Sweet Tooth
Posted on October 4, 2008 with 12 Comments
Mmmmm, sugar. Will you marry me?
Photo credit: La Tartine Gourmande
When I was engaged, I used to have wedding nightmares. It was always one of three rotating bad dreams:
- I got left at the altar (ha! Turns out this is more like a dream come true than a nightmare. Moving on.)
- Nothing is ready in time for the wedding. I have wet hair, I’m still dressed in jeans, I forgot to get the marriage license or book a marriage commissioner, and the guests are filing in through the door.
- The cake gets smashed before I get to taste it.
It is typical of me, though kind of hilarious, that my subconscious places a ruined cake on par with being left at the altar or the entire event being ruined in terms of the degree of disastrousness. I really care about dessert.
I was having dinner at Noah’s place the other day.
(Side note: Noah is this guy I was telling you about a few weeks ago. He’s amazing. Oh, he’s also my boyfriend, it’s been officially decided.)
We were eating dessert. Dairy-free pomegranate and acai sorbet, which was surprisingly good, but it had to be dairy-free because Noah is allergic to dairy. Initially, I didn’t think this was a big deal. But it hit me in stages, and over the last few weeks, my thought patterns have progressed a little like this:
- “Eh, no big deal.”
- “Hmmm… I just had toast with butter and jam for breakfast, yogurt for snack, a veggie, meat and cheese sandwich for lunch, and pasta sprinkled with parmesan for dinner. There’s nothing I ate today that Noah could eat.”
- “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU CAN’T EAT DESSERT?!”
- “Oh my gosh I can’t bake for him because all the desserts I make have butter or milk in them. I’m going to be the worst girlfriend ever.”
- “Wait a minute. That means more for me.”
- “Wow, dairy-free food is really good now that he’s introducing me to it.”
- “Mmmm… sushi. And pad thai. And kung pao chicken. Yum. Maybe I actually like this dairy-free thing.”
- “It’s amazing that dairy really doesn’t figure in the Asian diet. How healthy.”
- “Okay I could do with something other than Asian food tonight.”
- “I really want some damn Italian for dinner.”
- “OMG cheese. And butter. And tasty, tasty chocolate. Want. Yum. NOM NOM NOM.”
So anyway. We were eating sorbet at Noah’s place, and we were talking about cake, naturally, because I like talking about cake and other tasty treats. We were discussing the birthday cake from my dad’s birthday earlier this week, a delicious raspberry and mango confection that I imagine would be on the dessert menu in heaven. I told him we got it from the same bakery we always get my birthday cake from.
Noah: “What do you always get as your birthday cake?”
Me: “Raspberry and white chocolate mousse cake.”
Noah: “Hmmmm… that sounds good. Also not like something I could eat.”
Me: “… ” (blank stare)
Noah: “So, if I were around on your birthday, then what would you order instead?”
Me: “Two cakes.”
LOL. I love that answer. Why in the world should you have to sacrifice your favourite cake just because he can’t eat it?? Pish posh. He can get his own dessert. lol.
I can’t have dairy (I do alot, though), and I bake all the time using margarine and rice milk/soy milk. It’s pretty easy to substitute! Rice milk tastes ALOT like regular milk- I use it in cereal all the time, and it works to bake with as long as you’re not making, like, pudding or something.
Hehe, yeah he agreed with me. And he’s introduced me to almond milk, which I really like! Have you tried it? I actually prefer it over regular milk on my cereal now.
It is pretty easy to use substitutions for stuff we make at home, it’s more difficult in restaurants.
Ley do you have any suggestions for good entree meals that are dairy free?
Giggle… Too funny!!
I’m really glad you guys are doing great. He sounds like a lot of fun.
ps: Are you coming this Wednesday?
Happy Sunday!
Hee!
I really loved that journey through your dairy-free thoughts. It’s such an apt relationship metaphor as well.
Might I suggest Tofutti dairy-free sour cream. It’s a rare gem in the world of dairy substitutes. And I love real sour cream like it’s nobody’s business.
MyHubby is lactose intolerant too. Sometimes it’s a pain but I adapt recipes to use fake butter and lactose free milk. I bet you could find a yummy vegan cake!
I haven’t tried almond milk…I’ll have to try to find some! Yeah, it’s hard in restaurants, because even if they say that there isn’t any milk in a dish, alot of people don’t think about, like, powdered milk or cream cheese or things like that.
Oh, jeez…there are a TON of dairy-free entrees! You can do anything from a simple breaded, pan-fried chicken breast to a fettucine alfredo made with tofu! I can try to post a few things on my blog for you if you want?
I’m a little confused. Is he lactose intolerant or gluten intolerant?
There are lots of entrees that are dairy free.
He can have any number of pastas that are tomato based sauces instead of cream or milk based.
You can also bake with soy milk which is lactose free.
I am guessing he is Asian because of something you wrote. His lactose intolerance much be quite severe.
Speaking of Asian diet, when I was in Tibet, they offered me yak milk which wasn’t bad. It was better than butter tea. Which sounds a lot better than it tasted. Argh, I need to wash that taste of out now.
There was plenty of diary products all over China though…
Leilani
I need some cake now. At 10:30pm. Cake!
Haha sorry… is it bad that I think cake at 10:30 pm is perfectly reasonable?
Leilani – he’s allergic to dairy and also soy protein. Not gluten though
He’s not Asian actually but he really likes Asian food!
Thanks for the great suggestions. And wow – how cool that you’ve been to Tibet. And tried yak milk. That’s something not many people can claim!
Um, obviously 2 cakes. What other possible answer would there be to such a question??
LOL. Amazing. And, really, dessert is quite amazing and life would not be nearly as delightful without it. I mean, how could you live without Godiva; I don’t think it would be possible!