When life gives you lemons . . .

It all started when Greg came home with a ton of these lip puckering sensations. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I was so excited because, you see, these are no ordinary lemons. Oh no...... they're special. They're a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange and they're amazing to cook with.

The problem lied with the amount of the lemons that Greg brought home. Over 2 dozen. I like lemons as much as the next girl but there was no way that we were going to be able to use 2 dozen before they spoiled.

And then I had an idea.

We were going to challenge our neighbors to a cooking competition.

Yes, that's right. A cooking competition like nothing that you've ever seen. It was going to be fun, a little courageous and well, downright silly. We called it the "I can't believe it's not Iron Chef" competition.

It turned out awesome.

Some highlights:

• secret ingredients: Meyer lemons, Ricotta cheese, Zucchini and LUCKY CHARMS.
  
• The opposing team used all of the secret ingredients in their dessert. I'm not kidding. And it got a thumbs up from the judges.
  
• The kids were amazing judges, they would not be bribed.
• My kids were introduced to new foods.
  
• Costumes. What would a cooking competition be without stellar dress-ups?
• um, the fantastic food... but that was probably a given.
• Staying up way past our bedtimes. On a school night.
• Memories to last a lifetime.
  

The only drawback for the day was the migraine that hit the morning of the competition. 3 hours of physical therapy got me through the worst of it though and all we had to do was change our menu, start the competition a little later and omit the prizes. Next time baby, it'll go as smooth as honey.

The ironic thing? Greg bought the lemons for a purpose... they were for a fabulously authentic Italian dessert that he had been dreaming about making for months. You guessed it. He didn't even get to make the dessert. Maybe he should buy more lemons next time? ;)