Pivot Before You Quit It

I recently decided to make a Boston Cream Pie as a birthday cake. Although I regularly cook, I never bake. I have watched my fair share of baking shows so surely through osmosis I can be a Star Baker, right? No. Nope. Not at all. I confused almond meal for almond flour. I slightly curdled the eggs in the custard and had to put it through a sieve. I forgot to initially separate the dry from the wet ingredients. I added the baking powder in last minute so it didn't incorporate properly. In the end, I packed the baking pans with a mixture that resembled wet sand. Needless to say, I baked me a big ol’ humble pie, not a Boston Cream.

I reached a crossroads. Do I just throw it all out in the compost; wasting precious food, time, and energy? Do I just serve what I have and make the birthday boys and party guests suffer? Or… do I get creative and make something else with what I have?

I decided to blend the cake, custard, and chocolate frosting together and scooped them out into balls, topped them with peanuts and froze them. I invented Boston Cream Cake Bites. They’re all organic, super delicious, highly nutritious and low in sugar. But more importantly, I made the best of a disaster.

What I took from this experience (other than the fact that I need to read recipes more thoroughly) is that I’m not a quitter. I’m a pivoter.

When we’re trying new things, we’re bound to slip up. In my case, many, many times. That doesn’t mean we have to give up. The result may be drastically different than our original intention, but that’s okay. That’s the magic of life. If everything turned out the way we expected it to, life would be boring.

Being forced to salvage the remaining good parts of a wreck certainly tempers the ego but it also gives us the opportunity to become more resilient and creative. And no matter what, as long as we’re learning, nothing is truly wasted.

<3 <3 <3