Six Sweet Shots: Our 2017 in Sugary Outtakes

April 1st: BJ’s Brewhouse presents the Baked Beignet. Fried dough tossed in cinnamon and sugar, topped with whipped cream, vanilla bean ice cream, strawberries, and strawberry puree.

I had something else planned for this space tonight, but it’s been the kind of week that’s left me wanting to drown some sorrows instead. I could flail about recent stresses on either a personal or national level, potentially spewing a 3000-word tirade that only my wife would read. Or I could take the safer clipfest route and meditate on some of the carefully crafted calories that brightened our days throughout the past year, none of which ever made it into any MCC entries till now.

Perhaps “meditate on them” is a bit too lofty. Ogle them. Savor the memories. Wallow in these past comforts. Take some solace that staring at these photos is less unhealthy than having all six dishes in front of me right now and feasting upon them all at once in one sweet smorgasbord.

For now, for tonight, this shall do.

March 11th: giant-sized pastries from Jack’s Donuts in Carmel, the breakfast we picked up on the way to Hall of Heroes Comic Con.

April 29th: Loukoumadis (fried dough), our final dessert at the locally owned Mediterranean Grill in Avon, on the occasion of their final weekend in business. The most bittersweet photo of this set, to say the least.

June 4th: for a limited time at Cold Stone Creamery, the Wonder Woman Berry Bold sundae. Dark chocolate and Triple Berry ice cream with chocolate shavings, raspberries and “gold glitter”. Since it didn’t cost $600 I presume that last topping was simulated.

July 20th: Bob Evans was so excited about introducing candied bacon to its clientele this year, they added a piece to this molten chocolate cake, because the ice cream on top clearly wasn’t already sinful enough.

December 30th: there’s a Chicago eatery called Yolk that now has three Indianapolis locations, one of which became our refuge when that morning’s Plan A fell apart on us. My delightful consolation prize: cappuccino pancakes, with espresso and chocolate added into the mix. These were so moist, I refused to sully them with ordinary syrup.