Lessons Learned from Chocolate Cake
Not mine. I mean it tasted that good.
I know I told my elect blog followers that this week would be a report on my positive vs. negative internal dialogue, but sometimes plans change especially if chocolate cake is involved.
Sunday night is treat night at our house. At the conclusion of our meal we usually decide what sweet indulgence we are universally craving and after dinner dishes are cleared; I am on to dessert creations. Well, this week after dinner we were all feeling pretty satisfied so we went straight for the movie+popcorn {of course}. Similar to dessert choosing, sometimes you know exactly what you want and sometimes both movies and desserts take time to land on. When we landed on our movie it was a revisit of the Quiz Show directed and produced by Robert Redford. I guess I could write a whole post about the movie but I will get to the scene that inspired and confirmed our universal craving. Remember the scene where the main character and his father are eating chocolate cake? And…not only eating and experiencing it together but reminiscing on past similar experiences—it’s classic. It was decided: we all wanted chocolate cake. I found a recipe online because that is easier than pulling out a cookbook or even a family favorite recipe IMO. How can 4.7k reviews be amiss?
Here {in bullet form} are the lessons learned {three days worth} from this chocolate cake experience.
Trust your gut on improvising
Do NOT rush
ENJOY e.v.e.r.y bite
Sharing is caring
Texting can be a good construct supporting self correction
What’s better than one chocolate cake?..2 or more!
My boys will tell you that I am an expert {if only doing so, alot=expert} at improvising in the kitchen. I do it almost every recipe; thus my cookies, cakes, soups etc very rarely taste the same. Every meal is an adventure around here. Back to the chocolate cake. I didn’t have quite enough granulated sugar. no problem enter confectioners sugar. Which led to not enough confectioners sugar for the frosting but we did fine:) Actually…not a big lesson except sometimes we might think we don’t have EXACTLY what we need but what I would like to offer you is that you probably have something similar that will work just fine.
Second bullet is a lesson that is learned over. and. over. at our house. The cake is supposed to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. DO THAT. I tried the first pan out at 7 minutes and {of course} it came out in pieces. There are things that can NOT be rushed. Cake cooling is one. Self discovery and improvement is another. When we are in a hurry or in a frantic type of energy…we are bound to end up in pieces. Give it time. It will come out just right {like my second pan}.
The next lesson I learned thanks to Jody Moore. Do you know Jody? You should. Jody and I were both trained at the Life Coach School. She is also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and helps moms become their best selves. One of the personal journeys that Jody has shared on her podcast {Better Than Happy} is regarding weight loss/relationship with food etc. One of her 10 commandments for weight loss is: No eating stale cake or cold french fries. In other words, if you are going to eat cake then do so and ENJOY it…every bite! So, when I considered if I would consume the delicious chocolate cake I had made I determined to sit down and relish each bite. I highly recommend this type of consumption. Don’t waste calories, but enjoy them:)
The next two bullets have to go together. Back to the aforementioned chocolate cake. Because the first layer came out in pieces, it was consumed rather quickly and without much consideration. The second layer was set aside to be used as dessert for a planned company dinner on Tuesday. Tuesday morning I got the following text from my son:
Sharing is caring.
{Son did not know of my plans for said cake}. So thankful for the pause that comes before pressing send on a text message. My first reaction…what?? Are you kidding me?? And then a pause and a reset. Of course I was happy he was enjoying the cake. Of course I am happy to share with his Taco Tuesday friends. And, of course, I can make another chocolate cake. But…I could never have gotten the words back that may have come from my mouth upon first reaction. I want to be better than my first reactions. Maybe, just maybe I can learn to pause when I am speaking…like when I am texting.
First step in changing behavior is self awareness, my friends. And the good news of it all? There will always be another opportunity for cake and self improvement.
Life is good like that.
xoKathleen
