Once in a while, maybe every 3 months or so, my mother would drive across town to the little Italian bakery and buy some fresh bakery goods. She claimed to go their for their homebaked breads for my dad, but I think she just wanted to buy pastries. If us kids were lucky enough to ride along with her, she would let each of us pick out a treat from the bakery case. I always picked a jelly donut and my mom always bought two of the chocolate eclairs for herself.
As soon as we got home and put away our bounty from the shopping trip, she would make a big deal about pouring a small glass of cold milk for us all and then serving up the bakery treats for an afternoon snack. Thinking back on it, she never did buy a dessert treat for my dad. They were just for us kids and her. An I believe she served the treats that same afternoon so that they were eaten before my dad got home from work and found out about them.
Every time I see chocolate eclairs, I think back on how my mom would buy her two eclairs and hide them from my dad. They were her secret indulgence and I’m glad she was able to have a few guilty pleasures in her life.