Apple cake

This was an apple cake with baked apple filling. It was easy to make since the imperfections made it look quite natural.  All my cakes are imperfect, but I am never embarrassed by what might be considered "sloppy" work.  I think the imperfections are an expression of my inner artiste.  

As such what is "perfect"? Perhaps perfection is an illusion. It is just a mental concept relative to each one’s expectations and experience.  Many of us take pride in being  perfectionists, however by setting very high standards we make it harder and more time consuming to reach our goals.  Decision making can become a challenge and we could get stuck in unnecessary details which could lead to procrastination.  And then after all this, the resultant might still not be "perfect". 

On the other hand,  good-enough is definitely NOT good enough.  If we don't aim for excellence we retard our progress by avoiding new challenges. I believe a strife for excellence can be reached without inserting the perfection genre.  I have always been a practical- doer, aiming to get things done par excellence, perhaps not perfect. 

In cake art clean and neat decoration is indicative of flawless work but I believe flaws are the spice of life; flaws make our life perfect.  

“If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.” 

― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Locomotive cake

 

Feb 2021- it has been a year of quarantine, social distancing, sanitizers and masks.  Seems like the world came to its knees this year. The most sophisticated weapons of the world powers are of no avail.  This virus has mocked twenty first century technology,  immigration controls, digital surveillance and all types of data analytics.  Can we ever look at a door handle without imagining it teeming with those invisible, undead, globules with receptors poised to attach themselves on to us for terrifying injury and even death? Can we think about taking public transportation like this train, without feeling real fear?

The most vehement of scientists and doctors are secretly praying for a miracle.  Do we finally acknowledge that all is possible when God Almighty declares Kun "happen" and it happens?  Perhaps it is God’s way of bringing us to our senses.  A time will come when the almighty will declare the same to end this pandemic- but our "Kun" has not arrived yet.  Hopefully it will, soon. The vaccine is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel, but we dont know when our turn will come and we definitely dont know when we will be able to hug a friend, and go on a nice train ride without much concern. 

This Locomotive cake is for my brother's birthday. He loves trains so I made this a vanilla cake with strawberry filling. It was fun to make all the little details; it is still, probably not like a real steam engine. Perhaps an amalgam of a real and fantasy steam engine. 

If art is to have a special train, the critic must keep some seats reserved on it.

Oscar Wilde