Last night Gunnar treated us to dessert at a lovely restaurant. I was anticipating a reliable standard…some delicious ice cream, a piece of apple pie or, perhaps, a slice of chocolate cake. One of these would have been perfectly fine but Gunnar had his eye on something different.
The waiter placed a thick rectangular slab of marble on the table – it was warm to the touch. On the marble platter were the following ingredients: candied walnuts, toasted almonds, sliced apple, poached figs, walnut levain and a triangle of Cravanzina, a creamy cow and sheep milk cheese from Piemonte.
Piemonte is a region of northwestern Italy – the capital is Turin. Piemonte is surrounded on three sides by the Alps mountain range, including the Monviso, where the Po River rises, and Monte Rosa. It borders with France, Switzerland, and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, and the Aosta Valley. Thanks Wikipedia! We need to go to Piemonte.
You may be thinking, what’s the big deal? She just described a bunch of fruits and nuts sitting next to some bread and cheese on a weird heated serving dish. We can eat nuts and fruit at home. Heck, she’s a vegetarian, she does it all the time anyway.
Each thin apple slice was carved in the shape of a tulip leaf and fanned out, standing upright, on the right corner of the grey marble. I still can’t figure out how the apple slices didn’t fall over in transit. In front of the apples were the poached figs, sliced in small flat ovals, their seeds glistening in a blanket of sweet liquor. The ovals formed a diamond shape and sat in a thin pool of deep purple. Sprinkled around and on top of the figs were the almonds, so perfectly toasted that they broke in half when just kissed by the tip of the tongue. On the left side of the platter was a small pyramid of walnuts coated with a slight dusting of cinnamon, sugar and butter, served cool, and feather light to the touch. The walnut levain held court in the top left corner, the slices were paper thin, yet hearty in flavor, and served warm. Just warm enough to inspire the Cravanzina, it’s triangular neighbor, to melt ever so slightly onto the bread.
The combinations! Cravanzina on a slice of apple topped with a bit of fig! Cravanzina on levain with a slice of apple! Nibble on an almond after it floats in the purple elixir. Place a spoonful of chocolate pudding into your mouth and follow it with a candied walnut. Wait! I didn’t mention the decadent chocolate pudding with chocolate-infused whipped cream? The frothy concoction housed in a dainty glass arrived just moments after the fromage platter.
I’d like to deliver our dessert to everyone in the world tonight. I imagine they would breathe in the aromas and it would calm them down. I imagine they would taste the sweetness and it would make them smile. I imagine they would finish it, every nut and slice and crumb, and feel content, satisfied, safe, and at peace.
Thank you Gunnar for reminding me to savor the simple things. The proof…is in the pudding!
I’d like to thank the Mormons for the lovely card. It would have been nice to have met the kind souls who dropped it off. I would have definitely shared my