cake.

"Cakes have gotten a bad rap. 

People equate virtue with turning down dessert. 

There is always one person at the table who holds up her hand when I serve cake. "No really, I couldn't," she says, and then gives her flat stomach a conspiratorial little pat. 

Everyone who is pressing a fork into that first tender layer looks at the person who declined the plate, and they think, "that person is better than I am." That person has discipline. 

But that isn't a person with discipline; that is a person who has completely lost touch with joy. 

A slice of cake never made anybody fat. 

You don't eat the whole cake. 

You don't eat cake every day of your life. 

You take the cake when it is offered because the cake is delicious. 

You have a slice of cake and what it reminds you of is someplace that's safe, uncomplicated, without stress. A cake is a party, a birthday, a wedding. 

A cake is what's served on the happiest days of your life. 

This is a story of how my life was saved by cake, so, of course, if sides are to be taken, I will always take the slice of cake." 

- Jeanne Ray