Desserts? Always. Growing up in a not so wealthy home and family, Mom made sure we had dessert to look forward to at the end of supper.
For lunch and supper, we could count on a dessert. The ritual, if it can be called that, might mean eating a small sweet item or sometimes larger and more substantial. Of course it had to be some form of sweets. I’m thinking Mom had desserts after a meal when she grew up on a farm north of Amery, WI.
For us it might be a cookie or two, a small Jell-o dessert, or even a small bowl of tapioca or butterscotch pudding. At other times it would be a big chunk of cake or a piece of some kind of pie. Mom’s crust was made with Crisco and love, and people eating her pies didn’t leave the crust due to dryness. They ate it all.
The dessert custom stayed with me throughout my own family, and often coffee was part of the after-meal eating. Coffee alone was not as enjoyable as having something sweet to eat with it. There were other people I talked to who weren’t in the dessert habit, but for us it made the meal complete. And I do not recall Mom telling me to eat my veggies and other food and then I could get a dessert. I just knew that was the way it worked.
Reading stories about cafes and other eating spots in large cities like New York City have amazed me, thinking that a person goes into the diner to choose from a large list of desserts. Cream cheese desserts are the only choice at some, and I’m guessing the aroma of the eating place is heavenly. Coffee I’m guessing is wonderful, and strong, as well as tea. It would be fun to look at prices as well.
Seldom now do we order dessert after a large meal unless we are there for a special occasion. Small desserts are compact and loaded, and often a group of diners agrees to eat from one sweet treat.
