Last night my husband attended a dinner meeting at The Lodge
at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA. The group dined in the Lodge’s A. R. Valentien restaurant on
yummy things like seared halibut with baby red artichokes; warm lobster salad
with Little Gem lettuce; and chicken cooked under a brick and served with
wilted spinach.
Geena, our vivacious black lab, and I stayed home and
dined on Wellness Super 5 Mix (Geena) and Trader Joe’s whole wheat spaghetti
with Monte Bene Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce (me).
When my husband walked in later carrying the traditional
doggie bag – in this case, a small shiny paper box, Geena and I both sat up
expectantly. Lucky for me, it was the human who got the treat this time, not
the dog.
And what a treat it was. Tres Leches Cake, from the kitchen
of Executive Chef Jeff Jackson, is a sublime creation of sponge cake soaked in condensed
milk, whole milk and heavy cream. A popular dish on the potluck and
church-social circuit, this traditional Latin American dessert (translation:
three milks) is often soggy, overly sweet and piled high with frosting.
But the A. R. Valentien version, by pastry chef John
Harmeyer, is an elegant, individual, dome-shaped package with a deliriously
smooth, moist texture and a rich, caramelized creamy taste. Topped with
cinnamon-scented whipped cream and tangy pomegranate seeds, it’s served with a
fresh quince-apple puree and a weensy poached apple.
By the way, we did give Geena a dog biscuit so she wouldn’t
feel left out. She ate it, but not before giving us a look that said “You
cheated me!”
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