It stands to reason that mice publish good cheesecake recipes.

The boy child is into a series of books about Geronimo Stilton, a mouse detective (and not the same as Disney's The Great Mouse Detective). From what I can glean, a bespectacled and well-clothed brown mouse solves mysteries. Meanwhile the typesetter of these stories experiments with selecting random words to display in a variety of fonts of a variety of colors. So the lesson of these stories, apparently, is that kids need their books to resemble lengthy ransom notes in order to be interesting.

Also, you can generate interest by devoting the end of the book to "Tips for Organizing an Exciting Cheesecake Party." Although I am dubious as to how exciting a cheesecake party can be for a nine-year-old boy, I must admit that the chocolate cheesecake recipe looked quite enticing. I must begin a search for my cheesecake pan.

I've been reluctant to begin baking in earnest over the last few weeks because, let's face it, who is going to eat all this fattening food I could potentially make? However, the mouse detective cheesecake is just too wacky of a concept to let pass. I will let you know how the cookie crust crumbles when it is done.