Dining out

My children are very, very spoiled — at least they are when it comes to food.

Thanks to sharing my experiences as a restaurant critic, they have come to expect things like fresh mixed greens in salad, going so far as to criticize school lunch that offers "just" iceberg.

They tell people which places have the best salsa and where to find good gelato. And they always, always expect dessert when we eat out — and even when we don't.

I've given in to this request a bit more than usual lately: I've been in the mood for sweet things, too. I think it's the summer; sweets put a smile on my face, and I'm so ready for some sunny cheer after our long, white winter.

Just in case you feel the same, here are three "sweets" I've enjoyed lately.

The cookie crumbles

I've written before about Scoopology (7710 S. Union Park Ave., Midvale; 562-8937), and I'm happy to report that the folks there are continuing their zany ways, which include serving ice cream with Jell-O and peanut-butter sandwiches with crushed cereal.

The newest Scoopology experiment is cookies baked into cookies. Yes, you read that right. Picture an Oreo, crumbled and used as a mix-in for a soft, crisp-skinned sugar, dark chocolate or chocolate-mint cookie.

On any given day you may also find Nutter Butters baked into chocolate cookies and those pink-and-white circus animal cookies studded in sugar cookies. My favorites are any Oreo variety and the Nutter Butter-chocolate combo, but the circus-sugar cookie sure is popular with the kids. The cookies aren't exactly cheap, but as an occasional treat, and for sheer exhilarating weirdness, they're worth it.

Nothing bundt decadence

For some time now, I've been staring at the storefront for Nothing Bundt Cakes (10389 S. State, Sandy; 619-3757), waiting for it to open so I could get in there and start snarfing cake.

But now that I've visited, I no longer feel so much like snarfing. Snarfing wouldn't be right for something as refined, as impossibly cute as the creations at this bakery chain.