Adorable Desserts

Last week one of the Sorbet Sistahs was struck down with an illness and missed our dinner. (Tracy, I'm just glad it wasn't the swine flu!). We carried on without her and were actually considering passing on dessert in her honor. You know - a fallen comrade and all. We decided we would just look at the dessert tray (almost always a fatal mistake).

We were at Brio http://www.brioitalian.com/dessert.html

They offer these small "sample" servings:

Strawberry Panna Cotta Parfaito
A Tuscan version of Strawberry Shortcake. Creamy vanilla bean Panna Cotta topped with sponge cake, strawberry sauce and fresh whipped cream 2.45

Creme Brulee
Creamy housemade custard with the season's freshest ingredients. Choose from Kahlua, Vanilla or Caramel 2.45

Key Lime Pie
Tart and refreshing with fresh lime and a pecan graham cracker crust topped with vanilla whipped cream 2.45

Brio's Famous Cheesecake
Rich and creamy cheesecake topped with caramelized sugar and creme anglaise 2.45

Milk Chocolate Caramel Cake
A decadent chocolate cake, layered with milk chocolate ganache, caramel, rich chocolate frosting and vanilla whipped cream 2.45

Tiramisu
Lady fingers layered with coffee liqueur, mascarpone cheese and cocoa 2.45


They were small. They were only $2.45.


We got four.

I know - crazy, right? But there was CARAMEL creme brulee, and Beth really wanted Tiramisu, and there was milk chocolate caramel cake. And they were cute. And did I mention they were only $2.45?

See how small they are?






I like to make it look like my Sistah, Beth is going to eat them all. See how sneaky I am?


Here they are:

Here they are - so cute!!! In the lower left hand is the chocolate caramel cake. Now here's something interesting - the waiter said this was no good - too sweet. Beth and I LOVED this one - it really blew the other ones away! Above that is Tiramisu. Not bad, but Tiramisu is Tiramisu. The one on the dessert tray was covered in chocolate shavings and that distracted us. Like a diamond. Sparkly.

The other two are the creme brulees. And you know what? They were no good - too soupy. Since I took my cooking class at Williams Sonoma, I knew that they had not been given enough time to set. (Oooh - are you impressed? I kinda was - especially since my most common act of cooking is defrosting things in the microwave.)

Of course, being the food snobs we are we only ate the chocolate and left the rest as a statement for the Chef.

Yeah, right.

The only dessert we leave is sorbet. And maybe biscotti.

Okay - what did we learn?

The expert (in this case our waiter) doesn't always know everything. If we listened to him, we wouldn't have had the best dessert! Get advice, but trust yourself.

Say yes!! When our Sistah fell ill, Beth and I almost didn't go out. But I'm so glad we did! Having fun with my Sistahs is so much fun and such a recharge for me - I don't make enough time for my friends and for fun. Do you? Make the plan and then make it happen.

Sometimes taking a look at the dessert tray is okay. Most of the time we diet, exercise and push ourselves. Our Sorbet Sistahs night is one of our rewards. Are you balancing your hard work with rewards? Make sure you do it - it just doesn't happen. Chances are pretty good you are much harder on yourself than you have to be.

And NEVER let the waiter talk you out of chocolate.