Dessert Dreams

Chapter One – Buried Alive!

I'm attracted to Oak Creek (the creek itself, more than the community) because it seems to originate over in Franklin from some guy's swimming pool, then twists and turns, as creeks do, finally crossing under the “Little Hoan” and emptying out in Lake Michigan. A park and parkway follows much of its length, reminding me a lot of the Valley Parkway Trail in Cleveland. There's also quite a bit of the Oak Leaf Trail that follows its length, even with some bridges in the woods that remind me of that “Owl Creek Bridge” movie.

Chapter Two – Hidden Treasure

I recently followed the trail down to Drexel Road (which will forever remind me of the Drexel Theater in Columbus, Ohio, where I've had some life-changing two-hour segments), and over to this relatively new little Indian restaurant called Indian Delight. There I had a bowl of Kheer, delicious Indian rice pudding, that was subtly flavored with cardamom and other things, I think. I big bowl, but not too sweet, so I could have probably eaten it all day.

Chapter Three – A Desperate Plunge

Feeling lucky, Oak Creek-wise, I headed down today to check out a breakfast place I saw on the map called the Market Place Cafe. A fine breakfast spot, with comfortable booths, I'll return, but I was extra excited to see Rice Pudding on the menu! But when I asked for it, the waitress told me it was discontinued, and had been for like two years (sad face). I don't know if younger people don't like rice pudding, and it's seen as an old-fogies thing, or what, but it's starting to really concern me, the disappearance of rice pudding! But I won't give up, and sometimes something’s scarcity makes it extra exciting.

Chapter Four – Mistaken Identity

The good thing is that since I hadn't eaten dessert, I still had one dessert allowance (personal rule) for the day, and as an online source told me it was National Banana Split Day, I decided to head in that direction. Well, back north. Next stop (after Cudahy, of course) was the South Shore Farmers Market where I tried a delicious gluten-free dessert item from a relatively new GF bakery (who have a cafe, I guess, docked over there near that lake boat, The Maple (1st Street, near Becher) (I'll try it out later, in cafe reviews). I feel bad because I think it was raspberry (it was red and sweet and tasty) torte or tart—not sure what the guy said—so I had to look online to see what those things are—apparently a tart is somewhat offensive slang for a woman with “loose morals,” and tort is a legal thing, a civil wrong leading to a liability—as in, if this wasn't actually gluten-free (good news, it was A-OK #didnthurl).

Chapter Five – A Cry for Help

Still, not sure what to call it, so I'll call it gone, for one, and delicious, for another. I'll learn more when I visit their bakery—it's called MOR—which could be an acronym (I'm surprised they didn't throw that one at me at my job yet—I've been getting slapped with every acronym known to man). I thought it used to have something to do with a kind of music, like “Middle of the Road”—but that's never good, is it? I looked online, and saw a good one, “Modulus of Rupture”—which struck me as the best not-yet-taken band name (so I looked online, and yes, it's already a band (there are no untaken band names). Anyway, now I'll probably remember the name of this place, anyway.

Chapter Six – Frank's Plan

Next stop, then, should have been home, but since I was on the bike trail I zipped up to Capitol where the Culver's has a bike trail exit. I'd never eaten at a Culver's, actually—it's generally too chain-like, too fast-food-like, but seeing how that one dessert got me thinking about another, and it's Banana Split Day, hell yes. That's what I ate. I love the banana split, even though it's ridiculous, in that it's just like piling one sweet thing on top of another. That didn't stop me, though—I figure I can tolerate like one a year. So after I got home (bike riding helped alleviate the sugar coma), I looked online again, and saw that National Banana Split Day is actually August 25th—and today is National S'Mores Day! Well, fuck S'More's, anyway—and, I guess, this is a kind of contested thing, which day is Banana Split Day. The source that said it's today lists August 25th as National Whiskey Sour Day, ha! So I guess why not just have a Banana Splits both days, and add a Whiskey Sour on the 25th? Or if you're one of those retro-drinkers, why not make every day Whisky Sour day?—it'll be like your trademark. All I know is that my rice pudding quest continues—if there was ever a dessert that needs a champion, it's rice pudding—or maybe just pudding—pudding, in general. It's a really funny word if you think about it. Pudding. Wait, that would he the best band name—Pudding—no, wait, there's already a band with that name.

*Please note: I find random chapter titles work as well as anything. These are from The Hardy Boys Mystery – The Disappearing Floor.