FAT TUESDAY AND....FRUIT SNACK JESUS?

For some, Fat Tuesday may mean colorful parades, self-indulgence, and a neckful of colorful beads. But for this girl enjoying the simple life in the small village of Cedarville, Ohio, the holiday is a little less than extravagant.

That is, until last Tuesday's glimmer of excitement in the form of intriguing cakes at work.

My co-worker, Renea, decided to make the day a lil more festive and recognize Fat Tuesday by bringing in 2 cakes. Ya see... supposedly it's a tradition (and I had partially heard of this before) that often times people will bake a cake and have a small hidden cross or "baby Jesus."
Renea couldn't bring herself to bake a representation of the Lord in either her yellow cake with chocolate icing, or her chocolate cake with vanilla icing, so she opted to hide a red fruit snack in her baked goods.

As the morning went on, people took pieces of the cake, strategically, to try and locate the treasure and as a result, win the awaiting prize. My good friend, Erin and I scoped out the two options of sustenance and promise and choice our pieces. No luck.

About an hour or so later, Erin and I being the munchers we are AND due to the fact we had heard no excitement over anyone finding "Jesus," we made our way back to the kitchen. We discovered the cakes with pieces missing like the randomness of a bad jigsaw puzzle, but we had a new found desire to not only find the winning piece, but to win the mysterious prize.

I thought it would be in the chocolate cake. So, Erin chose a middle slice, I pulled it out and cut through.... to no avail. Fail. The great part of this game? Having to eat additional cake as a loser helps with the pain of falling short.

Erin walked to the white cake. After analyzing some marks Renea made in frosting and scoping out the pattern to which previous pieces had been removed, I slowly pointed to the top right corner piece with a sense of victory in my bones. As Erin slowly pressed her plastic cutlery through the chocolate, then through the white cake to unveil a glimpse at the red fruit snack.

"Waaaaaaaa!" she wailed loud enough to surely be heard by the clients on the other end of the phone lines to hear.
We immediately ran to the back room with the excitement of a small child enthused to show their mother a new trick. We presented "Jesus" to Renea and received our prize. CANDY! Ok now, maybe you were expecting more from the anticipation I built. I know that's the go-to reward for kids for anything from toilet training to remembering their 2nd grade math homework, but Erin and I were stoked. We sit at a desk all day, it's tiring, and we love any good 'ol pick me ups.
Until next time when we celebrate this unofficial holiday that reminds us of obesity and bad behavior...