Last week my dear friend Crystal asked me to co-conspire on planning a birthday surprise for her darling husband, Teague.

My mission was to gather our friends and show up at their doorstep as they arrived back from a long weekend at the lake, food and beverages in hand.

Teague wanted a pound cake for his birthday and I found a recipe that fit the bill in my old Southern Living Cookbook that had served me well in the past. The batter went together beautifully and the aroma in the oven was delectable. I set the baked cake on a proper rack and waited for it to cool. Then, ever so carefully, I ran a knife all around the pan and released the cake. I didn’t plan for what happened next. The cake started to fall apart in chunks. Oh boy. So I did what any other clever kitchen magician would do – I pulled out the wooden skewers and skewered the whole thing together. Now I just had to figure out how I could get it to hold. I decided to wrap it in kitchen film – that should do it. And then put it in the fridge in the hopes that all the butter in the cake would cement it in place.

Then I made some stuffed mushrooms to take along with the two bottles of bubbly and waited for the rest of party to arrive.

Everyone met at our house and then we all walked over to Crystal and Teague’s house for the surprise. Lisa and Bob brought bacon and peanut sauce – never underestimate the power of bacon. Michelle brought fresh baked Indian donuts. Yummy. Chioke and Taruan made a scrumptious platter of crackers, figs and fig compote with cheese. Poppie and Garry contributed a lovely pea salad. Bubbly flowed and laughter filled the air. And yes, the cake was still in hunks, but what delicious hunks they were.

Teague was pleasantly surprised and another year passed. Another year filled with friends and good times. And there will only be more to come.

Parties don’t always go as planned, but if you act as if all is well with the world, no one is going to be disturbed that the cake doesn’t look like Martha Stewart baked it.

xoxo, Patti