A Sweet Lunch for you Sweet People

February 3, 2010

Each and every of your comments on my last post put such a huge smile on my face, I thought my cheeks would rip apart. Christina also sent me a joyful email, expressing gratitude for all your kind words. We all agree: It’s all too easy to judge others, and that those who appear to be “unlovable” are actually the ones who need love the most.

I loved Susan’s summary of it all (I bolded those that especially struck out to me):

“When I read your post yesterday, I thought ‘what a jerk – I hope Sophia can pull through this one okay’. And after reading Christina’s words I realized I looked at the situation entirely one-dimensionally – which psych majors are definitely not supposed to do! It’s something I’m going to work on now, so I really can’t thank you ladies enough!

Coincidently, there are a lot of “unlovable” people in my life that I love very much. For example, there are many members of my family that I very easily might have written off or felt uncomfortable around if I just met them and wasn’t related to them in any way. Some might call them abrasive, or intrusive, or just down-right rude, but I know their whole story. I can’t deny that they have these traits, but knowing them better helps me understand them. No one’s perfect, and the people who are furthest away from perfect need the most love of all.”

And also Clare’s comments here:

“We all experience people who are “strange” or who upset us or who we may deem “unlovable.” Going through my eating disorder, I try to see now that everyone has hurts, and some are dealing with it negatively, as I did with ED. Some act mean hearted and cruel, some are judgmental, some are strange. But what I remember is that ALL were created in God’s image, and that image is still somewhere inside…maybe buried deep but it’s in there. And if we love God, we gotta love his people too. And love means kindness.”

Thank you everyone for your input and reflections on this. See? We’re not just food bloggers…We’re a living and real community that feed each other not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally as well. Okay, that sounded soooo clichéd and corny, but you know what I mean. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned, matured, and grown from this blogging community, and I can’t thank you guys enough for playing a huge part in that! You people are just so sweet, and I think you deserve some sweetness in your life. And what is sweeter than dessert?

Okay, what I meant was, I’ll have some dessert, and you watch and drool. It’s the same thing.

Now, for those of you who’ve been reading for some time, you all know I don’t do desserts. When it comes to that old debate between the superiority of Sweet and Savory, I am a staunch savory camper. But you know what? Even savory-lovers need a little sweetness in their lives…especially if it involves cheese.

My dear friend Kathryn and I had a lunch date, and this time, I gave her the reigns to choose the venue. She gave me two options: a little deli shop, or a dessert bar called Syrup Desserts.

The moment I read the name Syrup Desserts, my automatic reaction was, “Hell no.” But Kathryn took care to mention something about grilled cheese sandwiches…oh, that cunning fox! She knows how to grab my attention, all right! So I googled it, and I found the menu to Syrup Desserts. Guess what? They had a whole section dedicated to sweet grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh, hell yeah.

Obviously, we went to Syrup Desserts for lunch, despite the fact that it’s a dessert bar. Wow, I’ve never had dessert for lunch. And I got that pump of foodie-adrenaline inside me…you know, that rush that comes when you’re out to try something new and delicious.
Now, Syrup Desserts is not exactly in a very…quaint area. Oh, it’s in the Historic Core of downtown L.A., all right…together with a putrid smell, horrible traffic, and homeless people snoozing on the streets. But you step inside, and it’s like a whole different world.
There are snazzy, dim lights. Plush couches and lounge seating. It’s all black and white, like London fashion. But at the same time, they took care with the fine details, like retro blue tiles on the walls with lovely paintings done by community artists:
And brick walls, with a display of coffee and tea (kind of like Starbucks):
A display of sugar and tea canisters, and giant jars of Nutella:
They also had a lofted second floor, where they kept all sorts of board games like Monopoly, Sorry, Clue, etc. And they had free all-day wi-fi! Sweet! I wonder if I can live here…(some people probably do)

Kathryn and I goggled at the pastry display case for awhile:
In truth, I dislike pastries, but they are so much fun to look at!

The service was excellent, too. You know some servers who get all snotty at you when you try to substitute things? Well, the lady here’s smile never once flickered, even though Kathryn basically just created her own crepe.

But here’s the bad part. These people really need to work on their management skills, because they were irritatingly under-stocked. Kathryn tried to order frozen yogurt instead of the ice cream in her crepe, but they were all out. So she ordered blackberry jasmine ice cream on the side instead.

I ordered the Asian pear and Gouda sweet grilled cheese sandwich. It was supposed to be made with walnut raisin bread, but they were all out of that, too. Which they told me 15 minutes after I’d already ordered. And I’d ordered that specifically for that bread, too! Grr, I was ticked off. But in Korea, there is an expression that goes, “You can’t ever spit at a smiling face.” And those servers were damn nice, so I really couldn’t bring myself to gripe.

Oh well. I nursed my disappointment with some strawberry-infused water:
SO good. Oh my gosh, just a naturally fruity infusion in iced water. Totally refreshing, and you bet I’m gonna “fruitify” my water from now on!

By the time they served us our dishes, I was happy again. And boy, were they pretty!

Kathryn ordered a plain crepe with fresh fruits:
I didn’t get to taste the crepe, but Kathryn said it was even better than the one from the French Crepe Company.
They also served us a cup of blackberry jasmine ice cream on the side:
Holy wow. It was amazing! It was refreshing from that fruity blackberries, exotic from the infusion of jasmine tea, and altogether so perfectly creamy without being overly rich at all.

Then my lovely Asian Pear & Gouda grilled cheese was served, but with Cuban bread instead of walnut raisin:
Love the fresh fruits.
Love that cheese!!
Never thought to pear Asian pear with the sharp, nutty Gouda, but it was a perfect marriage. Sweet, juicy, nutty, gooey. Mmm…
It was amazing. But…it could have been so much better with that original walnut raisin bread! >:-(

Ah well, no use crying over bygones. ’Twas a sweet ending, and a sweet burp. Because this was technically “dessert”, I wasn’t exactly full after this, so rest assured I dug into some snacks back home…another grilled cheese sandwich. What can I say? Those things are just such a great comfort food. They’re also the reason how I managed to finish that gigantic hunk of vintage white Cabot Cheese that I won from Biz’s giveaway.

See ya next time, folks! And please have dessert for lunch tomorrow!

Question of the day: What is your favorite sweet + savory combination? Ever had dessert for a meal?

'cuz burping and slurping is mandatory and polite when it comes to good eats

A Sweet Lunch for you Sweet People

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