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The Great Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Debacle.

2004-04-27 - 10:48 a.m.

While I was finishing up grad school I had the great fortune to share a place with my good friend Diane, who was the Best Roommate Ever. I was spending long nights in the lab and she, bless her heart, took it upon herself to keep me fed. I would come home at 4:00 am and there would be a plate of dinner carefully wrapped and waiting in the fridge to be microwaved. She was also a mighty baker of quickbreads and muffins for snacks and breakfasts.

I wanted to reciprocate and the best way I could think of was to make her a batch of my favourite muffins and I had everything I needed but the chocolate chips. The problem was, during the hours grocery stores are open I was either sleeping or working on my thesis. Diane did all the grocery shopping and I gave her money to cover my part. I asked if she�d mind picking up the chocolate chips and I�d give her the extra cash to cover them. I had, I assured her, the best muffin recipe ever, pumpkin chocolate chip, and I wanted to make her a batch.

I could have sworn she�d agreed to get the chocolate chips. Yet, week after week, I�d ask and she�d claim that she�d forgotten to pick them up. Finally, one day, she couldn�t contain herself any longer, and my latest innocent disappointment at not being able to share these wonderful muffins with her was the proverbial straw that broke the camel�s back.

�I have chocolate chips!� she shrieked.

�What?� I blinked at her, completely uncomprehending.

�I have chocolate chips! They�re in the cupboard,� she reiterated.

�You mean you�ve had them the whole time?�

�Yes!�

�The whole time I�ve been asking you to get me some?� I tried to clarify.

�Yes! I couldn�t bear the thought of using up chocolate chips by mixing them with pumpkin. But here! Make your damn muffins! I give in!�

Poor Diane. She is such a sweet, helpful, honest person by nature and the guilt had been eating away at her. Yet she�s also a great cook and it broke her heart to think of what she was sure would be wasting her precious chocolate on a horrid-sounding recipe. I�d never noticed anything shifty when I�d been asking her to pick up the chocolate chips but I bet if it had actually occurred to me to look closely at her face I would have seen something was amiss.

Undaunted by her obvious distress though, I made the muffins. The best revenge? The sheepish look on her face when she asked me for the recipe. And today, they are a favourite of many of her friends and family.

Tune in tomorrow when I might share the recipe... if I�m feeling generous.

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