Anger and the sweet side of lemons
Sep. 10th, 2010 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daidoji_giseiI grew up with the understanding that my feelings only mattered to me, and since I was unimportant my feelings were likewise unimportant. As a result, it can take me a long time to realize that I am angry, or unhappy, or in love, because strong emotions can take a really long time for me to process.
Most of my co-workers, who are way too deep in the touchy-feelly end of the spectrum, would consider this horrible and start recommending therapy for me, but I feel the need to point out that there is an upside to this. Take this morning, for instance, when I learned that one of my fellow managers had not only unilaterally made a change of policy regarding something that affected his department tangentially but had a significant impact on two other departments (one of them being mine, as you might guess)--he didn't bother to inform anyone in the other two departments of this. We found out about it via a customer who was expecting us to follow a policy we didn't know existed. You might say I was unhappy about this.
But I didn't do anything then, because I was still processing. I finished bathing the lemon-cake-to-be in lemon syrup and then went up to my desk and sent out a carefully worded email to Mr Unilateral, the other affected manager, and the level of management above us. I expect that there will be discussion on this on Monday (and if there is not there will be another, even more carefully worded email), but by then my rage will have peaked and I will be able to discuss things without battling the urge to lace my sentences with profanity. So you see this disconnect does have a certain utility.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE--I tested two cake recipes today and they were great. The first was a spice cake with applesauce that was beautiful: richly spiced, tender, and so so moist. I might have to tweak the spice level down a bit, because sometimes the flavor grows as it ages, but everything else was perfect. It's now undergoing the fridge test, so we can see what kind of a shelf life it has. If that works out I'm going to put it into production.
The second was lemon cake, which I'm building as a variation of the Gateau au Yaourt we are already doing. I used lemon oil instead of vanilla extract, bathed the baked cake in a lemon-sugar syrup, and frosted it with a white frosting I had lemoned up a bit. It was...lovely. I could not keep my hands off of it. Which was ok, because no one else could either. Sampling cake makes you pretty popular with the staff, let me tell you. It is also going through the fridge test this weekend, and it it works out I might put it into production Monday because I have dreamed about having a lemon cake for years and now it is almost within my reach. A Sith Lord might wait patiently for years, waiting for the perfect moment to introduce a cake flavor, but when that moment comes they strike with absolute power and ruthlessness.
....yeah, it's been that kind of week. I think I'll go work on my dinner. Bacon and tomato sandwiches, made with a Cherokee Purple tomato from my garden. And a slice of lemon cake for dessert.
Most of my co-workers, who are way too deep in the touchy-feelly end of the spectrum, would consider this horrible and start recommending therapy for me, but I feel the need to point out that there is an upside to this. Take this morning, for instance, when I learned that one of my fellow managers had not only unilaterally made a change of policy regarding something that affected his department tangentially but had a significant impact on two other departments (one of them being mine, as you might guess)--he didn't bother to inform anyone in the other two departments of this. We found out about it via a customer who was expecting us to follow a policy we didn't know existed. You might say I was unhappy about this.
But I didn't do anything then, because I was still processing. I finished bathing the lemon-cake-to-be in lemon syrup and then went up to my desk and sent out a carefully worded email to Mr Unilateral, the other affected manager, and the level of management above us. I expect that there will be discussion on this on Monday (and if there is not there will be another, even more carefully worded email), but by then my rage will have peaked and I will be able to discuss things without battling the urge to lace my sentences with profanity. So you see this disconnect does have a certain utility.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE--I tested two cake recipes today and they were great. The first was a spice cake with applesauce that was beautiful: richly spiced, tender, and so so moist. I might have to tweak the spice level down a bit, because sometimes the flavor grows as it ages, but everything else was perfect. It's now undergoing the fridge test, so we can see what kind of a shelf life it has. If that works out I'm going to put it into production.
The second was lemon cake, which I'm building as a variation of the Gateau au Yaourt we are already doing. I used lemon oil instead of vanilla extract, bathed the baked cake in a lemon-sugar syrup, and frosted it with a white frosting I had lemoned up a bit. It was...lovely. I could not keep my hands off of it. Which was ok, because no one else could either. Sampling cake makes you pretty popular with the staff, let me tell you. It is also going through the fridge test this weekend, and it it works out I might put it into production Monday because I have dreamed about having a lemon cake for years and now it is almost within my reach. A Sith Lord might wait patiently for years, waiting for the perfect moment to introduce a cake flavor, but when that moment comes they strike with absolute power and ruthlessness.
....yeah, it's been that kind of week. I think I'll go work on my dinner. Bacon and tomato sandwiches, made with a Cherokee Purple tomato from my garden. And a slice of lemon cake for dessert.
