As soon as I hear, “no,” all I can think is “want!” Put me on a diet and all I dream about are carbs and candy.  Send me out on a so-so date and watch the date become perfect in my eyes when he doesn’t call again.  Love the ones who love you – I know that, but, sadly, it seems a man’s disinterest is proportionate to how much I think we should date. You’ve heard the maxim, “we want what we cannot have.” Well, I want it in a candy-coated nut shell.

I had a date the other night.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best of any I’ve had in the past nine months.  No, he wasn’t “the one,” but I liked him and I could see us having fun for a while.  I received a big hug at the end of the date – promising. That was last Wednesday.  I didn’t hear from him on Thursday…or Friday…or Saturday.  Today is Sunday and still not a word.  Sigh.  He’s not interested and, of course, I’ve deluded myself into believing how “perfect” we were for each other. Want!

To get my mind off of my desires, I decided to put all of this pent-up frustration into something that I could have.  Of course, my mind went directly to something sweet.  At first, with Halloween just around the corner, concoctions arose with the flavors of traditional candy bars – Snickers, Milky Way, Almond Joy.  Oh yes,  I thought, Almond “he’s not gonna give me any” Joy.  In gelato form, of course, with moist coconut, crunchy almonds and dark chocolate.  Slowly, as I gilded my lily, the recipe morphed.  I prefer toasted coconut to moist – and the almonds begged to be enrobed in a candy-brittle coating.  Finally, although I know dark is the high-brow gourmet’s choice, I’ve always preferred creamy milk chocolate. Since this was all about Me and satiating my…um… “sweet tooth,” I went for it:

Toasted Coconut Gelato with Almond Brittle and Chocolate Shavings – all I can say is “What Date?”