That Regretful Smell of Freshly Baked Cake

My original plan was to use the "To Find the Perfect Recipe for Rice Cooker 鸡蛋糕, So Easy that One Can Make in an Office Pantry" as my next DOE training. I love this topic because there are so many points to make.

First of all, "all the difficulties you face in your life are imaginary". Most people think of cake making as complicated, time consuming and energy draining process. However, making cake in the office pantry during lunch break (45 minutes) prove that this is a simple and enjoyable process.

Secondly, "think out of the box", of course. Who said rice cooker is only for cooking rice? 'Common sense' needs constant reappraisal!

Thirdly, when the team is stressed, it is good to "play mamasak" so that they can relive their childhood. To remind them that spirit of eagerness, anticipation and adventure give us strength to laugh it off and keep going.

Most importantly, of course, is the Design of Experiment. Baking cake is a process with enough factors and levels to play around with to demonstrate the concept.

We had our first SBR session, and we loved it! So we planned to have many more rounds of SBR before we perfect the recipe.

This fun activity had to be stopped at 2nd SBR because I was not considerate enough. Our Security team received complaint that the smell of freshly baked cake made someone suffocated in the office.

I felt bad.

All these years, I associated baking and cooking as an act of nurture and goodness. I naively think everyone loves the sweet smell of freshly baked cake. Apparently there are people that disagree. Apparently we were spreading offensive smell in the office.

It was never my intention to take delight in other people's pains. I would never start this activity if I knew the lovely smell that I always link with blissfulness could suffocate others. I didn't know those happy moments of sharing freshly baked cake could actually hurt others.

I am so sorry. Really.