The Cake Tales

In my e-mail in-box today:
"I just wanted to let you know that, if it hasn't arrived already, a package is on its way to you! It contains cake..."

Cake! Frosty, sugary, sweet temptation! Yum. Definitely not part of the detox. But being delivered directly to my desk!

Everyone is talking about giving up caffeine around the office. But for me it's the sweets.

When I got the e-mail, I sat here and wondered what to do with the cake? I know I can't have it and that if I put it in our office kitchen someone else (who isn't detoxing) will enjoy it. Maybe I'll even learn a good lesson about how I don't need to have the cake, even when it's put in front of me.

But baked goods are one of those small things in life that make me happy. I don't eat a lot of them - I'm happy to stop at one cookie or a couple of bites of cake. So just cutting them out of my diet, swiftly, suddenly, simply feels cruel.

I decided that when the package arrived, I was going to have someone else open it for me and put it in the kitchen, where I would never have to see it. (In a dramatic manner, of course, like when I look away when while getting shots at the doctor. "Don't show me the needle! I can't look!") But then I thought that if I'm going to learn something from this, I need to face my temptation, stare it down and resist.

The cake is a "la galette des rois", or "the King's cake", commemorating January 6th (the Epiphany), now celebrated in a non-religious manner with this flaky, amazing smelling almond cake. To make matters worse, there's a prize inside. So now I have to turn down cake and a chance at a prize.

It took all my willpower to bring it to the kitchen (the aroma wafting up at me as I walked down the hallway). I left a note with it and actually took some heart in imagining the people that will eat and enjoy this culinary delight.

And when I slid the cake onto the platter, with it came a small statue, wrapped in plastic. I guess the makers of the cake decided it was a potential lawsuit to bake with the prize inside. Since it wasn't even in the cake, I decided that the prize at least, should rightfully go to me. So now this tiny ceramic statue of what I think is one of the wise men is sitting on my desk.

I'll take it as a sign of encouragement.