Dessert after lunch or WTF is the matter with you?

One side effect of the current pandemic, and spending more time with our families, is that we learn all sorts of new things about each other. Most of these things are benign. Some of them are charming. And some of them are just flat-out cause for concern.

I learned recently that my wife practices a secret decadence. She regularly and brazenly eats dessert . . . after lunch! Upon discovering this, I was appalled. I grilled her about it. "What are you, French?!," I barked. I could not hide my disdain. She was entirely impervious to my inquisition and continued to eat her dainty little cake -- or whatever the heck it was -- as if I were fanning her with a palm frond rather than shading her with contempt.

She feels no guilt or shame whatsoever, comporting herself as if this dubious, wretched practice is natural and normal, and not an obvious character flaw. There is no defensiveness, or even a hint of token remorse over it. In her mind, lunch is a meal and meals include dessert. But "each and every one of them?" I thought to myself. For a moment, I considered confronting her about breakfast -- a meal I usually skip -- but decided that I didn't really want to know.

How could such a fundamental defect have remained undetected for nearly 25 years? Sure, I'd witnessed her eating lunch-dessert before. At times, I'd even joined her. But we were on vacation, so those instances had gone under the radar. Nothing seemed amiss because the only people who eat dessert after lunch are vacationers . . . and the French.

Clearly, she's been snarfing sweets after lunch since long before I knew her. Crushing cookies, pounding pastries, biting biscotti, gulping gateaus; all of it happening openly and without a shred of shame. As a business associate of mine used to say, "I agreed to 'for better or for worse' but I didn't agree to lunch." I think I see his point. *Sigh*

=R=

True about the French. I go over for meetings in the French Alps at least twice a year. They serve dessert with lunch and dinner. They also would have sweets at the breaks. WTF was my same response.

A plated dessert may well be a bridge too far. But a cookie isn't!

And breakfast shouldn't feature dessert, but this is only because breakfast is the only meal at which it's entirely acceptable to have dessert for your main course.

Hi,

I guess I live under the rock, because I never heard eating dessert after lunch was a French thing.

My Mother is a dessert seeking missile. She is sometimes looking for dessert before we even ate the meal. We always have ice cream in the house. I have also taken to buying those 'cake in a cup' that require 3 tablespoons of water, stir to moisten and microwave for 1 minute 11 seconds. Actually is it 1 minute and 10 seconds, but I just add an extra second in laziness. I also have a wide range of jello and instant puddings on the shelf.

Yes, I am perfectly capable of making scratch desserts. My family has no self-control, so it is gone about as quickly as produced. I don't make dessert too often.

If we eat lunch-dinner late enough, we will eat dessert for dinner. This is usually strawberries and hand whipped cream.

I don't especially need dessert to punctuate every meal like my Mom does. At restaurants, I will check on what is offered for dessert. If it is something I have not had or curious about, I will order with extra spoons to share. Over the years, restaurant desserts became over sized at over sized prices. If could get something more modest sized with a price to match, I would likely get dessert more often in restaurants.

I am a fan of leftovers. I will take doggie bags home that no dog will ever see. I find a half-gnawed chocolate cake not very attractive. Of course, my Mom and Dad will eat it in any condition. "Have at it, kids!"

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:My Mother is a dessert seeking missile.

Banner quote.

Back in the day (and the anecdote will date itself), a work colleague and I would try to steal away for a grown-up lunch out and the rotation was generally Green Door, Sieben Brewery or Scoozi. As a healthy overeater I managed a starter and main for lunch and that was about it. Invariably there was a table of well-dressed, fit suburban ladies lunching near us and we would stare in amazement as they consumed, starters, pastas, mains and, of course, desserts all around. Totally shattered my preconceived notion of watercress finger sandwiches and tea.

riddlemay wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:My Mother is a dessert seeking missile.

Banner quote.

Cathy2 is fire, lately. She got me good with one the other day:
"I bring home doggie bags that no dog will ever see."

LOL!

Thank you!