Wise Women Friday: Ernestine Ulster

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Words of Wisdom from Ernestine Ulster:

Eat dessert first. Life is uncertain.

Confession: I have no idea who Ernestine Ulster is or was. I googled her and got nothing. However, she is credited with this well known saying, which my friend Margaret Vandevert used to say every night as we lined up in our college dining hall. Knowing my way around the dessert cart as well as I do, I embraced it immediately and made it my own.

I like all your basic dessert-food groups: ice cream, pie, cookies, fudge, cake. I prefer homemade (my mom is a great baker and I'm no so bad myself), but in a pinch I will go for some good quality store bought. I am one of those bad, bad people who associate food with comfort. It's wrong of me, I know. It leads me to bad choices, I know. But in my heart of hearts, I do believe that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.

I have several rules about dessert. I will share them with you now.

1. Whenever possible, dessert should include at least a passing nod to chocolate.

2. It is appropriate to sample your husband's dessert. He does not need to like this.

3. Never, ever, ever, ever eat dessert that has been claimed by someone else. It doesn't matter if that piece of cake has been sitting in the refrigerator for a week; if it belongs to someone else, you must act as if it doesn't exist.

That being said, I hope you'll read my latest short (and I mean short) story at the flash fiction site Rose City Sisters. It just went up today and is called "Sweet Revenge." Let me know what you think, and let me know if you have any dessert rules that you think are worth fighting for.