I thought I would take a break from packing up my house for the move to Calgary to write one more post from good ole’ Manitoba. This post is all about the best desserts I ever had and an honorable mention to some of my favorite foods that I think are just great.

If you have been following my blog, you would know I wrote a post a while back about some desserts I can do without (Deep fried cheesecake, peanut butter marshmallow square and chocolate fountain) I haven’t changed my mind about disliking the peanut butter marshmallow square, but I do like marshmallows, especially toasted and I love peanut butter. But just so we’re clear, not any peanut butter will do. I only like Kraft Extra Creamy. I have tried other brands including all natural and/or organic and frankly they just don’t measure up to my beloved extra creamy.

Moving on. Going back a few years, I was lucky enough to stay in a pretty swishy hotel in Calgary. I wanted to indulge so I ordered room service including dessert. The dessert in question was actually a chocolate plate. It was the first time I ever saw anything like that on a dessert menu and because it was different, it of course peaked my interest.

Much to my amazement, when it arrived I was blown away by the presentation. The dessert was served on a piece of marble. The chocolate cake was cut into a wedge and placed so it was standing up on it’s end and as part of the garnish, there was a chocolate cowboy hat. Quite clever as Calgary is known for cowboy culture. Needless to say, it made a lasting impression. The dessert tasted as good as it looked including the cowboy hat.

Growing up, our household wasn’t too big on desserts. Shocking I know. But every Thursday night, we’d march over to my grandparents and have a family supper. Not only was the food always great, but we always had dessert. My grandfather had a huge sweet tooth and expected nothing less. When we did have dessert at home, my mom was pretty good at it. I especially liked her Apple Betty. Fresh sweet/sour apples with cinnamon sugar and a brown sugar/flour/butter crust with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top. To this day, it’s one of my favorite desserts and certainly a comfort food.

Not to far from where I grew up, there was a ice cream shop called The Velvet Dip. It started as a family business, was seasonal and has since passed through other owners. To me, they have always been known for their soft, real-cream ice cream. When I was a kid, my friends and I would call it the VD, not knowing what “VD” potentially stood for. Imagine my mother’s horror when I’d shout to her I was going to the VD! as I raced down the street on my bike. Anyways, though I’m not a huge ice cream connoisseur, their ice cream is some the best I’ve ever had. They have kept up with the times as one can purchase a Salty Dog which is ice cream with caramel and sea salt. So before I head off to Calgary, I must get down there one last time and give it a lick.

Before Hurricane Katrina, Colin and I married and headed to New Orleans. As a wedding present, Colin’s aunt bought us a gift card to eat at a restaurant owned by Emeril Lagasse called Nola’s. It’s an understatement to say the food was outstanding including their dessert menu.

But I do have a couple regrets. 1) I should have ordered the steak tartar because it’s not something you often see on a menu and 2) I should have ordered more them 1 dessert so that I could honestly say I tried things and was able to see more of their plate presentations. We ordered a bottle of red wine to go with dinner and I remember being embarrassed that the wine was a screw top. Here I thought I knew something about wine, but the waiter went on to explain that more winery’s were going to screw tops, and she was right. We also toured a plantation and they were selling fresh mint juleps. I passed on having one, and I wish I didn’t.

Knowing that I should have tried more then one dessert at Nola’s, one day I took my pastry team out to 3 different restaurants and we did nothing but sample the entire dessert menu and dessert wines at each restaurant. I’m sure the staff there must have thought we were nuts but it was great fun. We learned a few things that night and I would have no problem doing it again.

As I have become more aware of my likes and dislikes with food, I can be pretty particular about it. Some of my all time favorite foods include: fresh cherries (I once got busted for stuffing a bunch in my mouth, stems and all by the Executive Chef. Thankfully he was laughing more then I was), peanut butter and banana sandwiches (Anna banana just a coincidence), fresh nectarines, fried egg sandwiches, chocolate, pizza (pepperoni, mushroom and bacon please), steak (I’m a meatatarin. It’s a personal choice), cinnamon buns, hold the raisins and cream cheese frosting ‘tho and as a guilty pleasure salt and vinegar potato chips.

I also really enjoy a moist, gooey piece of chocolate cake. Speaking of which, a shout-out to our friend Thomas. We had another Aluminum Cook evening (Please see past post IRON CHEF…Or something like that) at his place and he made a molten chocolate cake with a mango coulis. Holy cow! I can still remember how it tasted. His girlfriend Carolyn made a stew with moose meat and it was the 1st time I ever had moose. Delicious indeed.

I like my steak medium, spaghetti sauce with lots of meat, bread with lots of grains and my desserts to be fresh, not overly sweet and different. And if I order a piece of coconut cream pie, it better taste like coconut cream pie and not like gelatin.

I have also learned that I like white wine over red, although I won’t pass up a glass of Pinot Noir, and my martini’s on the tart side. I like reading about food, I like to experiment with food and I like to share my meal with family and friends. I consider myself very lucky indeed that I live in a country where the grocery stores are stocked full with healthy food choices, although I must confess, when I pass by the raisins, I give them a hearty scowl and keep walking.

P.s For those that are curious, since I last wrote about the Aluminum Cook evenings; we’ve had 3 more. We featured vanilla, any food that starts with the letter “M” hence the moose stew and a BBQ on Canada Day that featured foods only from Canada.

I’m happy to report a great time was had by all!