New Cake: PB & J Banana Cake

....and Thoughts on being an Introvert

This weekend we invited Ms. L and her husband Mr. C for lunch at Casa Costa aka our home.

Ms. L was an ex-client who ordered a birthday cake for her daughter and one of the kindest clients I have ever met.

We are both self-proclaimed introverts and enthusiast of all things new age....like meditations, yoga, functional medicine, essential oil etc etc.

I think the fact that we managed to make friends given our personalities is just pure miracle.

I know that often times I do not appear as an introvert.

Perhaps going to a business school in university had forced me to break out of my shell.

I knew if I didn't, I would not have graduated.

I remember doing presentations in front of a hall of students and I was petrified.

But I would have this poker face while perfectly memorised lines (somehow) came out of my mouth and no one would guess that I was about to pee my pants.

But then after school, I would rush home and take refuge in my room (I shared a condo but I either stay in my room or cook in the kitchen), crafting, surfing the internet or watching TV.

Most of my classmates ended up in big accounting firms or investment banks after graduation. And I went into hospitality industry.

Not that I figured I have a passion in service but more so I needed a job and it didn't involve numbers (I hate numbers and my balance sheets in accounting were NEVER balanced).

I feel that it is very hard for an introvert to be successful in an extroverted world if we were to stay true to who we are.

Everything these days are about relationship building and I am not good at it (Or it looked like I managed just fine but I was actually killing myself doing it).

So over the years I "tried" to be a bit more outgoing and I may have overdone it by being overly cheerful and loud.

But I am blessed because there is always someone out there who could see through my cape and appreciate the quirky introverted person that I am.

They would appreciate my weirdness and not get upset when I recluse into my little shell.

They would encourage me to stay true to myself by reminding me the good in me.

And as I got older, I stopped caring so much about what other thinks but focus on what makes me truly happy.

I realised that I do not need a lot of friends but just a few who understands me and would participate in my cake tests (lol).

All while I learned to appreciate the good in me too.

When one introvert found another introvert it is like two long lost friends finding each other again.

It is utterly refreshing to realise there is someone out there who is just like you and that there needs no explaining nor pretending in the relationship.

You can speak your mind and not be thrown into the category of "Alert! Weirdo. Try to escape asap.".

Today as we bid farewell after a wonderful lunch Ms. L and I gave each other a hug, a hug which I had been too shy to give.

After our new friends left, I asked my husband, "Do you think they think I am weird?".

"You ARE weird." He said.

"Great".