Blueberry Coffee Cake

My Wife, always fearless in the kitchen, created an amazing blueberry coffee cake to take to a brunch with friends. We needed to be there by noon, so she got up that morning, found a recipe on the internet, and whipped it up. That amazes me. If you know her cooking, you shall not be surprised to hear that the taste was just as miraculous as the speed of creation.

Later that night, I mentioned that nobody had volunteered to bring morning snacks to my Literacy Coach training at UMaine that week.

"Would they like the blueberry coffee cake?" she asked.

In my mind: "Hell, Yes!" To her: "Sure they would."

"Buy more buttermilk on your way home tomorrow, and I'll make it again."

And so, on Tuesday morning I drove to Orono with a huge plate of fresh-from-the-oven blueberry coffee cake. My Wife, unsatisfied with the crumble topping, had made modifications to the recipe. I wondered how anyone can improve on perfection.

There are only eight of us at these training, and usually the morning snacks get picked at, but most of the food there, destined for staleness. By the end of this day, not one crumb remained of the blueberry coffee cake.

My instructor, Marcia, with everyone's agreement, said, "Tell your bride"--as she always refers to To Wife--"that the blueberry coffee cake was exquisite."

The kitchen, to my great shame, remains a place of mystery for me. Fortunately, I'm married to a woman who works magic there every day.