When Jon and I were first married, I invited his grandma and two great-aunts to dinner. I don’t remember what I served as the main course, but I’ll never forget the dessert. I’d recently been given a recipe for “Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars”, and wanted to try them out. The bars looked delicious. They were tan, with dark veins of grape jelly running through them.

Dinner went well. Our guests were gracious and fun, and the conversation never lagged. You might say the gift of gab is a family trait on the Williams side.

I cleared the dinner dishes and served dessert, and silence fell. Aunt Elsie bit into her Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar, chewed, swallowed, and asked the obvious question:

“Now, where’s the chocolate in this stuff?”

The Williams family shares another family trait: Chocoholism.

Recently I had a chance to interview another chocoholic family member. My husband’s cousin, Brenda Stabenow, has turned her love of chocolate into a business. She owns the Chocolate Haus, a gourmet chocolate shop in Amana, Iowa. I asked if she had any memories of candy making when she was growing up. She replied:

“ABSOLUTELY!!! I’m a WILLIAMS!  Every family reunion we went to had a dessert table full of Chocolate!  My Mom used to make fudge from scratch on our stove when I was little.  It never seemed like she made very much.  She would just pour it out on a plate and keep it in the fridge.  Sometimes we’d have to eat with a spoon and other times cut with a knife.  My Uncle Glen would show up almost every time she made it.  He must have smelled it from Washington (several miles away). I later found out Grandma Williams made fudge all the time.”

See what I mean?

Chocolate. It’s a lifestyle.

Next week I’ll print the rest of my interview with Brenda. I hope you’ll grab a brownie and a cup of coffee and join our conversation.