Chocolate Pudding

Have I ever mentioned that I think chocolate pudding is theworld’s perfect food? I always forget to list it with my favorite foods, but it really is. Just recently I realized that the temperature of the pudding is a significant factor in its quality.

For years my family has teased me about my chocolate obsession. One of my favorite places to eat was Country Buffet (a treat usually reserved for visits from Grandpa and Grandma) because there I could get my pick of this feast of desserts. Instead of choosing, however, I put them all together. Start with a brownie or hot fudge cake. Add a helping of chocolate soft serve topped with chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, oreo pieces and hot fudge. Beside that add a spoonful of thechocolate pudding (the sugar free dessert offered there; but I really don’t recommend the sugar free variety). The mixture of chocolate flavors was exceptional, and usually filled me up for the whole day afterwards.

I say all this in past tense like I’m over it.

Anyway, one of the highlights was the pudding, super-chilled by way of its proximity to the ice cream.

When I took lunches to school or work, for years I brought along a snack pack pudding cup, those highly preserved room-temperature servings of the world’s perfect food. They’re good, oh, yes, and far better than nothing at all, but nothing beats cold pudding.

I still remember a happy day when Pizza Hut still had dine-in locations everywhere and they even had a lunch buffet. Including salad and a variety of pizzas, it was always a close tie whether I preferred the best pizza in the world or the heaping piles of cold chocolate pudding.

So even if I were to refrigerate the little snack cups, where would be the seemingly bottomless portions of my buffet-spoiled childhood?

Recently a few developments have made my life considerably happier. (Amazing what dessert of the chocolate variety can do for a woman’s mood!) The first was getting a car, which actually occurred about four years ago. With this advantage I can go shopping by myself for things I want. Secondly, the office where I work acquired a refrigerator, which currently houses the third and final innovation of my recent life in the direction of blissful foods: a six-pack of chocolate pudding cups, the creamy refrigerated kind with an expiration date – which means it’s healthier. This way, unfettered by the watchful portion control of parents, grandparents, teachers, or lack of supply, I can have as much chocolate pudding as I desire.

Happy day.

To God be all glory.