Gratitude Practice 2020 Day 113: The Paradox of a Frozen Totino's Pepperoni Party Pizza

The culinary delicacy of the frozen Totion’s Party Pepperoni Pizza entered my life as a child thanks to my maternal grandma Emily. Somehow, she always had a few of these frozen pizzas tucked away in her garage freezer next to a bag of rainbow popsicles and an emergency half gallon of Snelgroves neapolitan ice cream....because we were nothing if not prepared. We did not get to dine on these coveted frozen wonders every time we slept over as actual cooking happened more times than it didn’t but we ate them often enough to create true lasting childhood memory.

Without question the frozen Totino’s Party Pepperoni Pizza is both completely delicious and completely

disgusting at the same exact time. It is arguably NOT the best food and THE best food all at the same time. Like my dear grandmother, you will find a few frozen pies in my deep freezer...because my grandma raised me right thank you very much. Like my grandma, only when the time is right, I have been known to fire up the trusty toaster over and carefully place the frozen wonder directly on the hot oven rack...because this step is key to achieving a crispy bubbly crust. It's the tiny square cubes of spicy pepperoni meat product. It's the perfect amount of not real sauce but somehow sauce carefully resting beneath the not real cheese but somehow real cheese. It's the ratios. It's the satisfying crunch. It's the ever so memorable smell. It's the way it somehow burns the roof of my mouth...every...single...time and yet I am not stopped. It's my favorite best worst food item and tonight it's nothing but gratitude for this rare and quickly regrettable culinary indulgence.