“I think I’d like breakfast out,” my wife told me the other day. Her birthday was fast approaching, and she loves First Watch.

When I told the boys, though, they were quite upset. They’ve been cooking their mom a birthday breakfast for as long as they can remember. The breakfasts are always tasty, if a little bit heavy on chocolate syrup.

“She probably just forgot,” I told them.

Returning to my wife, I double-checked that she did, in fact, want to skip out on this birthday tradition.

“Can you ask them to use hot fudge, instead of chocolate syrup?” she asked.

“Of course.”

Her breakfast this year featured eggs cooked by her oldest son, and a fruit plate produced by his little brother. The fruit plate had a carefully balanced tower of cookies in its center, with a dish of hot fudge bubbling on the side.

The birthday girl seemed to enjoy it. I know I did.

You just can’t get a bowl of hot fudge at First Watch.