I met my pal Jen for breakfast, and she presented me with a belated birthday gift: a piece of coconut cake from Fresco! [exclamation point theirs]. Oh don’t give me that face. I get why you might not like coconut, I don’t really like it myself, except when paired with white cake with white cream topping. Oof! Delectable! Fresco! does it like you cannot believe. Fluffy, not too sweet, topped with sugared violets: cmon already.

The only thing that makes a coconut cake even more perfecter would be for it be in the shape of a lamb, with a pink jellybean eye, and served on Easter. I love Easter. As my friends have heard me say numerous times, Easter reminds me of

1. how beautiful the desert was that time of year in Arizona;
2. the fab Easter baskets my mom would go overboard on, especially one extramemorable on when I was 11, which included dark blue and purple nail polish and two Archie Digests; and
3. Easter eggs. Easter eggs!

By the way, there’s no way I can mention food and Santa Barbara without thinking about the Sojourner Cafe. There is one place and one place only where I want to eat anytime I’m in the general vicinity and that’s the Soj. The African Vegetable Ground Nut Stew and the Golden Indian Dhal cause me to mutter audible yummy noises. Andy D can vouch for this.

And Andy would also remind me to mention the desserts, especially the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.

Hope your Memorial weekend was as packed as my gullet. And let’s remember those soldiers who died for no reason!