The Squiggle

As part of birthday week and with the hubs out of town, I had dinner with el hijo de numero tres and Jenn last night at the Cheesecake Factory, and that meant only one thing ... dessert first.  There wasn't even a discussion about it. I sat down and they handed me the dessert menu.

It took 10 minutes to look over the 100 or so choices, but we I settled on an apple streusel cheesecake that turned out to be a contender for best dessert ever. It was the Lion King of desserts. I was fortunate to share it because I am absolutely sure I would have eaten it all and licked the plate clean.

Dessert first. There's so many wonderful things about it, I scarcely know where to begin. The meal gets off on the right foot, for one. It's a chummy way to socialize without anyone getting full or feeling too guilty, so the whole rest of the meal is happy.

It reconnects our reason and common sense. True. The dessert is ordered and eaten while having a long discussion over the menu entrees. No one ends up too empty to over-order that full rack of ribs with a loaded baked potato. So something smaller becomes more appealing and health because OBVIOUSLY every want and need has already been met.

It allows maximum digestion by eating it early, thus becoming less likely to be plaster-of-paris'ed to your ass. (That must be my medical background talking. Ya, that's it.)

It eliminates the temptation to indulge in the appetizer before an eyes-too-big-for-your-stomach entree. So in addition to all the other wonderfulness, it helps you keep make better choices AND come in under budget.

But the real reason to do it is for the joyful expressions I see. Life is too short not to do it!  And the way I figure it, if everything was meant to go in a straight line, they wouldn't have invented the squiggle.