the gift of the madeleines

You know that O. Henry story "The Gift of the Magi" where the young couple has nothing but he has a gold pocket watch and she has beautifully long hair and he sells his watch to buy her a hair comb and she sells her hair to buy him a watch chain? Well, this story is sort of like that, but it's a story of abundance more than sacrifice.

I've told you before how much Will and I love Les Madeleines, the perfect bakery in the bad neighborhood, the source of the decadent chocolate birthday cake. One day, while savoring our tasty breakfast pastries, Will commented on how much he liked madeleines. I agreed and mentioned that I should buy a pan. His birthday came along, so I decided to bake him madeleines.

I trekked to the kitchen store, found a pan, brought it home and set it on the kitchen table where it was quickly covered up by my usual clutter.


Will came home, we chatted about our day, and he stared at my pile of clutter. I couldn't figure out what he was interested in (it's not like he'd never seen my clutter before!); then he pulled the pan out from the pile with a crestfallen look on his face.

"This is what I got you for your birthday; it's coming in the mail."

"But I was going to make you madeleines for your birthday."


Well, I didn't bake any madeleines for Will's birthday. I waited for the new (and clearly better) pan to arrive and returned mine to the store (just in time to buy a replacement glass for my french press--cluttery and clumsy!). Finally, I got to bake my madeleines.