Sanders Hot Fudge Sundae

I think this birthday was sponsored by sugar.  I mean really, have you ever seen anything as gorgeous as this hot fudge sundae?  Eaten with friends in honor of my birthday, of course.

My dear friend, Kerry, is in town from Virginia this week (a gift in itself!) and we have been meeting up with mutual friends and reminiscing about all the fun we had in college.  Over dinner with our friend, Kim, it came out that Kerry had never had a Sander's Hot Fudge Sundae when she lived in Michigan.  What?? How is that possible?  So we jumped in the car and headed to the nearest Sanders for dessert.

Upon entering Sanders ice cream parlor, Kim and I took turns telling the lore of Sander's candy, dessert sauces and hot fudge cream puffs.  Part of my dissertation was about Sander's dark chocolate honeycomb chips.  I told a big story about how they were my maternal grandmother's favorite.  Whenever I was spending the day with her as a child, she would decide that it was time for us to have some candy.  We'd get the box of honeycomb chips down off the top of the dining room hutch and eat about seven candies each.  Heaven.

The other night, when I made my way to the end of the counter, and climbed up on the stool next to Kerry, the hot fudge sundae I had ordered was there waiting for me, just as you see it.  When I looked into the silver ice cream dish, I realized that the woman making our sundaes had heard me telling my story and impulsively placed a dark chocolate honeycomb chip into the top of my sundae as a garnish. 

Is that love, or what?  I was really touched at her kind gesture and thanked her from the bottom of my heart.  This is yet another example of why I love people.