Rodney Curtis

Chocolate mousse and whipped cream photo by a hungry Rodney CurtisWe’ve been eating a lot of chocolate pudding around here these days. If January is a disease, pudding is the cure. Even though this particular January has lacked the snow and cold of its predecessors, it’s still the first month of the year and remains guilty by association.

My wife, who’s been Weight Watching, slurps down the sugar-free/fat-free version of Jell-O. I mix my mousse medley with whole milk and spray canned whipped cream on top (Note: there’s no sadder sound in the universe than the anemic sputtering of an empty can, burbling out its final spew).

The daughters go back and forth between whose they like more. The winner loses and has to make another batch. Thankfully, we have that high horsepower KitchenAid stand mixer I got for Christmas. I say whip it. Whip it good.

Whatever it takes to make it through the month is acceptable. Comfort food is as good a thing as any, although I yearn in my soul for Grandma’s chocolate pudding with those lovely skins on top. I fear this generation growing up behind me will never get to experience things like pudding skins, Jiffy Pop, peanut butter and marshmallow spread in a jar and Marathon bars.

I guess that’s a good thing. My daughters have cared about their health forever. I don’t remember even hearing about “health food” until I was a teen and that meant, basically, drinking 2% milk and maybe a Tab. You could still accompany that with a peanut butter/marshmallow sandwich as long as it was on whole wheat.

Thankfully, we’re far more enlightened about food these days (my pudding paragraphs earlier notwithstanding). But in these bleak and battering days of January, I care as much about eating healthy as I do about that cruise ship captain who abandoned ship.

I have a secret though. I’ve stumbled onto a store that sometimes sells retro food items and every now and again I’m instantly transported back to the 70s. I can’t tell you where this is (Nino Salvaggio) but my latest finds are Five Alive juice and Quisp cereal! Oh yeah, that definitely deserved an exclamation point.

January is more than halfway over and I can type this note while lying under the covers, dreaming about macaroni and cheese. God, I sound pregnant; I just Googled “Whatever happened to Oscar Mayer Smokey Links?”

I have a pair of those all-spectrum lights that are supposed to elevate your mood. They’re still in a box under my bed though; I think Kraft and Kellogg’s might be better suited to the task.

Oh look, the sun just rolled into view for a few minutes. I think I might just mix up some soft pretzel dough and enjoy the blue sky. Anyone know a good recipe for gooey melted cheese dip?

Reading this to Marci just now, she asks, “I can tell you’re Jonesing; did you eat lunch yet?”

What do you think, babe?