Fantastic Friday: The Delicious

Several months ago, my husband and I were sitting at home one evening, and a guilty look of panic came over his face. “I almost forgot,” he said. “We’re having a potluck at work tomorrow, and I said I’d bring dessert.”

I shot him the look. “And you’re just telling me about this now?”

He averted his eyes. “Sorry. I guess I can go pick up something at the store on the way to work in the morning.”

I nodded, glad the issue was settled.

But he wasn’t finished. “It’s just that…”

“It’s just that, what?” I asked.

“It’s just that everyone’s kind of wondering what it’s going to be. I just told them all it would be dessert, and it would be delicious–because I didn’t know what to bring. But they know I’m bringing it from home.”

I made my decision.

A quick glance around the kitchen showed me the options: I had some cake mix. I could bake a cake, but that would entail mixing, panning, baking, waiting for it to cool, icing… A lot of work for a winding-down evening. I also had several boxes of instant pudding, lots of graham crackers, and a tub of Cool Whip.

I had my answer.

I made a base of crushed graham crackers, held together with butter. While that hardened in the bottom of a lasagna pan in the refrigerator, I made some chocolate pudding. I poured the chocolate onto the graham crackers and set it in the fridge again. Then I whipped up some vanilla pudding and mixed it with some of the Cool Whip. It added a cool-looking, fluffy layer. (Cool-looking=sophisticated, as if time and thought had been put in). Finally, when that set, I topped it with more Cool Whip, and then sprinkled the whole thing with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I was actually kind of jealous that I wouldn’t get to eat any.

When my husband came back the next day with an empty pan, he raved about the dessert. It was a hit. For the next several potlucks, “The Delicious” was requested. He even sent me a flier for the start-of-summer potluck lunch they were having. At the bottom, in bold font, read The Delicious will be in the house!

It’s amazing to me how a simple act of kindness spiraled into something that brought so much happiness on so wide of a scale. I could have easily huffed at my husband that evening and made him scavenge at the grocery store the next morning (and would have been within my rights!). But I took 20 minutes out of my evening and ended up creating a dessert legend. It just goes to show: you never know how your actions will benefit others.

For the start-of-summer party, I knew I had to step it up. I had a shark topper that came with a tropical drink at Eat at Joe’s on vacation. With the first heat wave of summer, the beach was on my mind. And thus, I stepped up my game, creating the Summer Delicious:

Layers of chocolate and vanilla pudding hiding under blue “ocean” Cool Whip and crushed “sand” vanilla wafers.

Who knows what is in store for future “Deliciouses” (Delicii?)? There’s no telling, but I can say that it is sure to be… delicious!