The Great Cornbread Pudding Saga

When Multiple Sclerosis, a good deed and a vegetable combine

It’s the Corona Virus pandemic and we are supposed to be self-isolating as much as possible.  Yet, little acts of kindness abound.  We should always practice little acts of kindness wherever, whenever we can.  But during a crisis is an especially good time.

It was in this environment that my friend Kristin called.

Her- “Hey, do you like cornbread?”

Me- “Yes, yum!  I love cornbread!”

“Do you like corn?”

“No. Yuck. Corn is yucky.”

Many of you are already aware of my vegetable aversion.  Corn is at the top of the list, just behind broccoli and mushrooms which are technically a fungus which should speak for itself on its yuckiness.

(Don’t ask me to explain how I like cornbread, corn flakes and popcorn, but not corn. My answer is that I’m weird.)

“Well,” Kristin told me, “I just made a cornbread pudding and it’s delicious.  It was my grandmother’s recipe and I’ve always wanted to try it.  It came out fabulous and I’m going to be in your area tomorrow.  I could leave some on that little table you have outside your door.”

That’s, actually, what the little table is for. Not for cornbread pudding specifically, or for people to leave me treats during a pandemic; but for people to leave me fun stuff when I’m in a mood and won’t answer the door but also don’t mind surprises.

Kristin does not cook. Ever.  So I was intrigued not only by cornbread pudding which I didn’t even know existed, but by the fact that she is so bored she has started to bake.

“Great!” I said.  I mean, why wouldn’t you? Cornbread, pudding, both sound lovely.

And she did.  She called me the next afternoon to let me know a treat was waiting for me.  I found a disposable foil pan with delicious looking contents.

The thought occurred to me however, what is cornbread pudding?

Is it a vegetable?

A side dish?

A light entrée?

A dessert?

I really didn’t know.

I took to Goggle and found no answers.  I found recipes but I didn’t need recipes.  I had an 8” by 8” pan of the stuff. I needed to know what to do with it.

I took to Facebook and found answers that varied from “it’s a scrumptious dessert,” to “it’s a side dish” to “wow, I’ve never had it,” to “who cares, you just eat it!”

I cut a piece and the cornbread was indeed quite yummy.  But then Kristin had to go and ruin it by filling in the pudding part with actual pieces of corn!!!!

There was so many I couldn’t even pick them out.

Why would she do that?

Why would someone take a great thing like cornbread, turn it into something even greater like pudding, and then muck it up with an icky vegetable??

But I had so much and didn’t want to waste her good deed.  What to do?

I decided to be honest and just tell her.  I called and explained that while I love the cornbread part, I did not love the corn and I had to be honest, I likely wouldn’t eat it.

“Why did you tell me you liked corn?” she asked.

I repeated our discussion from how I remembered it and was reminded of a similar conversation with another friend who loved to read.  I’d suggested An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser as a classic that I actually loved.  She read it and called me back to say that she liked it too but how come I didn’t tell her it was so sad? She’d been crying for hours.

“Uh, what part of American tragedy was confusing?”

But this wasn’t the same thing.  Corn and cornbread have nothing to do with each other!  One is an awesome carb that invokes thoughts of genteel Southern living and the other is a disgusting vegetable.

Kristin told me she didn’t want the pan back as she had plenty. Neither of us knew if you could freeze it and the internet was not helpful.

She said, “that’s because no one’s ever tried to freeze it as it’s so good! Why don’t you give it to your mom?”

I knew my mom wouldn’t like cornbread pudding unless it was covered with chocolate which this was not, but I didn’t want to hurt Kristin’s feelings even more than I already had.

I live in a complex with many elderly neighbors and thought I could gift them in this scary time with a fun treat. I dug into the pan cutting the pudding into nice small squares.  Only after it was cut up did I realize that I was out of disposable containers.  I took a roll of aluminum foil and as nicely as I could, popped each square into them and wrapped them up.

Have you ever tried to wrap pudding into tin foil?  It’s not pretty.

Then, so as not to scare my neighbors with my knock during a pandemic, started to call them to see who would like some and to let them know I would be leaving little tinfoil squares on their doorsteps.

“Oh, no thank you, I don’t think I like that.”

“Um, no, it doesn’t sound like something I would eat. Why don’t you call #85?”

“Ah, darlin’, that is so sweet of you but I’m not really a pudding guy and plus, vegetables, yuck.”

“Not really my kind of thing but how are you faring during this pandemic?”

None of my neighbors wanted Kristin’s masterpiece.  I decided to call a friend who lives only 5 minutes away.

“Umm, I’ve never had cornbread pudding, but sure, I’ll try it.”

Yay, I finally had a home for at least some of it and took it to my friend.  We did visit but practiced safe distancing by remaining more than 6 feet apart as we caught up.  I left two squares, in case she really, really liked it, on her table so as to get any nasty germs off the foil for a bit.

(Important note- this is not really recommended as the safest way to practice social distancing, but I was a little desperate AND wearing a mask.)

I had other friend’s I could call and offer more squares, but I realized I was tired and was kind of over talking about cornbread pudding.  The MS fatigue that came from something as easy as accepting a free treat had turned into quite an exhausting journey.

My friend saw my plight and said if I really didn’t want it, she would be willing to try freezing the rest or would give some to one of her friends who was helping her by doing her grocery shopping.

I gladly handed over the remaining squares, lamenting how pretty they’d looked when they were all as one with their nice scalloped edges cooked to perfection, before I’d taken a vicious spatula to them in an effort to share.

But hey, I found a home for Kristin’s kind gesture and could now go home myself. Social distancing and practicing kindness can be exhausting!

I have no idea if my friend found the cornbread pudding to be yummy or yucky.  She did say she liked corn and hopefully she likes it, A LOT!  But I’m afraid to find out.

While I was there, I also recommended she try reading An American Tragedy but no, I don’t want to know how that turned out either!

Thank you to Healthline for including my blog on their list of top MS Blogs of 2020!!!   Check out some of the other greater blogs here!!