You don't make me flowers anymore

Well, yesterday was an interesting day. I applied for two jobs, even though I haven't got a visa yet. I was hoping that someone would want to employ me enough to help me get a TN visa. So, the first interview went well, it was for a mid-sized bakery called Torrance bakery, which is located less than ten minutes from home! The owner was a very nice guy, who seemed to like me, and I have a stage day to do on Monday! So it is promising. However, the second interview was a bit of a diaster. It was a job fair at Jon's Marketplace which is a supermarket chain here in Los Angeles. They market themselves as supplying "food from around the world" and I do a lot of shopping there. Anyway, I walked in and found the job fair at the back of the store with no help from the first worker I found who spoke no english. The other candidates there were dressed in jeans and sweat shirts and there I am standing next to them in dress pants, nice shirt and heels. I was the only one with a resume! And also the only white person except for the lady doing the interviews. So the interview lasted about 2 minutes and I was asked to go with the head cake decorator to demonstrate my skills. Armed with an apron, hair net and palette knife I was set to work on a 10 inch retangular cake. Blanca, the supervisor, told me in broken english that I'd have to be quick, because their main concern was efficiency. Anyway, there I was masking the lopsided cake she gave me with whip-it, the disgusting non-dairy whipping cream. All you cake decorators out there know that whipped cream is the hardest thing to mask a cake with since it is much thinner than buttercream and so shows the cake through unless it is put on with a heavy hand. After about two pounds of whip-it, the cake is a full inch bigger in size, and I begin making roses for the top. Okay, I am the first to admit that my piped roses blow. I have never worked for a place that sells those low-end birthday cakes adorned with huge purple buttercream roses. I can make beautiful realistic gum paste flowers, but Jon's has no market for those. Needless to say, I wasn't offered a job. Blanca was very nice about it, she kept saying that the pictures I brought were beautiful, but that I should be applying for a higher-end bakery. And she was right. It's sort of ironic that I can make all the high-end stuff, but I suck at making a cake that sells for $10.99. Here is a picture of the flowers I can make!!

gum paste flowers
wedding cake