the colosseo

father's day feast 3.0 was a bit different than how the wheelers usually roll (see "steaks" in versions 1.0 and 2.0).  this year, bryan decided on a favorite sandwich of his, venetian paninos with gruyere cheese. and i added grilled garlic sweet potato fries and a spinach and prosciutto salad with orange citrus dressing to round out the meal.

as we sat down to enjoy the deliciousness, i was feeling pretty pleased with the results; however, not but one bite in, it all came crashing down. for the first time in our seven years wed, bryan would not eat something i had made. 

turns out, the sweet potatoes were a bust (generally speaking, they were delicious. for him specifically, not so much).  he would not eat them with a mouse. he would not eat them in a house. he would not eat them here or there. he would not eat them anywhere.

epic fail.

on the plus side, i now know (as does he) that my husband does not like sweet potatoes. would have been good info, say, a week ago, but anyway...i'm sure, in time, my self-esteem will recover.   

luckily, i bounced back pretty quickly because for dessert, i served up this lovely:

even though bryan requested my "world famous" angel food cake, i just made whatever i wanted anyway (like he knew i would). i decided to recreate a gem that we used to very much enjoy eating at vacarro's italian pastries in baltimore's little italy: the colosseo.

basically, a warm belgian waffled topped with four large scoops of chocolate hazelnut gelato, covered with wet nuts (an east coast speciality), drizzled with hot fudge sauce, and crowned with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. top to bottom from scratch -- the gelato being pretty much the best frozen concoction i've ever made.

and that was how she won the day.

happy father's day to bryan, who will forever be taken advantage of by his sweet baby girls who just bat their big beautiful eyes and melt his heart.