Eat the Damn Cake

This is Terri:

how old are you?

I’m a twenty-something year old trapped in a pre-teens body. It’s true. I’ve got a baby face, am hardly five feet tall, and barely fit adult clothing. On top of that, I’ve got a very high-pitched voice that makes me sound like a toddler. Unfortunately, that means I can expect to have my age questioned on nearly a daily basis. Someone actually threatened to call the cops because the clerk was convinced I was using a fake ID to buy a lottery ticket. That’s right. Even as a twenty-something young woman, the clerk didn’t even believe I was over 18.

There’s always a lack of respect when you look much younger. Yes, it gets annoying. But it gives me the opportunity to weed out the jerks and people I don’t want to waste my time on very quickly. Let’s face it. People tend to show their true colors when they think they are dealing with a child.

Continue Reading »

This is Blake:

how old are you?

I’m 28 years young.

where do you live?

I live in Oakland California. Oakland is the magical land east of San Francisco. We have better weather, more space and better food. Oakland was even ranked by the New York Times as #5 out of the 45 places to go in 2012.

My boyfriend and I both work from home, so sometimes during the day we sneak over the dog park that overlooks the bay. There are tons of parks and hiking trails and a big lake I frequently jog around. Oakland is a food destination with every type of cuisine. We have tons of culture on every block. There are tons of cafes and small quaint shops and it feels a little euro at times. Additionally there are more booties out here. And speaking of booties…..

what is your current favorite thing about yourself?

My favorite thing about myself is my booty. But my booty [ass] and I haven’t always had a good relationship. My ass has incurred the wrath of many a man. When I was 15 years old I was at a friends quincinera. At this time I was still palling around with the popular kids at school. There was one guy in particular at the party I always had a rocky relationship with. He would make fun of me for being Jewish. He would make fun of me for anything he could. He was mean and still at that age where one is rewarded for being a bully. I can clearly remember this moment that would haunt me for years.

He said “hey Blake” and pulled my pants down. He said look at your big white butt!

I was mortified. It was like a scene from Mean Girls, except he wasn’t Lindsay Lohan, and Tina Fey was nowhere in sight.

I was 15.

Continue Reading »

This is Frances. She lives in Paris.

I am 24, and will be 25 (eek!) in a month.

Favorite kind of cake: I love them all, I do. Mostly lemon cakes win out, but at the moment the custard tarts at Comme a Lisbonne, warm and just lightly dusted with cinnamon, are calling to me like sirens.

What’s your life philosophy? Because it’s funny. (That is, always do the ridiculous things that tempt you  out of the ordinary, because if nothing else there will be a funny story to tell later.)

Story behind the photo: I took some photos with your reader pictures in mind, but when they were developed they were double exposed – my head has morphed INTO a cake. A lemon verbena religieuse, which was flipping delicious. Can that count?

Continue Reading »

April says: In the photo, Erin is the [tan] one on the left and April is the [white, or should I say porcelain] one on the right.

OK, so tell us the story behind this picture!

We both went back to the area we grew up to be bridesmaids in a friend’s wedding. It was the first time we’ve been able to see each other in a year! And nothing makes a celebration like a wedding and a family reunion as complete like cake does!

How old are you?

We’re 26 years old (Erin’s 8 minutes older than April) and we grew up in Upstate New York, about an hour south of Montreal.

 Erin’s Long-winded Answers (says April):

Where do you live? 

I live in Gainesville, FL, while I attend graduate school at University of Florida in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.  Florida is OK… but I can’t wait to get out.  It’s just not for me.  We (hubby and I) moved here for my education; him with no job, and nowhere to live.  We were homeless for about a week before we found an apartment.  Thank goodness we had enough savings to stay in an “Extended Stay” hotel, sneaking the cat in with the litterbox.  The first year here was one of the worst years of my life.  Financial strain and emotional stress at work really took a toll (I’d say we aged about 10 years), but we got through it.  Things are better now, and next year when I graduate and move to a new place, nowhere to live and him with no job, I’ll know we can handle it.  … So, I guess I appreciate Florida for that lesson, at least.

Continue Reading »

Where do you live? I live on a tiny island amongst a cluster of islands in the English Channel, just above France. My little Island is called Jersey, measuring only 9 by 5 miles. We have beaches, potatoes and Jersey cows. And cake, of course. I like to be close to the sea, its in my blood.

What’s one of the coolest things you’ve ever done? I mean, that you can think of right now. The coolest thing I have ever done is probably travelling around India on an old Enfield Motorcycle called ‘Pujar’ (pray). Being on that bike was like a high, I have never felt as free as I did then. Warm Indian air whipping past our bodies as we climbed up mountainside roads, chasing dreams and destinations. If I had magic slippers, India is where they would take me.

what’s the story behind this picture? This picture was taken on my 27th birthday, my newest friend Lucy had been collecting birthday presents for me since we met 8 months earlier. We sat on the pavement outside her block of flats. It was like a present picnic, neat little parcel after neat little parcel, trinkets, treasures, treats and an apron until finally the big one…

Continue Reading »

Where do you live? – I live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Originally from another part of the country, Amsterdam has been my home for seven years now and I absolutely love it. I’ve moved around a few times and have gotten to experience many different aspects of the city. There are just so many beautiful things that surround you every day… The fact that I got to watch the sunset from a boat on the canals yesterday evening makes me very much appreciate that I get to live here.

How old are you? – I recently turned 27 and it feels excellent!

What are you really proud of yourself for? – I lost my job about four months ago, while I was in the midst of recovering from eye surgery. I knew it was coming so I had prepared myself, but it was nevertheless stressful and somewhat scary. Not sure what to do, I decided the one thing I was best off not doing was panic and take just any job in fear of financial difficulties. I had a little bit of savings and went on (the Dutch equivalent of) welfare. It felt uncomfortable at first and I spent many hours working through vacancies in search of a fitting job, until I realized I was putting too much pressure on it. I was exhausting myself. The surgery had left me with a complete new way of using my eyes and seeing the world, which was very intense both physically and mentally, and I really needed some time to get used to it. So I took the job hunt to a minimum and got a career coach instead (for free! thank you volunteering professionals!) in order to get some perspective on what I have done so far, what skills and qualities I developed from that and how I would like to use them in a future job.

Continue Reading »

The basics: I’m 46-years old and live in Hampton, VA.  That’s somewhere halfway between Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, in case you’ve never heard of Hampton, VA — NOT to be confused with “The Hamptons.”  I have two sons, both adults, one still living at home trying to figure out what he wants to do.  I raised them by myself.  It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but also the most rewarding with even more rewards on the horizon, I’m certain.

What are you awesome at? I’m currently in a WONDERFUL relationship.  It took me 43 years of living and numerous mistakes to find the perfect man for me.  I used to be awesome at making relationship mistakes.  Now I’m awesome at being patient.

It was a long road that I took to become awesome at being patient. When I was little, I was ignored by my dad.  He wanted a son, but instead he got me – a little girl who wanted to hang out with her dad.   He got his wish when my brother was born.  My relationship issues in life started when I was a young child desiring a relationship with a man who didn’t want one.

As I grew older, I was happy to be involved with whoever wanted to be with me for that reason only.  My own desires became cloudy behind the need to be loved by a man.

One day, it hit me.  I was about 32.  I had a dream in which I was little and my dad was walking out the door.  I rushed to grab his hand to go with him.  He tossed my hand down, looked down at me, and walked out the door, shutting the door behind him.  That dream changed my life.

Awesomeness in failed relationships turned into awesomeness in patience and calmness and the love of being by myself without needing a man.

By the way, my dad and I now have a wonderful relationship, and I have forgiven him.  Hey, he’s a human being who makes mistakes too.

And I will eat my favorite cake to celebrate my awesome patience.  My favorite cake is any cake that has a big glob of icing on it.

The margarita cupcake I’m eating in the photo does NOT have a big glob of frosting on it but it is still very good and very light.  The recipe is at the Betty Crocker website.  I made them for a Friday night game night with my boyfriend’s sister’s family.  Friday night game night ruins my carefully constructed diet every week, but it’s so worth it to be with loved ones and laughing and having fun.

Unroast:  I like the way my feet look.  They have tan lines from my favorite pair of sandals, but that’s kind of sexy.

*   *   *

Wow. Thank you, Kim.

This is a part of my cake eaters series. If you have a cake pic and a story to tell, send them to kate@eatthedamncake.com.