Friday, May 28, 2010

Desserts--heaven help me!

Two of my favorite days each month are the days Bon Appetit and Southern Living arrive in my mailbox. They're usually a couple of days apart,which gives me time to savor each magazine. My habit is to read through them, either mark or tear out the recipes I know instantly I want, and then go back, leisurely, to study them again. After that, I resolutely make myself throw them away. I used to save Bon Appetit, until my collection grew out of hand, and I knew I'd never go back to any specific issue again. Now the only old issue I keep is one on Scotland and its food.
Southern Living came today, and I was astounded that all the recipes I pulled were for dessert, something I usually don't offer guests. But who could resist chocolate truffle bites (melted chocolate in small cups of pie dough baked in a muffin tin, topped with whipped cream, and garnished with chocolate shavings), or small cream puffs filled with coffee whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup, or banana puddings, individual, baked with a meringue topping. From a Kraft Kitchen magazine yesterday, I had pulled an ice cream cake--looked more like a bombe or even a baked Alaska to me. You line glass bowl with plastic wrap, put in 2 cups softened raspberry sherbet, top with crushed Oreos, 2 cups chocolate ice cream, more Oreos, 2 cups vanilla ice cream and more Oreos. Freeeze four hours, unwrap, and "ice" with cool whip and decorate with toasted cocoanut. I think many of my kids will be here on the weekend of June 11, and I'm wondering if Maddie and I would have time to freeze the dessert and have it ready for supper. Me, who will tell you I don't have a sweet tooth unless chocolate is involved!
In spite of this new obsession, I lost 2 lbs. last week. Realized going off Weight Watchers did not mean a free ticket and went back to my old, more careful eating habits. Sigh. I guess chocolate mousse is a thing of my past. And maybe dinners at Joe T.'s.
I've started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Sieg Larsson. I gave it to Megan for Christmas a couple of years ago, and she was so long in picking it up that I decided it was a poor choice of a gift. But once she got into it, she was enthralled.She ordered the second book for her Kindle, and the third, I think, in hard cover. Sadly Steig Larsson died of a heart attack at the age of fifty, just after submitting these three manuscripts. I am not far into the first one, but I'm hooked.

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