I don't particularly enjoy the act of baking, but I truly enjoy the end product.  Eating delicious baked goods is one of the greatest things in life.  I realize that pancakes aren't really baked goods, but since living in Holland, I've been making pancakes every weekend.  I have only baked one pie, but two cakes have been baked, a few batches of cupcakes, a handful of banana breads, and countless batches of cookies.  Seriously, I've baked so many cookies since living here, I could open a bakery.  It is entirely unhealthy.  

For awhile I was obsessed with pudding as well.  My first batch was banana, then I made several batches of butterscotch.  I ate some really great butterscotch pudding while visiting my friend Ed in Minneapolis a few years ago.  It was so good.  My butterscotch pudding was good, but not as good as the stuff from Minneapolis.  I was using the recipe from "The Joy of Cooking."  It was bit more jelly than I wanted it to be.  I wanted smoother and creamier pudding.  My banana pudding was pretty creamy, but Marleen is not as partial to bananas as I am, so I didn't revisit that one.  My friend Ronan is both lactose intolerant and allergic to gluten, so I made him a coconut milk based pudding with a corn starch thickener once.  It was quite good, though a bit rich, and more jelly than I would have liked.  As I mentioned before, I prefer a creamier pudding.
If I were asked, I would say that my best pudding was a rich, creamy, and delicious chocolate pudding.  I've made it a few times, and the texture is perfect, and it is super tasty.  Each time I made pudding I was hoping for a giddy excited reaction, but instead my creations were met with indifference.  This isn't a direct quote, but once Marleen said something along the lines of, "Chocolate mousse is so much better than pudding."  

THE AUDACITY!!!

Despite the somewhat uncalled for and ungrateful chocolate mousse remark, my baked goods are typically well received.  Marleen always eats them.  Other visitors seem pleased when eating them.  Most importantly, I always enjoy eating them.  Life is much better with delicious baked goods or other desserts.  I'm not sure if I'm going to make anything this evening,  but I assure you that I want to.  

Best, 

Jim