Church Bake Sale or Cake Porn

Hi guys! I spent this weekend running my church's bake sale. Now I didn't exactly WANT to run my church's bake sale, but I am on our church's finance board (which if you knew me is pretty laughable) and at the meeting last month our priest Father William said, "We need a bake sale!" Now being the only woman on the finance board at that meeting, I saw the frosting writing on the wall..I slunk down a bit in my chair but to no avail.. Father William pointed a finger at me and said "YOU! You get the ladies together!" Now I actually ended up on the finance board a few years back when our then priest Father David accosted me after church and said, "We need you on the finance board!" After I finished laughing I told him, "I can't even balance my checkbook!" He said, "Great! You'll be our "common man"! So there I was! I still feel sort of a bit of a dullard at finance meetings, all the accounting pages make my eyes glaze over. I do manage to ask a few semi-intelligent questions and am a voice for the ladies of the church.

Anyhoo..that is how I ended up running the bake sale. We are building a parish hall and need money to help pay for the furnishings so that was the purpose of the bakesale. Our church altar society has been basically disbanded for the last 8 years since we built a new church because the new church did not include a hall or kitchen from which to do "altar society" type things! So regrouping ladies was hard. I got to get up in front of the church a couple times to make announcements and plead for help. It is so weird how I don't mind talking to anyone in my church , but when I get up there behind the pulpit I start to shake and sweat! The joys of public speaking!

Anyways..to keep a long story long, the above "cake porn" is a piece of what one of our church ladies brought to sell. She works for a bakery that does cakes and cheesecakes for high end restaurants. She brought a cake and a cheesecake for the Saturday night mass sale that when people saw her open the box, they actually gasped out loud! It was huge and tall..3 layers with inches of buttercream icing and white chocolate curls and raspberry filling between the layers! Oh heavenly days.. they were selling slices for $3 a pop and it was all sold as fast as we could slice it! I did get a piece of her delicious 4 inch thick cheesecake (blueberries, raspberries and pineapple) to take home and share with my husband.

Today she brought this coconut cake and I bought a 1/4. She said their cakes wholesale for $55-$65 dollars! We had one slice after supper which we split into 4 pieces..pure heaven! It had the most delicious frosting I have ever had in my life..both buttercreamy and whipped creamy at the same time. I am sure it was not cholesterol friendly, but somethings in life you just cannot let pass you by!I must say since my cholesterol post some days back (10?) I have been eating only non processed food, cut way back on sugar (except THIS) and cut down on carbs,eat only lean meat and eating more fruits and veggies, only greek yogurt and skim milk, no hydrogenized oils and I lost 4lbs! I was eating MORE food! During Lent I gave up bread and coffee and lost 1/2 a pound in 40 days! Yay! I do hope this continues and that my cholesterol levels stay lowish. I have been reading a lot and taking some other steps also (supplements,flax, oatmeal, a glass of red wine a night) and also exercise..although truthfully my exercise this week has been gardening and yard work. I cannot believe how much better I feel already! I feel like I have so much more energy and I can already feel improvement in my joints..I can get off the couch without a struggle!

So I am continue-ing on my road to healthier eating. I need to go to the library and check out some books..I have to pay my overdue book fines there first (yeah..I am a rebel like that! LOL) Oh yes..the bakesale was a success..we made almost $1300! So here's to healthier, smarter eating and also to being smart enough not to pass up an occasional slice of heaven! (Church cakes have no calories or cholesterol anyways...right?) Hoping you have some sweetness in your life this week! Til next time! Julia