Cordial Encounters of the Muffin Kind 05/06/01

There are so many things that I could write about tonight - and I will, tomorrow or the next day.  They are too many to share so late at night (it is close to 11:15 p.m. as we begin this posting).  I will limit myself to the mention of muffins.  

Our house has been filled with the wonderful aroma of muffins baking.  When I was  ready to have Elsa help me out of bed at 9:15 a.m., she was ready to pop half of a "Morning Glory" muffin in my mouth, still warm.  Oh, what a wonderful flavor - spiced batter with grated carrots, grated Granny Smith apples and chopped pecans.  It was so good, it tasted like more. 

Later in the day, after Elsa got back from Contemporary Service, she rustled up a batch of chocolate muffins with fresh strawberries in the middle for the college. Luckily for me, they did not turn out.  There was too much batter in the muffin tin, so they spread out a bit.  Also, she tried to take them out of the muffin tins too soon and the strawberries stayed put - in the muffin tin instead of in the muffin.   

Why is such bad news good for me?  Because she was going to throw the "rejects" out but I was able to save them from the dust bin.   Instead, they are neatly tucked away in a Ziploc freezer bag waiting in the freezer for my pleasure, when I will take them out - one by one - and enjoy them for "elevensies" or for an afternoon break.  Lucky me, indeed.

When I was ready to roll out of bed after my afternoon nap, a delicate Pina Colada muffin (pineapple, toasted coconut, rum flavoring) was waiting to be popped into my happy mouth.  Tonight, Raspberry Muffins made their debut, including one very special tin of muffins - Raspberry Chocolate Chip.  Oh, heavenly muffin.   

It reminded me of raspberry-filled chocolate cordials that my dear friend Christa brought with her when she came to Baltimore from Germany in the late 1920s.   I had to pop the whole chocolate right into my mouth, or else the cordial filling would spurt all over the place.  It was an other worldly experience.   

Looking back at it, eighty years later, I see a whole new reason why Christa and I immediately became bosom buddies.  Who could resist someone offering such luscious delights? Today's muffins were not quite on the same level - but they were close to almost being there.  

It is time for this weary Gramster to head up the wooden hill to bed.  It has been a remarkable week, right up to listening to the audiotape of this morning's Contemporary Service and an early evening drive with Elsa that felt at moments like something out of a Memorable Relations.  

But more about the week's remarkable events and today's events later.  I am about to snuggle under my snug sheets and drift off to sleep with a smile on my face and the memory of a German raspberry-filled chocolate lingering over my taste buds.   

Nighty-night and God bless – Katrine