A variation on a dessert tasting

Some writing is pleasing and some you have to make pleasurable.
For the past two years, I have written only about dessert tastings. Each time I have to make it appealing for both the readers and to my practiced eye.

Let us imagine that Alice, the March Hare, the Dormouse and the Hatter dropping in for a spot of dessert at the school on the afternoon of Friday, October 5. What will they eat? Well, they could start off with flambéed peach crêpes, then move onto a honey almond financier dressed with a blueberry grape salad and an almond milk sauce. Will they choose the goat cheese & pear tartlette annointed with candied walnut ice cream or a mocha torte topped with Kahlua cherry compôte and a puff of crème Chantilly? Perhaps the ginger and vanilla bean crème brûlée? No imaginary wine or tea will be served but they could help themselves to hot coffee and chilled water and have a pleasant afternoon trying to chat amicably. Care to join them? Reservations are available for 2:00pm. and 2:45pm.

Holding the fort for one’s department can sometimes be rather tricky. Last week’s dessert tasting was a case in point. The first seating had only 4 guests. To help out, I gallantly decided to be the fifth. Everyone was ordered to have two desserts. Having been on a South Beach-ish regime to lose ten stubborn pounds, this put me in a dilemma as I perused the menu. Now which one would add the least amount of fat overload? Should I choose the red plum Napoleon or the milk chocolate-macadamia par¬fait? The apricot galette or the mocha torte? Never having counted a calorie in my life, I thought it best to order those that looked small in size and nibble as delicately as I could. The mocha torte came first. Toothsome and chocolatey, I allowed myself only two bites and then made mincemeat of the slim brandy snap filled with cream. Was it a good choice? Heaven only knows. My stomach, on the other hand, was in ecstasy! Next up was the red plum Napoleon. I only nibbled on the crisp puff pastry squares not realizing that I should have been eating the accompanying nectarine ice wine salad which was probably less caloric. Then the puff pastry beckoned me with its crisp sprinkles of fine sugar and my heart went along with the idea, singing.
By this time, the reception area on the 4th floor was filling up quickly with what turned out to be 18 people for the second seating. I was stumped. Here, I had eaten two desserts carefully just to make up the numbers and now the table was overflow¬ing. With vengeance, I decided to go the whole hog and tucked into a final helping of three peach crêpe parcels anointed with honey butter sauce. The scales thankfully didn’t rock. I hadn’t gained an ounce. Hallelujah!

On Tuesday, August 7 we can all enjoy yet another “Afternoon of Desserts.” The selections include Pavlova, created in Australia by Chef Herbert Sachse in honor of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. A fruit-filled meringue topped with pillows of whipped cream, it is both toothsome and creamy. In these hot summer days, what better way to refresh oneself than with coconut mousse encased in a caramelized maca-damia puff pastry shell with a scoop of mango sorbet or an almond pots de crème and a nibble of blueberry short-bread — ah, the lazy days of summer!