Father's Day 2012

Banana-raisin-almond muffins with a touch of extra-dark chocolate chips.

Sweet Expectations

Here's a basic truth of life my sister taught me: "Experience everything and expect nothing".  With her birthday drawing near I have been thinking of her lately.  She is about to start a new job in a new city and the apprehension of the unknown probably has her stressed a bit.  What should she expect out of her new work? Of the new city?  Of her new co-workers?  She told me that she found it best to keep expectations at an all time low to avoid disappointment.  Such a profound truth in the reality of life...

Often times we are more disappointed because our expectations are not met or that we set them too high.  A broken friendship, a failed relationship or a less than satisfactory job role are common nuances of setting high expectations.  But you could also argue that those who have low expectations and goals rarely surge ahead.  Having lower than ideal aspirations in life means low self esteem, lack of self respect and soon you become a door mat.  So we need to find the fine balance of the right expectations without setting ourselves up for disappointment.  This balance is as subtle as ensuring there's the right pinch of salt or sugar in a dish.  The dominant trait of the dish comes from what you add more of.

In short, we need to have some basic expectations out of life, people, family and friends.  When we don't see them being met, we need to take it with a grain of 'salt' (no pun intended) and change our thought process accordingly.  We then need to focus on the sweeter deals and those that satisfy our sweet expectations a lot better.

Terrific Jungle Friends

A pineapple flavored cake with two layers of pineapple and apricot spread was covered in melon flavored fondant.  Figurines are made from fondant, tree from RKT.  Here's wishing a good start to the terrific two's for the little girl.