“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!” – Matt
Common carrot cake is another’s treasure
Have you ever noticed how the more common a thing becomes, the less we appreciate it? Sometimes we need someone else to state its value to help us recognize it anew – that can be the case with relationships, opportunities or even carrot cake.
No man expresses his appreciation for his wife as much as he should, and I’d unfortunately be no exception. My wife is a great cook, but an even better pastry chef. Her skill with desserts is a good thing as she often forgoes eating one dessert after a meal – she prefers eating two. When making desserts to bring to different occasions overseas, she has often stayed with the tried and true American staples.
When our sons would have a birthday and needed a class treat or there was a special event at school, my wife would make a pan of brownies. Brownies would be quickly devoured, and one son would even bring them to the school’s special breakfast they’d celebrate for English class each year.
At a small church’s Christmas celebration one year, they had a dessert contest at the end of the meal. The judges stood before the congregation trying the different sweets and my wife’s recipe won hands down. She had brought chocolate chip cookies.
There was an annual year end dinner and party for a sports club that we were involved in. She was asked to bring a dessert each year that was the crowd favorite – carrot cake! I can’t say that I would have considered carrot cake a culinary masterpiece growing up as a kid in Indiana. The idea of putting a common vegetable like a carrot into a dessert is not considered a possibility by chefs in many other countries. It might be a novelty that they think only a daring French chef would try, not a simple dessert Grandma would bring to a country church’s potluck in Indiana.
Over the years of living overseas, many have told my wife that she should start a pastry café with all her amazing desserts (chocolate chip cookies, brownies & carrot cake). I guess it takes someone else to remind me of the mishap that I am for not appreciating my wife enough and the other treasures that I have around me, like carrot cake.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
mattsmishaps@gmail.com Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
