Dear colleagues, I am sure that I speak for all of us when I say that the past year has been unlike any other period in my career. Yet despite the challenges – and there have been many – I have also never been prouder to serve as the dean of our Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. I have observed the resilience and ingenuity displayed by each of you as you responded to the obstacles placed before you by the coronavirus pandemic, and witnessed your commitment to your patients, your education, and your school. The fact that we are emerging from this crisis stronger and better than we were before is a testament to your hard work and dedication. While I am disappointed that we are not able to gather together to celebrate the holiday season, I do welcome the opportunity for us each to share our own personal holiday traditions, in the form of recipes that we make each year with family and friends. In sharing these traditions, we are bringing each other some much needed moments of joy at the end of a difficult year.
The first time Mrs. H. used this recipe for chocolate cheesecake was on Christmas Day in 1982. It was also the first time our family had chocolate cheesecake for dessert. It was also our first family Christmas in our new home in Kailua, Hawaii. We had recently relocated from Bethesda, Maryland, where I had completed my residency in Endodontics at the National Naval Dental Center to the Naval Dental Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where I served as the Chair, Department of Endodontics for four years. I remember that it was a typically sunny and warm day in Hawaii, and the cool chocolate cheesecake turned out to be the perfect dessert, and a tradition for each Christmas we spent in Hawaii. I hope that you enjoy this chocolate cheesecake as much as my family has, and I wish you all a very happy holiday season and a healthy and safe new year. Mahalo, Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter