I Signori Zawadski

Anyone who knows the Evil Cake Genius knows that there are few things in this world that I am as passionate about as this ridiculous job of mine. There's my husband, "Captain Leisure", my little white dog "Speck" and travel. Ohh, sweet God, travel... The four things blend perfectly. Making wedding and event cakes in Minnesota is highly seasonal. Seriously, it takes a special kind of crazy to want to get married here in the winter (Hi, Stephanie and Peter!) so I typically have time to get away from the tundra freely between January and April each year. The Captain loves to travel as much as I do, and Speck has the world's best dog-sitters (Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve) who dote on her, and even blog for her while we are away. If you don't believe me, check it out here, and try not to judge us, we're insane pet owners (who, by the way, have a comprehensive journal of every trip we've taken for the past seven years in reading our "comments" to Speck each day of our trips. What does this have to do with our dear Anna and Nick? Patience, people, patience. When I met with Anna and Nick, they had most of their wedding plans already made. We had a great time designing up wedding cakes for them based on everything from their beautiful and unique bright green and navy blue color scheme, to the pattern in the carpet at the reception site. We sketched up a ton of different ideas, and I left it up to them to pick their final design. Then we got to chatting. One of my favorite questions is where the honeymoon will be. Partly because I'm nosy, partly because I get great ideas for my next trip from my client's honeymoons, and partly because these two were fun to meet with, and I wanted them to stay and chat some more. Anna said that she didn't, and wouldn't know where the honeymoon would be, because Nick was going to surprise her. Super cool, but that isn't going to save him from a meddling cake-lady. So, when Nick came back to pick up the samples, I grilled him on the topic. Turns out, he was considering everything from Europe to Africa, but not Hawaii, as he was waiting until he was trained for his "Iron Man" triathalon before he went there. Having been on Safari, I dove right in, and suggested the incredible place that we stayed when we were in Africa. It was truly amazing, fabulous wildlife, great food, incredible staff, and our Khaya (little house) was nicer than my own house, with his and her bathrooms, clawfoot tub, plunge pool, etc. His other top choice, Italy, is also a favorite of mine, so I began to ramble incessantly, until he asked if I could put my suggested itinerary into an email for him, which, I gladly did.

The wedding came, the cake they chose was perfect for it, and off they went on honeymoon. When Nick's sister came in to return the cake stand, I asked her where they went, and happily discovered that they were on their way to Italy. She asked if I ever did "welcome back" cakes, and while I had never done such a thing, I was intruigued by the concept, and especially excited to flex some Italy-love by way of cake decorating! So, I asked her what they were thinking, and she said "Tira Misu", and I asked her if it could look like a mound of spaghetti and meatballs. Done, and done. Funny, I've been to Italy several times, and never had spaghetti and meatballs there, nor have I had Tira Misu there, but I suppose, we're doing American-Italian now, so nothing could be more perfect. Except, a welcome banner to the new couple. So we added a welcome, in frosting to the new Signori (Mr. and Mrs.) Zawadski.

Anna and Nick had a great time in Italy (I'm pretty sure it's impossible not to) and have since been back to drop off a disc of wedding pictures. I'm hoping that I get a call from them for suggestions for a trip to Hawaii soon. I wonder what an "Iron Man" triathalon cake would look like...