Exercises
“My favourite desert”
The desert arrived, lemon sorbet in a champagne glass. I let the first spoonful dissolve on my tongue, savouring the tingling tartness as I watched Jason playing with his Tiramasu. I tried a bigger spoonful and swallowed it down greedily and was soon scraping the bottom of the glass.
“Are you going to finish that?” I asked, trying not to gaze longingly at his full bowl.
“Be my guest” He said graciously, sitting back.
The sweetness soothed over the stringent aftertaste of lemon. Sweet and sour, just like Jason.
His eyes accused me of gluttony but he was smiling.
by Michele deBes
The friand rolled along the top of the plate. Then it changed direction and lurched at speed towards the bottom. A short pause and it had rolled back to the middle. Then, suddenly and gloriously, it was airborne. Scattering almond scented crumbs it sailed effortlesly to the floor and smeared raspberry jam in a luscious crawl across the carpet. As its momentum aborted it teetered, rocking gently, with its softly dusted crest pointed ecstatically towards the sky, before a sudden pirouette upon its crusty base skipped it high to the left. Crashing moistly to the carpet again it bounced once, then leapt skyward in a last paroxysm, and flew inexorably across the bows into the rolling maw of the deep blue sea.
by Pil Lee
We saw moose tracks in the snow while we were carrying the Christmas tree back from where we'd cut it down with a rather blunt cross-cut saw. David, whose land it was, had looked on disapprovingly.
“I was going to suggest we go back for plum pudding” he said “but I don't know that I should serve it for you scumbags” (well he didn’t say ‘scumbags’ actually — he’s an American — but he used some American term that basically meant the same thing).
In the event, he relented and did allow us to have some of the pudding that he claimed he made. I was skeptical. But certianly it was of an exceptional quality, rich and luscious with just too much custard. Or maybe it was the cold. Or the snow. Somehow that made a difference.
by Peter Miller
I can’t think of my favourite dessert. Not because I don’t have one, but because I have too many. No, that’s not right, because I’ve had too many. At school in Economics we learnt about diminishing returns and it is to this lesson I always return when I find myself sitting in front of my favourite dessert. That moment before the first taste is perhaps where 80% of the value lies of the $8.60 that I’ve just handed to the cafe owner. I pause to get my money’s worth and also to savour the high drama of ordering such an ostentatious dessert in front of my diet and health conscious companions. I always wait those few extra seconds before taking that first bite where perhaps the next 14% of the total value lies. A long slow taste always annoys my envious companions. It is always important to keep a straight face as this accounts for an extra 2% of the total value contained within the dessert.