DULCE DE LECHE

I love dulce le leche. Two months ago, I didn't even know of its existance, but then I went to Argentina and fell in love with the milk caramel sauce. I have always preferred caramel to chocolate anyway, but with dulce de leche, well, it is sublime.

Dulce de leche is a very Argentinian sweet and to my knowledge, I had never seen it nor heard of it in Canada or the US before I travelled south. In Argentina, I would order dulce de leche lattes at Starbucks, and have dulce de leche crepes for dessert.

Imagine my surprise when several weeks ago I was at my cousin Roz' house in Winnipeg. Roz and husband Mickey had a wonderful dinner party and for dessert Roz had baked a pie. For topping on that pie she had bought some Breyer's ice cream. But it wasn't any old Breyer's ice cream - to my amazement it was dulce de leche ice cream - the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Two helpings later, I was still marvelling at my luck at finding dulce de leche ice cream in Manitoba.

Two weeks later I was in Toronto, shopping at Loblaws with my friend Shelley for dessert for Shabbat dinner. Shelley picked up a key lime pie from the freezer when she heard me yelp. There, next to the key lime pie was dulce de leche banana cream pie; of course we bought it. Not only that, we all devoured it. Now banana cream pie is one of my favourite pies ever but dulce de leche banana cream pie boggles the mind. It tends to cause in one (at least this one) gustatory orgasms.

Several days ago I met my friend Gwen for lunch in downtown Toronto. We ate our soup and sandwich and decided to share a dessert. We looked over the menu and there, for all to see, and to order, was dulce de leche cheesecake. It was incredibly, decadently delicious. So delicious in fact that two nights later, my sister Judi and I went to that restaurant for a late night dessert of......you guessed it. Dulce de leche cheesecake did not disappoint.

I don't know if it is because I am eating everything again after years of watching my food intake or because dulce de leche is so unbelievably delicious - I suspect a combination of both. But I truly love love love dulce de leche pretty much anything, and am very lucky to be finding it everywhere. For those of you following the HCG saga, yes, I am eating it, no, I am not regaining my weight, and yes, HCG still does seem like the real thing.