Decadent

decadent
Originally uploaded by Katherine H.

A few months after I moved to Salem, I met Liz. We soon discovered that we share a birthday (along with a healthy appreciation for gelato and all things Italian).

When November arrived, I posed the question, "What are we going to do for our birthday this year?" while thinking silently to myself that it should be decadent and involve chocolate.

So last Thursday we cleared some space in our schedules to celebrate at Pix Patisserie, a little corner shop in Portland that has grown to three locations. We stood for several moments in front of the pastry case transfixed by the array of eye-catching delicacies.

How does one choose between Almond cream, chocolate ganache, and orange vanilla bean crème brulée all piled into a buttery tart shell and Chocolate mousse blanketing a crisp hazelnut praline filling and dacquoise base surrounded by a mosaic of nougatine?

In the end, we couldn’t settle for just one…