CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS CLIM STYLE

Preparations for the Fais-Do-Do, late Friday afternoon

by Ev and Donna

It was a few hours before the party and Ev still had to do a few things to get ready. Rayden and his parents were off somewhere to take care of something before the celebration began. She had just stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel when the door rang. She couldn't imagine who it could be.

She raced down the stairs and answered the door. It was Prudhomme! "Hi! You're a tad early, but come on in." She grinned.

"Hello, chere," he said as he brushed past her. He was carrying several large grocery bags. "I'm here to do the food."

Ev started to giggle and followed him into the kitchen. "John. You don't need to do the food. Rayden's going to do it. Why don't you just sit down and relax?"

Prudhomme made a rude noise. "No offense chere, but your man has never eaten cajun food before, much less cooked it. He would come up with good dishes, I'm sure, but nothing like what I can fix." He started to unload the bags onto the counter. "Nice towel by the way," he added as if it was an after thought.

"I wore it just for you." She smirked and leaned against the counter next to him. "I didn't know you could cook. You know, if we let Rayden fix everything, there's no muss, no fuss, no cleanup. You sure you really want to do this?" She leaned toward him and let the towel slip just a tad.

Prudhomme grinned at her and lapsed in the deep cajun accent he very seldom used anymore. "Them be nice tempting morsels you be offering me now, my sweet. Maybe after I get the gumbo on, eh?"

"You're turning me down for gumbo?" Ev chuckled and shook her head. "You have fun. I need to go get dressed and finish getting things ready for the party." She leaned close and licked his ear, then danced away before he could grab at her. "I'll be back, gumbo man."

Grinning as he watched her walk away, he started to make the gumbo. Once he had that going he also prepared two large pots of jambalaya and shrimp creole. Each one of them had to simmer for over an hour before they were done. Soon the kitchen was filled the with the delicious spicy odors of the authentic cajun style food being cooked.

Ev was busy upstairs changing, checking on the babies, and then checking on all the rooms for the guests. She wanted to be sure everything was ready before anyone else showed up. She hoped Rayden, Jathelle, and Theron would come back from wherever they went soon. Finally, wearing a sort of clingy royal blue silk dress, nicely low-cut, she wandered back to the kitchen.

"That smells wonderful! But I do have to ask something. How hot is this stuff? A couple of times when I've eaten hot or spicy food, the babies fussed for a couple of days. I think it changed my flavor." She grinned at him.

"This be on the hot side, chere," he said with a grin. He pointed to several smaller pots cooking on the back of the stove, "But I'm making some stuff without the fire for you and Lady K. Not a good idea for her to be having the other stuff in her condition, either."

"I knew there was a real sweetheart somewhere in there. Thank you." She gave him an affectionate hug. It was at that moment that Rayden chose to reappear in the kitchen.

"I thought I was fixing dinner." Rayden looked around the kitchen. "It smells good." He went over to the stove to see what was cooking.

Prudhomme dipped the wooden spoon in and gave him a taste of the rich broth. "Shrimp Creole. It has a bit of a bite in it the way I fix it."

Rayden smiled as he savored the different tastes. His smile got bigger when he realized how hot it was. He immediately had ideas about other dishes he might like to fix. "Do you have the recipe for this?" Ev just shook her head and wandered away to see if the babies were waking up yet. If Rayden got started with this cooking stuff, he could be lost for hours.

She hadn't even gotten to the door before Prudhomme was sharing his *secret* recipes with Rayden. The last thing she heard was something about needing some fresh channel catfish.

Ev rolled her eyes and went up to the bedroom, hearing a very angry Rayven announcing to the world that he was hungry five minutes ago. Just as she was picking up her sobbing son, Jathelle came in. "I'm so glad you're here. Rayden and Prudhomme are down in the kitchen talking recipes and I think he's not going to be much help for the rest of the afternoon.

Jathelle chuckled. "I don't understand why he's so interested in that. Whatever is cooking smells wonderful, though."

Ev had barely sat down to start nursing when the doorbell rang again. Jathelle got went to go see who it was. When she opened the door, she saw Katherine standing there with her overnight bag in one hand and her guitar case in the other.

"Katherine! Come on in! You won't believe what's going on in the kitchen. John Prudhomme showed up and decided to fix dinner. Rayden's in there now getting cooking lessons." She grinned. "Its so funny to watch. "

Grinning, Katherine shook her head. "Let me put my things up first and I'll go down and make sure they don't burn the place down."

Jathelle showed her up to the room they had gotten ready especially for her. The furniture looked right at home in the castle. There was a big 4-poster bed with heavy curtains and a canopy. The rest of the furniture was in that same old European style. "Is this about right?"

"It's wonderful!" Katherine exclaimed as she tossed her bag into the huge wooden wardrobe and leaned her guitar up against the wall. She climbed up on the bed that was chest high on her and gave the mattress a test bounce and grinned wickedly as she wondered who she would end up sharing the bed with over the weekend. "This is going to be so much fun!" The two of them then went down to the kitchen to see what was going on.

By this time, Prudhomme was showing Rayden the spices he used in the food and telling him how each one was used. Rayden's eyes were sparkling with delight as he took in all this new information. Jathelle stopped and started to giggle when she and Katherine reached the kitchen. "That's exactly the expression he used to get when he was little and got a new toy."

Kat chuckled softly herself, "Be careful how you use those spices, Rayden. Some of them are outright dangerous." She then set about making the desserts for the evening while Jathelle continued the other preparations for the party.

Leaving Katherine to tend the food simmering on the stove, Prudomme had Rayden make some fresh catfish straight out of a bayou appear in a large tub outside and he them showed him how to properly fillet them. Rayden conjured up a huge fish fryer out on the back patio. No sooner did the first cornmeal battered fillet hit the hot oil, then a swarm of hungry fire lizards appeared.

Rayden laughed when he saw them. "I just gave you something this morning!" Several pairs of jewel-like eyes stared back at him in a silent appeal. He saw the bowl of fish guts and skin sitting there and placed it on the ground away from the cooking and laughed when he stepped back and they dove down to it squabbling over choice bits. "You'd think they've never eaten, wouldn't you?" He chuckled to Prudhomme.

The CLim stared in wonder at their aerial displays for a minute, then shrugged. The two men went about cooking all the catfish and hushpuppies, a delicious little treat that the fire lizards thought was perfect for them as well. Since there were going to be so many coming, Rayden had tables appear in the back yard and the ladies got them ready. Huge steaming bowls of jambalaya, shrimp creole, chicken and sausage gumbo, dirty rice, turnip greens, fried okra, catfish fillets and hushpuppies lined a serving table alone with several types of salads. Besides iced tea, lemonade and other beverages, there was also a rather deadly pitcher filled with a drink called Hurricane that had been made with several different types of rum, Galliano, and four different fruit juices. On another table the desserts lay waiting for after dinner. Katherine had made Louisiana *Mud* and Pecan Pies, Blackberry Dumplings, and Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce.

Katherine and Prudhomme had each brought an assortment of lively cajun music and it was now playing in the background. As the last of the food was being but on the table, the first batch of guests arrived.