“Sweetmeat” is an archaic term for confectionaries. But it rhymes with treats, and that’s what I’m talking about. Cookies and cakes, custards and ice cream, pastries and pies, puddings, and tarts. Oh my!

Throughout this pandemic, one thing that kept me sane, was knowing that after lunch and dinner I would have my sweetmeat with coffee or tea. That delicious flow on the tongue produced a stream of dopamine and it lit up my pleasure centers.

Numero Uno for me is chocolate. For quite a while it was just dark chocolate: Ghirardelli squares – raspberry, mint, and caramel. We were in a menage-a-trois.

However, Kit Kats got jealous when they observed me scanning the candy aisle in Walgreen’s. I admit, they seduced me. I replaced the Ghirardelli’s and then I was in a one-to-one relationship. I like the Kit Kat’s cakey crunch layers with the milk chocolate dispersed throughout.

But I’m a fickle girl and passing by Choux Bakery on lower Fillmore, part of my hood, I observed young women squealing over tiny fanciful cakes. They were ordering them by the dozens for a baby shower. I stopped and looked over their shoulders at the array of Tinker Bell-like confections.

Like being slightly tipsy in a bar and spotting an attractive guy across the room, I made my move. Just as the young women left, I straddled up to the small open window with the three-tiered display case alongside. “Financier,” as one of the tiny cakes was called, beckoned.  

At $2.75 a one-inch cube, I cut the cubes into almost miniscule pieces, making them last days – because they and me, we’ve in it for the long term. This almond flour buttery pastry has imbedded in its crown a dollop of Nutella or various fruits; I chose raspberry and mango. The fruits popped in my mouth like July 4^th firecrackers.

I’m now practicing polyamory but hey we’re all getting along so well.  I also squeezed in one other dessert I’ve known for a long time. I engage with him when he’s available in Café Tarragon, which happens to be around the corner from Choux. He’s my one and only almond croissant. My baby sells out early, and I usually miss him on my afternoon walk, but I continue to yearn for him.

To be honest – we have to keep it that way in such complicated relationships – I’ve recently added Lindt’s Intense Orange Dark Chocolate bar with almond slivers, and Chuao’s bar of sweet mango, sprinkled with tart lime, sea salt, and a pinch of chile, in rich dark chocolate.

But wait, I’ve been hogging all the airtime, and I really want to hear about your dessert romances. What makes your day just a little bit sweeter?