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Oatmeal Crisp (almond or raisin)

I've been on an All-Bran topped with whole milk streak for a while now....and getting the signal that needs to change-up a bit.

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My favorite dessert memory didn't occur until I was 22 years old and opening a hotel. Because of my job in the banquet department, I was working 100 hours a week to open a brand new hotel outside of Washington DC. My staff didn't speak English, I was living in rooms that were not completed, undergoing physical therapy on a work-related back injury three times a week, and my fiance was deployed to the Persian Gulf. Needless to say, life could have been better.

One of these awful winter nights were it was thirty degrees outside and eighty inside we had over 1,000 high school kids in for an Inaugural Ball. They ate and drank us out of house and home and worked us until two am! Exhaused, hot, sweaty and sore and made my way into the kitchen for some quiet and a glass of water. The restaurant manager, chef and I all ended up with the remainder of a five gallon bucket of chocolate ice cream and spoons. It wasn't even the best ice cream I've ever had, but it was at that moment. Cold, rich and satisfying it soothed the long event behind us and fortified me for the rest of the night ahead...getting ready for breakfast.

To this day, when it gets really rough, I reach for some chocolate ice cream and a cold, stainless steel table to ease the stress of the day and give me the strength to keep going.

My grandmother's amazing chocolate chip cake used to, and actually still does, bring a smile to my face. It was tradition that for any special occasion there would be a chocolate chip cake. It was a yellow cake with chocolate chips and shaved dark chocolate pieces topped with more chocolate and powdered sugar. The top was almost a crust and it paired perfectly with the moist buttery sides and inside of the cake. A true crowd pleaser and a dessert I will never forget.

It would have to be my Grandmother Nellie's date bars. Where as many children didn't like them when we were kids, I loved the balance of sweet and tart mixed with the oatmeal. Perfect. I'm the one in the family that makes them these days. Hot from the oven with a good homemade ice cream? YUM!

Moving from South Korea to the U.S. at the age of 8, adjusting to eating style was an interesting experience for me. But I definately did NOT have difficulty with the tastes of desserts. :)

One of the first desserts I have ever had was a candy apple my grandmother brought me home one summer day. It was red, shiny, and glazed with caramel. I fell in love with it the moment I took my first bite. (although I didn't finish the whole apple... just the caramel part)

My 2nd favorite childhood dessert is Rice Krispies Treats. I remember making it from scratch with my mom, aunt, and cousins. It was all gooey, so marshmellow-y, and crunchy! mMm~! I think the process of making it ourselves had me thinking it was the best Rice Krispies Treats in the world!!
:D

I had warm apple pie with homemade vanilla ice cream at a local neighborhood restaurant. It was so perfectly tasty.

My favorite childhood dessert was warm sweet Kalakand, which was an East Indian dessert. Unlike the other mothers at school, mine didn't bake brownies, cookies, or cake. I didn't mind b/c I loved helping her make the homemade sweet cheese and add the warm milk, sugar, cream. My favorite part was adding the spicy flavors I grew to love at home: pistachio, cardammom, and saffron. It was something comforting that always reminded me of my family and from where I came no matter where I was.

My Most memorable Dessert as a child was "Flan de Calabaza" also known as pumpkin Flan, My grandma use to make this dessert around the thanksgiving festivitys in my Island, I still remember the smell that came out of the kitchen and the thought of sitting down to enjoy and savor every last bite. My only regret is not asking her for the recipe because till this day i have not had a "Flan de Calabaza" just quite like my grandma made it!

it's no gourmet dessert, but fudgsicles from the ice cream truck...it brings back instant summer memories. My neighbors and I sitting on the concrete wall bordering my backyard, eating them as fast as we could before they melted.

It has to be Banana pudding with nilla wafers. Every once in a while Mom would pull out a box of vanilla jello. I would help slice bananas and place them around the bottom of a big bowl. We then lined it with the wafers. Next, we would would heat the milk and pudding, stirring constantly with an old wooden spoon so it didnt get lumpy. Once the jello cooled enough, we would carefully pour it into the bowl, spread the rest of the bananas on top, and leave it on the counter to set. I never could wait though. There would be a big scoop missing before anyone else could admire the final creation. I think the magic ingredient was the wooden spoon (which i still have). Mom's not around to make this simple dessert with me anymore, but if i want to relive a special moment with her, i pull out a box of vanilla pudding and im magically twelve again, back in the kitchen with that spoon :)

When I was 10 my parents had a freind who was an amazing baker. All of her cookies and brownies and pies were better than anything that could be bought at a bakery and I always looked forward to going to her house knwing something special was in store. On one particular occasion she made the most perfect looking homemade chocolate cake with chocloate frosting that I had ever seen. It was and still is to this day my most favorite desert. My parents kept warning us to behave and when it came time for desert I was too embarrassed to say i would like some when she asked. So i left with none even after she prodded me to take a piece home. I regretted it to this very day but it has since changed me in that I will NEVER say NO to something I truly desire! I have repeated this story to my own kids now more than few times-so much so that they roll their eyes at me...I am 48 now and have that same exact cake whenever possible and think of Catherine with every forkfull!!!