My Childhood Dream of Chocolate Soup Has Come True
Savoring île flottante au chocolat
These last few weeks have been so serious.
Endless handwashing. Relentless cooking and cleaning. Unceasing worry. Repeat.
It’s no wonder I’ve been thinking so much about my childhood, when the hardest thing I ever had to do was choose between Easy Mac and Chef Boyardee.
Born in 1996, I was a kid during what was probably the golden age of microwave meals. Mom’s cooking (and she is a very good cook) didn’t stand a chance when commercials for Hot Pockets and Kid Cuisine filled my dreams with images of hamburger-stuffed pizzas and rainbow-sprinkled brownies that I cannot believe I actually ingested. Some of my favorite foods, both frozen and fresh, were as follows:
Go-to snack: Five saltine crackers with cream cheese.
Birthday request: Duncan Hines Signature Strawberry Supreme Cake Mix with accompanying strawberry frosting. A pink monstrosity loved by nobody but me. Bonus points if it was served a la mode with Braum’s strawberry ice cream, studded with big chunks of frozen fruit.
Special treat: For most of my life, a blue box contained what I thought was the greatest food in the whole world: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. I ate this so often that my mom once…
