You should always leave room for dessert

Remember the old TV show, "Leave it to Beaver"? Mrs. Clever generally had a snack, typically milk and cookies, waiting for the "Beaver" when he arrived home after school. Sound familiar? I suspect that most of us had similar childhood experiences. However, if it was getting closer to suppertime, I know my mother ordinarily told us that we had to wait for supper, otherwise, it would spoil our appetites. I suppose this could have been considered an early form of food rationing, but growing up in a large family, sanctions on portions were an everyday occurrence anyway.

Although snacks can be quite tasty, for some reason, the idea of dessert just has a different kind of appeal. If my mother had planned to have dessert after dinner, she usually would inform us ahead of time. After all, knowing that we were having a sweet num num after dinner, well, leaving room for dessert didn't seem that difficult. If the dessert was one of our favorites, that made it all the easier too. I particularly loved her apple pie with a little vanilla ice cream from the A&P. If we didn't have homemade, my Grandmother usually would bring an apple pie and maybe a chocolate mousse cake from our favorite bakery, Lyndell's. If Grandma was responsible for the dessert, of course, she would have to bring enough for everyone.

As active as we all were as kids, I wonder how we restrained ourselves from having those seconds. That was precisely the time in my life when I could afford the "extra" kcals. Now, when I shouldn't be consuming the extra calories, I don't leave room for dessert, but I indulge myself anyway. What is the logic in that? Perhaps we should all take a page out of our childhood and leave room enough for dessert. I have said this before and I will say it again, we shouldn't eat every meal as if it was our last, but that is going to take some real convincing to get people to buy into that one. How about a little more exercise to justify those extras? I could sink my teeth into that one, but that's something to which you can be sure few people will subscribe. Maybe we should simply change it to "make" room for dessert, because we are likely to do so regardless. And that brings up another problem. How do you remember to spell dessert? There are 2 "eses" in dessert, because you always want 2. Anyhow, that's how the nuns taught me to remember it. The temptations never end, do they?