God's Donut

Two nights before my sister and brother-in-law, Jeff, tied the knot, we celebrated their upcoming nuptials with a wedding bar crawl. My family, Jeff's family, the wedding party, and much of our camping family joined in the festivities, and an "epic" night ensued. Here's the funny thing... Only I, and maybe a couple of others, can vouch for the epic-ness of the night, because only I actually remember the night - I was pregnant with Will, so I drank water and lemonade and Shirley Temples and with my clear head kept the crowd in line.

At the end of the night and after I had returned everyone for whom I was responsible to their sleeping quarters, I decided to reward myself. Madison has an AMAZING donut shop called Greenbush Bakery, and while it operates as a typical bakery does - opening early in the morning and selling baked goods through midday - it also caters to students, staying open until 2am so night owls can pop in and grab a donut on their way home from the bars. I needed a treat, so I stopped at Greenbush and picked myself up a cake donut with chocolate frosting and sprinkles and a cinnamon roll. (Anyone else hungry for donuts?) I also bought a wide variety of other donuts so that the crew at my parents' house would have something delicious to enjoy the following morning. 

When I climbed back into the car, Tom, who was dozing in the partially reclined passenger seat, turned to me and asked what I had purchased. Knowing his favorite flavors, I gestured with one hand that I had bought blueberry donuts and then gestured with the other hand that I had bought coconut donuts. He smiled, closed his eyes, and through his daze replied, "put your hands together, Erin. Now that's God's donut."

Despite my state of exhaustion, I burst out laughing. To this day our family still jokes about God's blueberry AND coconut donut, and how it's a shame no bakeries actually sell this specific treat.

For Tom's birthday this year, we decided to surprise him with a very special birthday cake. We started with a dozen blueberry donuts from Greenbush. I made a coconut glaze and toasted a mixture of sweetened and unsweetened coconut, and then we dipped each donut in the glaze and topped it with the toasted coconut. After the glaze had set, we stacked the donuts into a cake-shaped structure, added candles, and voila!

God certainly knew what he was doing when he invented donuts, this kind in particular.