Ode to Joe . . . Cup o’, that is

      I thought I should start a Monday post with the morning love of my life, Joe (don’t tell B-although his morning love is Chai-that spicy, cup-goddess).

See? Joe even has his own initial mug at my house. (Just kidding-we share the same first initial- This “J” is for Jen.)

      My love affair with coffee did not begin until after age 30 a certain decade of my life when I had two kids, a full-time job, was a project manager of millions, part-time Girl Scout leader, sometimes school volunteer, half-marathon runner, and overall woman extrordinaire.  At least that’s what coffee made me believe.

Thumb’s Up With A Cherry On Top!

Nan called me the other day. Who is Nan you ask?  She is my 79 year-old nanna.  She needed to ask me a question.  Just so you know this is exactly what all her messages say.  “Hi, its Nanna. Uh, uhm. Hello? Just have a question. Call me back. Love you. (Long pause) Bye.” She still really hasn’t adapted to voicemail or answering machines or telephones of any kind, for that matter.  Gotta love her though.  Back to her question of the day.  She needed a cake for one of her bible study ladies.  They like to celebrate birthdays with cake.  She wanted to order a coconut cake.  Panic set in . . . I have not been able to make a good coconut cake. It is one of the few cake recipes I have yet to master.  So, I hopped on to Pinterest for a few hours minutes and came up with a plan.  I would like to credit Chocolate Therapy’s The Best Coconut Cake  for the filling, assembly and inspiration.  I then used my “favorite, all-time, go-to, super-secret, very-complicated, white cake recipe.” And it won’t be a secret anymore because I am going to share it with you.  It comes from my trusty Cake Mix Bible. I know, once again, a Not-So-Martha Good Thing-using cake mix but it is always everyone’s favorite white cake; moist, vanilla-goodness with a little something extra, you can’t quite put our finger on (it is almond extract). Then, I put it all together and put a cherry on top because that’s all this beautiful, snowy-white vision of coconut needed. Don’t you think?