Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

When I was little, I remember my parents being loyal Pizza Hut fans.  Every once in a while we would go as a family; what I remember is sipping root beer for what seemed like FOREVER, waiting for our pizza to be done.  When I got older, they discovered a place in Connecticut called (if I’m remembering correctly) ‘Ye Olde Kikapoo Pizza.’  My mother especially loved it; I just remember that yes, they were extremely generous with the toppings, but that wasn’t exactly a plus if you didn’t like them.  (Keep in mind, as a child I disliked onions, mushrooms, pepperoni, and green peppers.  I’ve made my peace with onions and mushrooms (cooked), and I’ll willingly eat pepperoni if there are no other choices, but bell peppers and I will never mix happily.)  It wasn’t horrible, but it was an occasional outing that my parents loved that I, well, didn’t.  (I didn’t hate it.  I just shrugged and went along, generally.)  And so pizza went–until college.

In college I discovered the beauty of Pizza Pipeline, a place in Provo that delivered for free until 1 am.  The pizza wasn’t bad–I probably did prefer it–but what really got me were the Tricky Stix.  The garlic and Parmesan variety were lovely in and of themselves, but the sweet cinnamon ones? Real cream cheese frosting to dip in, baby.  My roommates and I became definite fans of the place, and my husband and I had been married for years before our free plastic Pizza Pipeline cups–we had multiple designs–stopped being our by-the-bed water cups.  Up until a couple of years ago, nothing had really replaced the Pizza Pipeline in my heart.

Until Domino’s.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking.  Didn’t they build a whole ad campaign around the concept of “hey, we changed our recipe, our pizza’s good now?”  I believe they did, although I can’t fully trust my memory for anything right now.  I don’t care.  It doesn’t matter.  Because it’s not about the pizza.

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I sort of like the garlic butter stuff they brush on the outside of the crust.  If I disliked the pizza, it’d be one thing.  It’s not about the pizza, though.  Because friends–Romans–Countrymen?  Have you TRIED the chocolate lava crunch cakes?

If you haven’t, this is serious.  Get thee to a Domino’s–posthaste–and order a box of two.  The crunchy, rich loveliness of the outside mixes with the warm, gooey chocolate center in a way that makes me sigh every time.  They are divine.  They are beautiful.  They are a hundred times better, in my humble opinion, than a piece of pizza could ever be.

And so that’s it, folks.  I guess what it comes down to is that I’m not an avid enough pizza aficionado.  I like it, and I definitely like the ease of ordering it on a certain kind of night, but it’s the extras that sell it for me.  We had chocolate lava crunch cakes with our pizza on Friday.

But dang it all, now I want some Tricky Stix.