Mini Trend

I heartily applaud the trend toward mini. Mini cupcakes, smaller servings at our local wine bar and now mini pastries. Everywhere, I am seeing a trend toward smaller and smaller servings.

America has always been the land of maxi, super-size and huge platefuls of food. As a result, more and more of us, My Beloved and I included, are becoming more and more maxi each year. Yeah, yeah, we should control our baser impulses and no one forces us to eat too much - we get that. But it certainly helps when thoughtful chefs offer a mini option.

Take these mini pastries, for example, that we found in Tiburon last Sunday after making the nearly three-mile walk around Belvedere with pal Sari to enjoy the views and the glimpses of how the other half lives. It's a lovely walk - the scenery is gorgeous, the tramp is just taxing enough to make us feel virtuous and we met a happy, friendly yellow lab along the way - what could be better?

Well, a cup of good coffee and a sweet bite makes everything better. So, after the walk we stopped in at Bistro 35 to enjoy their outdoor deck with a view of the marina and the city beyond. I spied these mini treats in the case and opted for a taste of each rather than one large serving of either.

Yes, I do realize that, even with sharing bites with my co-walkers, I managed to maxi the mini offerings. Nevertheless, I loved the variety of tastes (they were all tasty but the mocha eclair was the winner) and the opportunity to be good to myself, even if I didn't take it.