Cornucopia of sweetened treats

One of the best things about my birthday is that I nearly always get Amy to bake me a pie, usually of the blueberry variety. But this year, the pie-making was a bit delayed due to the 103-degree heat we had that made us swear to never use the oven again.

Thankfully, Janell swooped in and saved the day with a homemade blackberry pie that didn’t last long enough for us to get a picture of, it was just that good.

And then later, after a birthday dinner at now-in-the-regular-rotation culinary marvel that was Dove Vivi (more on this to come at a future date), my mother told me that I should pick something out for dessert before we headed home for presents… and since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at the new eastside Voodoo Doughnuts location in hopes of tracking down the elusive yet legendary bacon maple bar.

I’ve been hungry for one of these for years now but had not yet had one in my hot little hand. And when we got into the place, my face started to fall as there were none to be found in the rotating doughnut case. However, the glum-faced tattooed dude behind the counter was able to procure one for me and things were once again right with the world.

And let me tell you something, it was worth every penny. I would’ve paid double even. Gaze upon its perfection:

And just in case you think I’m totally nuts, I’ll have you know that my lovely wife — somehow, foolishly, I offered her a bite or two and after the first bite she nearly took off my hand trying to get to the second — is similarly smitten with this cholesterol-laden melt-in-your-mouth item and was more than a little crestfallen that I didn’t get her one of her own. My stepfather, on the other hand — the eater of tripe-filled menudo, no less — was fairly disgusted by the entire thing, but that just means more for us next time!

And then — then — once the heat (and our guests, ha!) went away, Amy made me a near-perfect blueberry pie that we dug into last night, though it was almost too pretty to cut apart:

I’m not really a huge dessert guy — don’t get me wrong, you put something in front of me, I’ll eat it, but when I crave something it’s usually of the salty variety rather than the sweet — but the birthday goodies (and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving) are the exception to this.

Though it’s really a good thing that the Voodoo is far enough out of the way that we have to make a special trip there or my arteries would be in some serious trouble.