On Desserts and Egos

This weekend, among my other big plans, I had a special dessert I wanted to take to my parent's house for dinner. I found a recipe for Chocolate Bowls at Stephanie's Kitchen; they looked so fun and simple that I decided to give 'em a go.

The oh-so-easy instructions are to dip an inflated balloon into melted chocolate, and let the chocolate dry until it's firm again. Then the balloon is popped, leaving a cute little bowl waiting to be filled with goodies.

So easy.

I kept my dessert plans a secret from Justin. I was sure he would be astounded by my confectionery abilities, thus rendering him so in love with me as to be my house-slave for hours, maybe even days.

However, I needed his help blowing up the balloons, so I think he was a bit concerned about what I was "cooking." I had gotten the smallest balloons I could find: water balloons. They were next to impossible to blow up, and he nearly burst a blood vessel trying to inflate 8 of them for me.

When I got the chocolate melted, I proudly proceeded to dip one tiny balloon into the bowl - employing my most delicate touch in order to ensure an even coating. As soon as the rubber met the chocolate road, so to speak, that hateful little balloon popped.

I was so intent on being careful, that my torso was tensed in anticipation, so the 'pop' scared the bejeezus out of me. I stood open-mouthed and incredulous. This had to have been a fluke. Stephanie's balloons hadn't popped, so I'd just try again.

Three more tiny balloons popped, all in a row.

My grand scheme was over. Instead of looking at me with worshipping eyes, Justin unsuccessfully tried to hold back his laughter. He sweetly suggested that water balloons were the wrong medium to use in this particular project.

I guess Stephanie's recipe didn't take into account that cooking geniuses like me wouldn't consider water balloons as being too thin to work right. I'm convinced that, had I used them, bigger balloons would have worked beautifully.

So, after days of anticipation, I was left with a bowl of melted chocolate and a deflated ego. I scrounged in the fridge, and found some old strawberries to dip in the chocolate instead. The berries were perfectly ripe and beautiful - the perfect Valentine's Day dessert. I had planned on making strawberry cheesecake balls to fill the chocolate bowls with, so I dipped a few of those too. All in all, it worked out fine.

But those bowls...They would have been awesome. I'm sure I would have skyrocketed to the position of "Best Wife/Dessert-Maker Ever" when everyone saw my lovely creation.

It's probably for the best. That award is very prestigious, I hear - I don't know that I could keep up the facade for long.