A little bananas.

Last night I was having dinner at a restaurant with a few friends. The food (and drink) was amazing, but, not to anyone’s surprise I’m sure, there was just so much of it. Being a self-proclaimed dessert-buff, I make an effort not to over-indulge in appetizers, drinks, and entrees, for the sole purpose of saving room for dessert, because, contrary to popular belief, there is NOT always room for dessert. The problem was that the food was just so good. I did my best to control the portions, and when it was dessert time, I did, in fact still have some room. I did not, however have room for the gargantuan dessert that I wound up ordering because it was just too tempting – a chipotle cinnamon banana split, complete with two types of ice cream, whipped cream, cherries and who knows what else. I did share it with someone, however it was by no means an equal share. It was just too good. I was angry at myself when I was finished, not for ordering dessert or even eating dessert, but for eating as much dessert as I did.

We got to talking about it, and how upset I was with myself for my gluttonous display. We had been discussing small indulgences earlier in the evening, and one of my dining colleagues brought up something I wished I had thought of myself – a mini banana split. What a fantastic idea! If only that had been on the menu, I would have certainly ordered it, and all this guilt and beating up of myself would have been spared. I envisioned how this delectable little dessert would look in my mind – mini-bowl, with a slice of banana, teeny-tiny tablespoon size scoops of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream…it made perfect sense! This morning, I was curious to see if others had done anything similar. I found a few, none quite like what I had envisioned, which was great! I did stumble across this one though, from Baker’s Royale, that I really liked: