Bland

No photographs to show for this undertaking. Easter Sunday and a combination "Congratulations" party for Crystal completing her Bachelors. A red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. A Devil's Food Cake with a rich chocolate buttercream frosting. Extra chocolate cupcakes and said chocolate frosting made specifically for the celebratory gal who adores chocolate.

Bland. Bland is what she tells me the chocolate cake tastes like. I ask what one means by bland. The response, well, it does not taste like a Hostess Cupcake. Ah. Of course.

I can appreciate criticism in any form. I crave it. Because I learn from it. You think something too sweet (my third flan), you think something too dry (my carrot apple muffins), you think something lacking (a protein in my butternut squash and goat cheese pasta). Great. Please let me know. I'll know what to add, change, remove, the next time around. And it will make me a better cook and baker.

But, and don't think me a snob for this, I don't think I can learn how to improve a chocolate cake when the only criticism one can add is that it doesn't taste like an overly-processed and heavily sugared confection wrapped in plastic and injected with enough preservatives to make it edible until April 12 2015.

On the positive side, I did finally bake two different batches of cookies (chocolate chip pecan and double chocolate with white chocolate chunk) that met with her particular palate. For that, in all honesty, I truly am grateful. It has taken years to make a cookie she can appreciate. Years.

My toughest critic. But still a best friend.