Rose coloured taste buds

It’s winter in Melbourne which is perfect justification for indulging in heavy, rich deserts with cream that you could stand a spoon up in. Last week I shared a tiramisu. I’ve gone through a long phase of avoiding tiramisu because I used to have a friend that specialised in it. He’d make it with more of all the good stuff – mascapone, cognac, espresso – than restaurants ever do, leaving theirs tasting somewhat bland in comparison.

But it’s been a long time since I had the homemade tiramisu and now I’m wondering about rose coloured taste buds. Was it as good as I remember or is tiramisu just not as good as chocolate pudding?

P.S.
I did a Google search for tiramisu recipe to remind myself what the alcohol was. I like this recipe. You know you’re on the right sort of page with instructions like this:

Don’t use American coffee in place of espresso. If you do use coffee, don’t call the result tiramisu, because it is not, and don’t tell anybody where you got the recipe. Don’t use ‘espresso blend’ coffee of any type. It is not Italian espresso. Use an Italian brand such as Cello, Lavazza, Kimbo, Mauro, Illy, etc. You should be able to find it at an Italian market. It will either be packaged in a 250gr. (8 oz) foil brick or an 8oz can. If you are in the USA it will be expensive. You don’t have to use the most expensive brand, but make sure it is Italian. Starbucks doesn’t make any coffee that is even remotely close to Italian espresso. Don’t bother trying to use it.

Dessert is Decadence

My grandparents used to eat dessert each night. Generally quite simple like fruit and icecream. Always handmade – an apple crumble perhaps. In fact now I recall they stewed and bottled their own fruit and made the icecream. It speaks of an age where people had time – time to prepare food, time to eat extended meals together, time for rituals, time for more than the essentials.

My partner and I manage to eat together about half the time. But we like food. And when food is special, it stops us from rushing though it while reading the newspaper. In our house – dessert is always special.

Let there be more dessert.

Dessert Light

I welcomed in the New Year on a 5 day walk in New Zealand’s mountains. Coming from southern Australia, in its 8th year of drought, I spent my entire time in NZ goggle eyed at the greenness. It still rains here. The huts for walkers had tiny little water tanks installed – it must rain every week for them to be useful. Crazy.

Bushwalking has a few implications for food. 1) It is preferable if it is light; 2) You eat more; 3) If you’ve ever under-catered on a bushwalk you carry the memory a long time; 4) Everything tastes good.

It’s been a long time since we did any real walking. And now that we’re older, softer, weaker and more desirous of creature comforts, we make our lives harder by carrying more to satisfy those comforts. So there was wine (in plastic bottles – thanks Qantas) for New Years, and there was dessert.

Dessert that night consisted of freeze dried, rehydrated fruit and hot custard made from powder. Ok it doesn’t sound fancy. My sympathies go to astronauts who haven’t walked themselves to the point of enjoying anything edible before consuming such stuff. If you’re looking at freeze drying fruit I recommend berries and kiwi fruit.

More Dessert

It’s my belief that New Year’s resolutions are broken so often because they are not fun. They are virtuous and boring. They are hard and annoying. And when broken they are given up with relief.

So I’m trying a new approach. This years resolution is more dessert.

Dessert is decadence. Eating more than one needs. Spending more time cooking and eating than required. Slowing down. Savouring. Socialising.

My partner and I are both hyper active cyclists, generally more worried about weight loss than weight gain. This is not an attempt to supersize me.

Perhaps by the end of the year I’ll even be able to spell dessert without having to go back and add an s.