The dessert you've been searching for

If there's one thing I love, it's dessert. My grandma once told me, "I always eat dessert first, because I know I'm always going to eat dessert, no matter what. But, if I eat my dessert first, maybe I won't eat as much of my main course." I haven't tried that method yet, but it's basically the only diet I'm ever interested in pursuing.

If nothing else, my 101 in 1001 list progress thus far has proved that I eat out relentlessly, even when I'm home in Madison. But what you may not know is not only do I eat out a lot, but also, I consistently order dessert while eating out.

This happens nearly every time I dine out with Stephen:

Waiter: Would you two like to see the dessert menu?
Stephen looks at me, knowingly.
Me (out loud): Sure, why not? I guess we'll just take a look at it to see what you have...
Me (in my head): Obviously! I'm confused why you even had to ask. Can we skip this step next time and you just bring the dessert menu immediately after, or even slightly before, I finish my main course?

Stephen and I generally "split" a dessert, much in the same way toddlers "help" with chores around the house. I eat 80%, Stephen eats 20%. I like this analogy because, even though it doesn't work perfectly, it makes me seem like I do more housework than he does (blatant lie.)

But we found one dessert in Madtown where Stephen actually does eat half of it!* There's really no need to even see the dessert menu when we're at Nostrano, because we're 1000% sure what we want to order: the affogato.

If you've never been to Nostrano, go. If you don't live in Madison, we have an extra bedroom and live less than a half a mile away. Sure, you'll have to share said bedroom with a brand new super energetic kitten, but it's worth it.

For those of you who don't know, affogato is a beautiful Italian dessert that was born in a manger a couple thousand years ago and has been saving the world ever since.

Nostrano makes it like this: take homemade sweet cream gelato with sea salt, pour espresso over it. And, as if that wasn't delightful enough, serve it with a side of bombolini (which are like little Italian beignets. Do you like Italian food more than French food? Either way, you will like bombolini more than beignets;) )

I think sometimes the gelato flavor is changed up to carmel or something along those lines, but no matter what, it's always the best! Take it from me, a self-proclaimed dessert addict, and a scavenger of dessert menus across the isthmus and across the country, you can't go wrong with Nostrano's affogato.

There's not much more to say because I really can't properly express how much I like this dessert in words. So you all just need to go try it, stat, and please report back with your life-changing testimonies.

*And he has practically no sweet tooth. It's incredible, really. Do you find the boys in your life generally have less of a sweet tooth than the girls? Why is that?