Mama Mia!

Ever daydream of escaping to an Italian vineyard or casually taking the customary passeggiata through the streets of Sienna, Florence, Napoli or Sorrento in search of something delectable for the appetite?  Oh yeah…I’m a girl with big dreams too! Luckily, we have our very own passport to little Italy or better yet… to Nonna Tata which is equally intriguing and even more charismatic.  A quaint little diner located on Magnolia Street, right in the heart of the Fairmont district of Fort Worth, is as close to Italy as your yen can get. Once I had a fill of the never apprehensive focaccia bread blanketed in olive oil and a few glasses of red vino, this girl was ready for dessert! One of the most flirtatious desserts on the menu was the Almond Ricotta cake with lemon sauce, a combination of a rich pudding and caaaaake!  Served warm, the cream center perfectly balanced the texture of the almonds and the tartness of the lemons; can you say …Mama Mia! The delicate taste of almond and lemon compliment each other in a really wonderful way.  And since I’m a natural exaggerator, I’m going to go ahead and say it in my not-so-best Italian Ah…E’ semplicemente magnificio!”  So, get there early in the evening, enjoy the cozy ambience, exhale slowly after each sip of your favorite wine, indulge in the appetizers, get your fill of the pastas and enjoy the immortal desserts! 

Chunka Hunka Burnin' Love

So, on a savory quest to find cake, I stumbled upon the next best thing...a chocolate chunk pie! Oh, and what a fantabulous reprieve! This is just what I've been needing to help clear my cluttered mind. Every bite seemed to help me breathe deeper while every swallow helped me exhale all the worrisome thoughts.  So, it sounds a bit recognizant but ooooh, if only you knew my fellow cake enthusiasts the privies that this untamed and godforesaken groundless girl has held, you'd understand why I had eaten the huge slice of pie almost to its entirety.  Well deserved, I say...well deserved. Is it fair that this rich pie had everything to gain and nothing to lose?  This chunka hunka burnin' love of a traditional pecan pie revamped with endless seepage of caramel and coarse chocolate chunks all mantled perfectly into a delicious crust was the ultimate netherworld I tell ya.  If I compared myself to this pie, I'd say, yep, I'd have everything to gain and nothing to lose too, well...um, maybe five pounds and my dignity.  Maybe?  Nah, dignity, chignity! Sometimes,  we just have to sloooow down and enjoy the sweeter things in life and what a novel idea of mine for today.  Life is fair.  Life is sweet.  Life is cake and pie and chocolate and all it implies AND everything else that causes the serotonins to go gaga and buck wild absent some enhanced narcotic. Life makes no reservation, so go out on a limb and visit the Pie Place & Bakery in Burleson, Texas if you want   a taste of an inhaling life-changing moment.