I’m a fan of the Black Rooster Bakery.  It’s been named in Southern Living magazine as one of the top local bakeries.  Everything is made fresh daily and once it’s sold out, there’s no more until the next time they make it.   Great place for a morning croissant or a ham and brie sandwich on a baguette.   They wrap your sandwich in black and white checked paper and a red raffia ribbon.

Subject of today:  Nana’s buttermilk cake with vanilla butter cream frosting.  The owner posts the daily menu on FB.  When I don’t see Nana’s cake I message her and she let’s me know when it’s coming up in the bakery queue.   I marked my calendar for today at 11 a.m. because that’s when non-breakfast items are available.  On Tuesday, it popped up on my calendar and my friend Pam asked who is Nana and why I am getting her cake?  I told her all about my obsession with the cake.  It’s dense like pound cake, but very moist and has the best thick, buttery frosting, with just a touch of sugar sprinkles along the top.

So, today I pop into the bakery at 11:15 a.m. all ready to get a slice-o-cake and a sandwich.  Cue:  Record scratching.  No cake.  Big SOLD OUT sign in red letters on the board.  Holy, hell.  What happened?  They told me they sold out early and next time call to reserve a slice.  Well, that’s just great.  I had to go back to work empty-handed.  All my co-workers were disappointed for me.  I thought I was going to have to take the rest of the day off.

Then, about 12:30 p.m. Pam called.  Asked me how my cake was.  I told her I was in a fetal position because I was cake-less.  She said…”well, that’s because I bought the ENTIRE cake for you this morning!”  She was worried I wasn’t going to get a slice so she popped by there before she did her volunteering for the day and said what the heck just give me the entire cake!!  So, at 4 p.m. today I stopped by Pam’s for cake and milk.  She took half the cake and I took the other.

I don’t just love Pam because she bought me cake.  It’s because she’s thoughtful like that.  Once, she brought me a diet vanilla Coke because I had a bad cold and just set it on the porch with a text to check for a little treat.  I also love her because she loves Jesus, is a great mom and is always giving me such sound advice and reassurance on raising a teen.  She also makes me laugh when we’re working out.  You know you’ve bonded when you do sit ups and leg lunges you agree that an episiotomy would actually be less painful.  Oh, and she rocks at math.  And is fluent in Spanish.

Thank you God for cake.  And for people like Pam.  Amen.