Don’t go in them if you like money in your wallet and less inches on your waistline.

Apparently neither of these factors are part of my thought process.

Sunday morning Shari and I made our way to Duchess Bake Shop. I knew it was a good sign when the end of the line was out the front door. It didn’t matter. It was a beautiful morning and I was in no rush. Shari said this place had amazing macarons (or macaroons depending where you come from) among other things and she has never steered me wrong. Well, she has at times steered me wrong, but not in matters of food.

As soon as I walked in I noticed they carried Forty Ninth Parallel coffee beans (our favourite!) and they had homemade marshmallows. I hadn’t even seen what was in the glass display case at that point and I knew I was in trouble.

The closer we got to being served (which didn’t take that long) the more anxious and excited I became. The sandwiches they had looked insanely good. If I wasn’t holding off for the Buttermilk fried chicken sandwich I would have gotten one. Then came the pretty things…cakes and tortes and pies, oh my! Big versions and mini versions!

The beautiful maracons (AKA macaroons)…

Cookies…

I’m sorry the level of detail on the menu is pathetic, but its truly a miracle I didn’t lose consciousness.

I took so long ordering that people behind me were finished and gone before I was. Oh well, I didn’t care and the girl serving me didn’t rush me or make me feel like a rookie on my first visit. To top it all off I got a vanilla latte (seriously, if you haven’t had a latte or coffee made with Forty Ninth Parallel beans you are missing out).

As I watched the girl behind the counter pack my goodies like she was playing a game of ‘Tetris’, I reviewed what was in the bag…

• One bag of Coconut Lime Marshmallows
• One bag of Forty Ninth Parallel coffee beans
• One mini ‘Duke’ Chocolate Cake
• One mini Chocolate Torte
• One mini key lime Pie
• One dozen Macarons/Macaroons (I really hate calling them macarons even if that is the right way)
• One white chocolate raspberry scone
• One chocolate chunk scone
• One blueberry lemon scone
• One regular latte (which was free because I bought coffee)
• Two chocolate eclairs

I think its safe to say that if I am carrying on my ‘mission accomplished’ theme from the previous post, that I completely obliterated the bakery mission.

When we got to the car and realized that we had another stop to make and a four and a half hour drive home, I started to panic that my precious goodies were going to melt! This was a major investment after all! We decided we’d put them in the backseat but drive with air conditioning the whole way to keep them out of harms way. The eclairs had to be eaten immediately though. I had originally gotten two to bring one back to Dan, but those things definitely weren’t going to be ok unrefrigerated for that long. So I decided to eat them both. The sacrifices I make to save pastry.

Well, turns out its been so long since I had an eclair that I, the lactose challenged person, forgot they were filled with whipped cream! Even with lactase pills, I didn’t want to chance eating two of those dairy-laden bad boys before a long drive on the highway and nothing but gas station bathrooms ahead of me. So I told Shari she HAD to eat the second one. Well, she wasn’t too keen on that. We had lunch plans at a great food truck (Drift Food Truck) and she needed room for that. “I already ate mine! I’ve got to save room for Buttermilk fried chicken, fries and homemade ketchup! I’m NOT eating that!” I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so panicked to eat an eclair. I don’t know which part was more ridiculous, me pleading for her to take my pastry or Shari pleading to not have to eat it.

Somehow Shari ate the second eclair and everything made it home alright.  I’m going to be savouring my Duchess Cake Shop goodies as long as I can. Luckily, there’s enough cake left today that I get three different types of cake on my birthday. Not bad restraint, if I do say so myself. I didn’t know I had it in me!