Why We Should Believe

Last week in the Parade section of the Sunday newspaper there was an interesting article titled Why We Should Believe in Santa Claus subtitle: Myths Make The World A More Enchanted Place by Alexander McCall Smith. He is the well known author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. What intrigued me was the unusual subject of to believe or not to believe in Santa from a man whose mystery stories usually are set near the land of Zimbabwe where he grew up. But what really caught my attention (which anything about fairies does) is when he talked about the moment in the play Peter Pan when the audience is invited to revive the dying fairy Tinkerbell and is told, if you believe in fairies, clap you hands. Mr. McCall Smith went on to note that perhaps there are times when we need to pretend to believe in things we know that are not true. We know that the world is a place where much suffering and hardship prevail and perhaps myths help us get by. I loved these following sentences in the article referencing myths. "The day they all die and we tell our children exactly how things are, the world will be a poorer, less enchanted place. So don't be ashamed to clap your hands at Peter Pan or act as if Santa exists. He stands for kindness and generosity, and those things are alive and will continue to be alive-as long as we believe in them."

FYI... I have always counted myself in as a believer of magical happenings whether it be fairies or Santa. How about you?

My holiday entertaining continues with a brunch tomorrow. This is the recipe for a quiche I am serving.

Ham Swiss Cheese/Asparagus Quiche

Ingredients:

1 /2 box Pappy pie crust mix thawed (2 pieces of dough)

2 cups Swiss cheese grated

6 eggs

1 cup whipping cream (liquid) and 1 cup half and half

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. parsley flakes

1 tsp. dried dill

1 cup finely chopped cooked ham

1 cup chopped cooked asparagus (first cooked al dente)

Directions:

• Roll out 2 of the 4 pieces of pie crust mix and line a 9 in pie pan with it fluting edges
• On top of pie crust place piece of foil and smooth into the sides
• Bake pie shell 5 minnutes at 425
• Remove from oven and remove foil
• Sprinkle on bottom of pie crust grated cheese, onions, ham and asparagus chunks
• In a blender place cream mixtures, spices and eggs blend till smooth
• Around outside of pie pan crimp on lengths of foil all around to prevent crust from browning too much
• carefully pour liquid ingredients over ham mixture
• Bake at 425 15 minutes
• Reduce temperatrure to 300 cook 40 minutes or until knife comes out clean from center
• Remove foil from around crust and let stand 10 minutes before serving