In My Defence, I Was Left Unsupervised

Two posts in rapid succession… Something must be interesting…

As you can tell from the title, this is bound to be good!

Today I was busy refining some wood work I’ve been doing on Taleisin’s rub rail. Annie was about to go talk to Lin about planting some flowers for her (Annie loves gardening, Lin’s got a garden that needs tending so it’s a great match). Annie asked me while I was working to check on the cake she’s baking in 5 minutes and put the timer on the deck next to where I was working. I warned her that asking me to do something while I’m working on something else is fraught with risk. None the less, Annie insisted that the task is simple!

My instructions were to take the cake out of the oven in 5 minutes, stick a knife in it to see if it’s ready and if it’s not to put it back in the oven. Seems simple right?

Well let me tell you something about my focus, when I’m focussed on the task at hand, nothing can distract me and nothing else gets absorbed…

The timer went off, I put my chisel down and went below deck. I pulled the cake out of the oven, as instructed. I stabbed it with a knife (no, this is not what caused it to look like it does in the picture), it was cooked. It seemed like a good idea at the time to be helpful and take the cake out of the tin (we use a bread tin as it seems to produce a better cake on the boat), I tipped it out on the cooling rack. Disaster struck!

How was I supposed to know that I had to let it sit for a while? How was I supposed to know that I had to loosen the sides first? How was I supposed to know that you place the rack on top of the tin before you tip the cake out? I was left unsupervised attempting to do something I had no business doing….

Needless to say my first reaction was oh ^%$#, she’s going to murder me! I quickly put it back in the tin, then I thought the only smart move to be would be to make a run for it! I high tailed it up the dock and as Annie passed me I said I’ll just save her the hassle and go set up camp for the night!

Annie gave me a look and said: “What have you done?”

I kept walking….

Twenty seconds later Annie yelled at me from the boat: “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY CAKE!!! GET BACK HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF. You were only supposed to take it out of the oven, NOTHING ELSE!”

Naturally I was reluctant as a 5 year old knowing they are being called over to receive a hiding for the mischief they have just committed. I skulked back to the boat and started apologising profusely.

Now if you’re a guy, and you’ve been in a situation like this before you know what’s going through my mind at this moment…

I think it’ll suffice to say that Annie was less than impressed with me! I tried to explain that it still tastes good and we’re going to make it look worse by way of actually eating it.

Luckily I escaped this time with only stern words, next time I might be sleeping on deck or worse in the dinghy!

I feel terrible about messing up the cake, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was looking forward to it as much as Annie. I guess I’ll have to wait a bit before I suggest eating it regardless! It does taste good in spite of the way it looks though! I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to taste one of the many bits I broke it into…

On the bright side, we’ll save time not having to cut it before we serve it!