Hi, friends! I hope your weekend is going well.
Do you have a favorite dessert? What about “good enough” desserts? What about solid desserts?
I don’t have good enough desserts, if I’m taking that sugar hit, it needs to be worth it. While I very rarely have my favorite dessert (there’s a French restaurant that makes a black forest gateau but uses strawberries instead of cherries about half an hour from my house), I’ll take a solid dessert any chance. 🙂
A solid dessert, to me, is an exemplary version of a common dessert. I have zero interest in Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies, but the bakery near me makes a great chocolate chip cookie. I’m not getting donuts from Dunkin or QT, but there’s a place about 15 minutes away that makes fanfuckingtastic donuts.
On the opposite side of the taste bud spectrum. Last night I went to a house party that served Cincinnati Chili and it was amazing. How have I lived my whole 40yr long life without even knowing it was a thing??? A fellow guest remarked “I feel like I could go out and shovel snow right now.” I politely nodded my head but silently was glad I now live in a no snow zone, as I helped myself to a second serving.
It is delicious!
I think a lot of people wrongly assume it’s just regular chili dumped over spaghetti, so it gets overlooked.
Regular chili wishes it was from Cincinnati!
On the desert topic… I’ve been thinking about making an ambrosia salad for the past couple of months. My husband was like “ew! Wtf is that supposed to turn out like?” when he saw the ingredient list. 😂 My mom used to make it for parties. The nostalgia might be driving my craving, but also I think I liked it?
Ambrosia salad is good! Way better than Watergate salad.
Creme Brule. It has to have a thick Sugar crust.
The local Chinese buffet chain makes a really nice one and I have it every time I go there. It was also my mom’s favorite as my mom and I share similar tastes in deserts.
The local grocery store (used to be owned by an Italian family, now owned by the WASPy-est Mungicakes that ever WASPed-the Westons) has an Italian style bakery that makes great stuff. I like it because they don’t over sweeten their icing. Just sweet enough for me. I avoid most Canadian supermarket pastries because they overload the sugar in both the pastry and the icing.
That was my dad’s favorite & definitely in my top few. I’m going to Hawaii in a week & a half so will get most of my favorites like haupia filled malasadas & shave Ice w/ ice cream & azuki beans.
I’ve realized the last couple weeks that i’m *either* a stress-eater *or* i lose my appetite almost entirely once the adrenaline & cortisol begin to dump (which *does* make sense, “fight or flight”-wise!), so i’ve been craving “good enough” snacks.
One that I like because it reminds me of “Christmas Rosettes, only heavier” are Bimbuñuelos: https://bimbousa.com/products-sweet/crispy-wheels-pastry-12-units
Otherwise it’s been a swing back & forth lately, between “salty, chocolate, and haribo-like “chewy”.
When we’re *not* under invasion?
Passion Cake from Patrick’s bakery here in town is 100* my favorite dessert!😉
I am a stress eater until the stress gets so intense and sustained that my body just goes to “SHUT IT DOWN, we don’t want to waste effort on digestion” and then the appetite completely disappears. It’s disturbing when that switch happens and it’s rare.
Last time it happened, it was crazy as fuck because the rational part of my brain was like yo I need to eat but the message from the gut, nervous system, etc was like nah it’s been 48 hours and you had 2 protein bars and some string cheese, you’re fine. I don’t think I ate a real meal for close to a week.
Was I “fine” at that time? Yes. Do I think it unrelated that 6 months after that miserable high stress period my thyroid was shitting the bed? Oh that definitely feels causal in retrospect.
I like to joke that my metabolism is “European peasant” aka my ancestors lived through winter on a bowl of pease porridge and managed to still pop out babies and do manual labor.
Anyways, friend, this is my indirect way of trying to be like yoooooo yet again you’re living in the epicenter of a social movement that is not safe for people, please try to take care of yourself. Maybe put some reminders in your phone calendar for labwork in 4 months to catch anything that popped up from this stress?
And about the “rarity” part–when I deal with something like an unexpected death, or Minneapolis’s current goings-on, ot largely dres up, as soon as the adrenaline & cortisol dumps hit.
But then my body starts to “fight” that shutdown by craving salty/crunchy snacks (to get me drinking water!), those Haribo (totally a stim-food, relaxing my jaw muscles, from clenching alllll day!), and chocolate (dopamine)🤷♀️
I know my cycles at this point, but rather than just giving in to them, for *some* dumb reason (like last night), I fight them, try to “make healthier choices” then end up giving in *anyway*🙃🫠
Oooooh, thanks for that labor reminder!!!
That’s a great idea, and i’ma do it!😉💖🫶