I have always been prone to uncontrollable laughing fits. In school, it was not unusual for a teacher to make a perfectly sedate and sane statement, and suddenly, I’d be convulsing, snorting and tearing, while receiving puzzled looks from confused classmates. If the teacher asked what was funny, I could never articulate how some unassuming word like “pencil,” or “algebra,” or “hobbyhorse,” had metamorphosed after traveling through the pachinko machine in my brain. Ding ding ding ding. All of a sudden the absurdity I’d mentally drawn on a seemingly normal scenario had me laughing, rather hysterically.
This pattern continued throughout college and I can not tell you have many times I’ve been excused from a lecture to “cool off in the hallway and go get a sip of water.” To this day, even at work, I am prone to these spells. Just the other day while bermixing a large stockpot of raspberry syrup, an episode was triggered, by who knows what, except that I felt like I was stirring a cauldron, what if witch’s used immersion blenders, I’d watched the movie “Stripes” the previous night, then someone sneezed and ding ding ding ding – completely unfunny thoughts and actions joined together into one weird mental whatnot.
I have a theory this why I like giving cakes faces so much. Drawing eyes on chocolate truffles, giving a marshmallow a nose, or a cake some claws is the best way I know how to show you how the inner-pachinko machine functions.
This past weekend, I was offered a job to make cake for a co-worker. It was for his back-yard pig roast and I was given complete creative liberty. My first natural question was, “do you mind if I give the cake teeth?” My co-worker, whom I believe might have an inner Lite-Brite, really liked the idea of creature-like cake, so I eagerly went to work.
Marzipan eyes, gum-paste teeth, and brightly colored frosting-fur – I am also of the firm belief that a Creature Cake should have a “creature companion.” Buddy had a little bird and this cake, whom I shall call, “Pork Chop,” would have a little bear. So, I crafted a little marzipan bear to sit on his shoulder.
Here is the result….
So, the next time I think about something and I laugh, and then the other people filling their cars up with gas wonder what’s so funny about that gas pump, you might think of Pork Chop and maybe you’ll laugh too.
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