SCD TIPS: RESTAURANTS AND DESSERTS

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The giant square plate lies between us. Peanut Butter Mousse. The capping off of a 90 minute celebratory dinner. A five inch half sphere with an outer coating of chocolate. I don't plan on eating any. However, I am told to make it appear I am sharing the dessert with my non-diet restricted partner. She is quite adamant about this. For others faced with "faking" eating dessert, below is a simple three step process:

(1) (optional) Do not ask for separate dessert plates. It's preferable to place one plate in the center of the table.

(2) Early on, fork a bite-sized piece from your side of the dessert. Deftly leave this piece on your partner's side of the plate. This gives the impression that you've started: crumbs on your fork, chunk missing from your side.

(3) After your partner has eaten several bites, turn the plate 180 degrees.

Notes: Step (2) is easy to execute without catching the eye of an attentive waiter. However, part (3) may take some practice. If you're dealing with a large square plate on a small table for two, be careful not to knock over anything, especially wine glasses or lit candles*. If the plate's smaller, it's less of a challenge.

* A friend is redesigning the currently over-sized menus of a prominent restaurant--after four separate instances of the menus catching fire.