My boyfriend of almost two years left me three days ago for another woman. I was devasted!
It was Saturday night and we'd just gotten in line at Voodoo Doughnuts when he broke the news; he said been seeing a tattooed lady brewer from Boulder and her knowledge of hops and malt made him realize that our mutual obsession with multi-cultural foods was nothing compared to the passionate beverage industry.
The worst part was having to wait in line with the jerk for another 45 minutes. We bought doughnuts. A Colfax Cream for me and an Old Dirty Bastard for the young dirty bastard next to me. I knew they were the best doughnuts on Colfax, but the glaze turned to ash in my mouth. We ate our doughnuts in a stony, sticky silence and the yeasty dough sat in the pit of my stomach like a big ball of cream-filled depression.
I'm sure I'll be able to find another man who loves tapas as much as I do and idolizes Frank Bonnano with the same intensity, but I'm worried I'll never be able to find a dessert that doesn't make me think of sadness and broken hearts. Am I doomed to a sugar-free lifestyle from now on? Or can you suggest a dessert that will renew my faith in pastry?
Yours truly,
Dessert-ed in Denver
First off, wash your hands. You're getting Colfax Cream all over the keyboard.
Second, have a little faith! Of course there's a dessert out there for you! One that will last you through several more relationships and then some. And dry those tears; salt water doesn't mix well with chocolate.
For your particular situation, I suggest you get your sad little butt to El Chingon in North Denver, skip dinner and go straight for Pastry Chef Jamie Secrest's tiramisu.
This compact little dessert features layers of chocolate chiffon cake and house-made requesón cheese (a loose, ricotta-like cheese used in Latin cooking). The cake is soaked in café de olla (literally, pot coffee, but you didn't need to know that; you just need to know that it's spicy delicious) and rum, with strong, sensuous overtones of cinnamon. The whole concoction is nestled in a mason jar and topped with ice cream from Little Man, which is right around the corner in Denver's Highland neighborhood.
So you have layers of flavor, varying textures, alcohol and caffeine – pair that with a refreshing, cool scoop of ice cream, and this dessert is nothing short of a technical masterpiece.
And that coffee? The boost of caffeine just might motivate you to say hi to that hipster dude with the tattoo of a butcher's diagram of a pig. The one at the bar who's been staring at you across El Chingon's dining room. He's at your 3 o' clock. No, don't look! He's looking! Okay... now you can look. Nice, right?
Just don't be a Sad Sally and use your caffeine buzz to stalk your ex on Facebook all night. He wasn't all that great anyways. Your judgment was just obscured by the gleam off the seared pork belly.
Hope that helps; yours hungrily,
Foodie