SippitySup

I was a bit under the gun on this one. I knew I needed to bring a dessert to a friend’s house for a impromptu dinner party. And I did have the bug to cook. So I thought good and hard about what I wanted.

Or I should say, what I thought I wanted. Because they are not quite the same thing. I thought I wanted poached pears with Champagne-ginger and saffron syrup. I thought I wanted them peeled, left whole and wholly elegant. I thought I wanted to spend 2 hours in the kitchen preparing them. I even considered sprinkling them with edible gold flakes. That’s when I put on the brakes and realized I was just one cutesy step away from wrapping them in ribbon, or painting a smiley face on their pert little cheeks.

I mean I was invited for a casual meal. A tapas-style Spanish celebration to say farewell to a friend who is returning to Spain after an extended stay in Los Angeles. I’m sure my original intention of poached pears would have been lovely. But entirely inappropriate.

It’s this blogging competition you see. While I’ll admit there’s a part of me that thrives on it. Sometimes I find myself ratcheting things up a wee bit too much. I mean really… edible gold flecks? How did that even get into my brain in the first place? Where would I even find them? So instead, I pulled back on the reins and really thought about what I wanted to eat. What I wanted to present to my friends as an expression of myself and our friendship.