (and hundreds of dollars) filling out address lists for practically everyone. That year all my unfortunate family and close friends received a box filled with cheese byproducts, high fat sausages and jams in flavors that no human has ever actually consumed.

The next Christmas I received two such boxes. We sampled a couple of the items and stashed the rest in the refrigerator in case we decided to pull them out during a party. Around April, we realized that we wouldn't really serve any of that to a guest, so we cleaned out the refrigerator and filled a small garbage bag. I learned my lesson. I never bought a mall food box again. I still had the memory of the gift success with my grandpa, though, so I didn't give up on food gifts. I just realized that for it to be appropriate, a food gift requires thought about the recipient's tastes.

I have since sent a sympathy fruit basket to a widowed, older friend who has always been concerned about eating a healthy diet. My son and daughter-in-law have been the grateful recipients of complete gourmet meals, because they are true "foodies."

My mother is a great cook. I guess most sons think that about their mothers, but my mother really is. She can create tremendous comfort food topped off with a pie with the world's best crust. However, cheesecake is not in her repertoire. She loves the creaminess of a good cheesecake, but a couple disappointments made her give up creating her own. She also adores anything citrus. There's always a bowl of fresh orange and grapefruit slices in her refrigerator, along with a pitcher of home made lemonade. Key lime cheesecake seems like the perfect Mother's Day gift for my mother, although it may not be for your mom.

I strongly recommend food gifts for those "hard to buy for" people, but please give it a little thought. Stay away from those boxes of trans-fats and poison ivy marmalade that you find in the malls!

The author writes for EliteCheesecakes.com, where you can find gourmet key lime cheesecake and twenty-eight other cheesecake choices.