cardamom cake

This dessert is extra extra extra special to me - my first time being back to a hustle bustle, plate to order environment since my treatments for cancer ended. My first time feeling alive. My first time doing what I truly love & have deeply missed - plating complex, well thought out desserts paired with a wine to order. The last time I did a plated dessert in a restaurant was May 16th, also with Third Seed Station, and after plating that time, I had to go home and take my nausea & chemo pills. May 16th was the first time since Nov. 31 2024 that I plated a dessert in a restaurant. This Valentine’s day dessert was so delightful to create - the way the Klicker strawberries, anise, cardamom, tarragon, orange, & cheesecake dance together makes me feel like Emile, Remy’s (the rat from the movie Ratatouille) brother, when he was eating separate bites of cheese with his eyes closed and then eating them combined and that made wispy colourful lights dance around in his mind- that is what this dessert has made me feel. The real surprise is that this dessert is entirely gluten free.

I am beyond happy to be rebuilding myself physically for the hustle bustle life that I want to dive back into …