FEBRUARY ISSUE THE SWEETEST DAY OF THE YEAR

February was always a special month for me because my mother was born on the 14th — Valentine’s Day. But it was also special for a very selfish reason.

While I was growing up, I was the only kid whose home never contained anything sweet to eat. No cakes, no cookies, no pastries, no doughnuts, not even sugared cereal. This apparently had something to do with a health issue I had as a baby, although no one ever really explained it. The sole exception to the ban on sweets was my mother’s birthday, the one day of the year she would allow a cake in our apartment. And not just any cake, but a divine mocha-flavored cake from a French bakery a few blocks away. She would also permit my father to bring her a box of chocolate-covered cherries, her favorite.

With our suppressed sweet teeth, my father and I looked forward to Valentine’s Day even more than my mother did. If her birthday fell on a weekday, I would pick up the cake on my way home from school. After leaving work in lower Manhattan, my mother would stop by the Fulton Fish Market. That night we would feast on Maine lobster, with my father and I gorging ourselves on cake and candy knowing that was the last we would see of anything sweet until the next year.

To this day, there are few things I love more than lobster, chocolate-covered cherries and mocha- flavored anything. I’ve been thrilled by the proliferation of Tampa Bay restaurants selling lobster rolls and other lobstery dishes. Chocolate-covered cherries are easily available, but I’ve never found a cake as delicious as those from the long-defunct Sutter’s French Bakery in Greenwich Village. If you know where to find one, please let me know. In the meantime, have a happy Valentine’s Day!

Contact

Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampabay.com.

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