chocolate cream pie.

Dudes. Not going to lie, I am blatantly using this chocolate cream pie to reflect on things that have been going on lately.

This weekend, I had probably the craziest, most ridiculous, and most rewarding experience of my undergraduate life. Rutgers University Dance Marathon was this weekend, from March 31 - April 1. You can read about it at marathon.rutgers.edu.

I was (originally wrote "am" but realized it's over now ... well AD apps are out next week, so we'll see!) part of Catering, which is a job of incredible manual labor, dedication, and hard work.

The entire experience was so awesome. Catering was intense. Water jug refilling (the 10 gallon ones .. yeah, you need huge ones when you're serving about 700 people) was a never-ending task, mainly contributing to the current soreness in my back, biceps, and triceps.

But there were buff guys on the catering team who helped! Actually, the team was all guys except for myself and the Director, who is so awesome. We all bonded so much, from washing & carrying those water jugs, to covertly sneaking bits of (sometimes whole) pastries while cutting them up to serve, serving sloppy joe, hoarding food for each other before it was all gone, grilling pancake/turkey burgers, helping each other through the pre-dawn hours, having an unexpected deep conversation, talking to the main chef about baking and learning of an NJ bake supply shop (!!!), and me falling straight on my kaboose at 5:30 am while attempting to put a 30 lb box of baby carrots onto a really high table with wheels. I think we're having a hangout this week at some point, which is exciting because I unfortunately don't know when I'll ever see some of them again.

Anyway, I congratulate all the people involved and who were supportive of RUDM 2012. Without them, we could not have raised the $442, 075.06 we did this year!!! It's more than last year's about $380, 000. The end was incredibly emotional, and I just felt so grateful for everything, especially with the knowledge that every extra cent was something more that could be given to the kids.

I'm trying to keep that in mind at the moment, sick and exhausted in every way. My eyes were so small when I woke up. Now too. I think I scared people with how I looked. I also walked into a wall. And double clicked the "logoff" icon immediately after logging on, mistaking it for Mozilla Firefox. And laughed (aka coughed because that's what happens when I try to laugh) for too long after a not-so-funny joke I made about not caring about schoolwork during a lecture about cancer and realizing I said I didn't care about cancer after working so hard for kids with cancer.

Did that even make sense? I feel like I wrote paragraphs. Uh yeah, so this chocolate cream pie ... I actually made it on pi day. It's delicious, creamy, and satisfying. It's pretty much homemade chocolate pudding. In any crust you desire. Also, it's not too heavy, which is nice.

Love you all. Hope you all find a source of inspiration in your life as RUDM served in mine. And hope you make this pie.

FTK,
Yat (how all DMers sign their emails - "for the kids")

Chocolate Cream Pie
can use store-bought graham cracker or Oreo crust. filling recipe from here.

• 1/4 cup cornstarch 
• 1/3 cup + 2 TB granulated sugar 
• 3 TB cocoa powder 
• 1/4 tspn salt 
• 3 cups milk, pref whole, but I'm sure 2% would work (less fat = less stable, soft-set vs. hard-set) 
• 4 oz. (or 3/4 cup) semi- or bitter sweet chocolate, finely chopped (or use chips) 
• 1 tspn vanilla extract 
• 1 cup heavy cream 
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup powdered sugar 

1. Whisk cornstarch, sugar, cocoa, and salt in saucepan. Turn on heat, and gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, and whisk constantly for about two minutes. It should thicken. 
2. Stir in finely chopped chocolate and vanilla. If using chocolate chips, heat chips for about 30 seconds on high power to soften (no need to melt) before whisking in. 
3. Pour mixture into prepared crust, and chill until cold. 
4. Right before serving, whip cream to soft peaks, adding sugar gradually as the cream begins to take shape. Dollop atop the pie. Serve. Can drizzle with homemade salted caramel if you want an amazing pie experience.