Relationship Recipes (for Disaster)

Today I was baking (a rare occurrence these days) a new Fall recipe from a friend: Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Muffins. As I poured the bag of semi-sweet chocolates and debated - Should I save a handful to eat? - I had a flashback to a defining moment with an old boyfriend.

Years ago, I was in the kitchen with the boyfriend and one of my close girl friends. We were making chocolate chip cookies - that standard TollHouse Recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. Boyfriend cut the top of the bag of chocolate chips, poured a little more than half into the batter, and tied the rest of the bag up, setting it aside.

"Wait," I said, "what's up with holding onto the rest of the chocolate chips?"

"Well you don't want all of them in there," he said. "That's just way too many."

My forehead clenched in curiosity and concern. I looked to my friend with a raised eyebrow. "How can anyone ever have too many chocolate chips?" I asked.

"I know!" she agreed. "If anything, there's never enough! Who wants a chocolate chip cookie without the chips?"

I nodded. "Isn't that why they're called CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies?"
Boyfriend nodded, heeding the passive instruction, untied the bag and poured the rest of the chips in.

I shook my head and wondered, How in the world could I ever get along with a man who doesn't believe in the "chocolate chips" of chocolate chip cookies?

Although that wasn't a narrow-minded, deal-breaking moment, it ended up being one that I thought of often when I would tell people how different we were. It was almost like that guy I dated in college who hated sushi. I didn't understand it. How does anyone HATE sushi? I wondered if I could ever spend the rest of my life with a man who didn't see the life-changing value of a spicy tuna roll. 

So how important is a person's palate when it comes to relationships?

I'm married to a meat-eating food snob who refuses to eat macaroni and cheese that comes out of a box. In fact, he calls it "yellow death." And I'm a pescatarian who still adores all the bad foods from childhood. We figure it out. We can agree on the important things. We both love chocolate chips.

Here's the recipe to those delicious pumpkin treats. I think it'd be yummy with some cream cheese frosting on top. Let me know if you make them, tweak them - and if you set aside any of the chips!

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 box Spice Cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cup water
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 bag chocolate chips

350 degrees, 15-20 minutes