Brief Indulgence: Summer and Sugar in Febuary

So just let me indulge myself in one quick daydream of summer, in this case E riding on Chester the Dog's back in the middle of lush, hot Texas. . .Elspeth actually held on for a moment before toppling off.

Here's a fun almost-local tip, though: this past Saturday we packed into our car and tooled around the back roads to Point Marion (about a 30 minute or so trip) to try to locate a little diner called "Apple Annies." Our friends in Morgantown had recommended it to us, and the girls were hungry by the time we finally got into the car. So off we went blindly; Martin with blazing ears (he defied the stereotype of men not asking directions, but in a chagrined kind of way) asked the diner's whereabouts at a car parts store.

Apple Annies, it turns out, is hidden in an unlikely little alleyway in the middle of this rather unpromising industrial town. But it is absolutely charming. It is friendly, completely nonsmoking, and rather cute inside. And super busy. I've heard the best time to go is for breakfast, but we weren't that organized so instead we ordered lunch: salmon cakes for Martin, turkey for me, a huge plate of assorted pasta for the girls. After a preface of bread basket, the food came quickly and was hot and good. Next time, however, I will skip the real food altogether and save myself for the ungodly portions of dessert that meet you immediately as you walk in the door--absolutely humongous pieces of cake slathered with icing, pies heaped with wild layers of meringue.

We chose ONE piece of chocolate cake to go, and for teatime that afternoon we split it four ways with some left over. I wish I had taken a picture. I saw one lady walking to her table while we were there balancing a mountain of vanilla cake with pink icing. . .surely, you think, it can't be all for her. . .but perhaps. . .perhaps, in a moment of complete un-lent-like self-indulgence. . . .All I know is that I did not give up sweets for Lent, and a good thing too since Beatrix seems to have an insatiable sweet-tooth.

Anyway, we should plan a field-trip soon, in which we indiscriminately stuff ourselves with sugar. All I can say is, What is consumed in Point Marion, Stays in Point Marion. The good people at Apple Annies don't tell tales.

K