Thursday marked the last day of my internship for a small non-profit organization. For two and a half months, I slaved in front of a computer, worked overtime, and never received compensation. But for those two and a half months, I learned about the details and functions necessary for non-profits to work, along with the fulfillment and disappointment that follows. So as sappy as this may sound, I’ve grown attached to the organization and value all the experiences I gained from it.

Yesterday, I woke up and realized that I didn’t have work at all. It was an odd feeling – well, more relieved than anything, but it had been so long since I had a day off I did not know where or how I should start relaxing.

I think I began cleaning, and then I turned to yoga, breakfast, the treadmill, a shower, and finally lunch. My grandmother grew a great batch of tomatoes this year so I decided to make a balsamic reduction to dress them up. I just love the sweet and subtle tartness of the reduction – but as my friend Ted says, “Always use good balsamic vinegar because if you reduce bad balsamic vinegar, the reduction will be twice as bad.”

Some time during my second round of scrounging for more tomatoes to soak in vinegar, I receive a phone call from Ami. It began with the usual, “so how was your day?” or, “so what you been up to?” To fast forward to the food, it ended with my suggestion, “Why don’t we see if that tea shop is open in Manhasset. We could go to Buttercooky. And we could finally get your fruit bars at Whole Foods!”.

Well, when we got there, the tea shop (SerindipiTea) was not opened yet, but we did get to go to Buttercooky (140 Plandome Rd Manhasset, NY 11030). I’ve been there before to buy their butter cookies and wasn’t very impressed, but after talking to a friend, he said that if you go, you should always go for the pastries – so we did.

Many of their cakes and pastries were wonderfully crafted. After taking a good look and narrowing down our choices, we asked the worker to make the final decision for us. He chose the chocolate tiramisu. It was a wonderful balance of chocolate mascarpone cheese and coffee liquor, covered in a layer of bittersweet chocolate. Although it sounds rich, the dessert was light on the palate and sweetened just enough – if not just the smallest tab over.

The most enjoyable part of the tiramisu was its overall freshness. This was revealed after dipping my fork into the cake and saw that it cut through without a glimpse of give or hardness.