Drinking Coffee All the Time

Because my birthday is at the end of May, I usually end up celebrating on Memorial Day weekend, as I did this year.   I have been drinking coffee since I was 15, and have always loved coffee with cake. This year, my birthday cake, a vegan cake made by Asia Bullock, owner of Asia B’s Sweet Treats , was a 3-layer yellow cake with chocolate icing--- à la vintage Betty Crocker.   It was my dream cake. When I tasted the cake it reminded me of when the kids in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (written by C.S. Lewis & published in 1950 as part of the Chronicles of Narnia series) first tried Turkish delight, a traditional starchy confection, made with powdered sugar and rosewater, which was rendered magical in the story. The cake was so good, so sublime, and so otherworldly that the only way to make it better (at least for me) was with coffee. My friends and I celebrated at Trend Coffee and Tea House , which has become Montclair, NJ’s go-to coffee hot-spot, with a schedule