Smells like the Holidays ...

I love the holidays!!! I think one of the reasons Christmas is my favorite time of year (in Florida where its still warm) is because my mom makes my grandma's incredible blueberry coffee cakes! yum! It was a tradition we started a few years ago when she attempted the recipe, and over the years she has perfected it! I mostly watched and helped sprinkle the sugar and put the decoration on top and my mom would deliver her cakes to her doctors, friends, whoever "deserved" a special coffee cake that year! I even did a search on good and came up with this:

My grandma's/Mom's coffee cake does NOT look like this ... but apparently thats what sub-par coffee cake looks like. Our coffee cake is mostly delicious topping (sugar, flour, CINNAMON, chopped pecans, and butter). I think thats all of them ... but yum ... the topping makes the cake! I can't believe next week is already November! Just thinking about it gives me a mild panic attack that November means December (and Christmas/presents) are approaching fast. It feels like it was just yesterday we had Christmas morning LAST year. 2007 has been quite a year, good things, sad things, bad things ... like most years. As December comes and goes I also can hardly believe its been 13 years since my grandma passed away. I think because I still think about her just about every day thats what keeps her memory alive and why 13 years doesn't feel like 13 years ago. Now what was I talking about ... this post was meant to be about FOOD!!! Christmas always makes me reminise ... what sparked this post was because my friend from work found out that I have not been subject to many pie tastings in my life, apple pie being the sole pie I have tasted. So she baked our department a pecan pie .... YUM! it was awesome! and also made me crave some coffee cake!!! But pecan pie is right up there with a good apple pie ... So here's to you, deliciously sweet and crunchy pecan pie ... thank you for adding an additional 20 minutes to my eliptical workout tonight. hahaha...