"You scream. I scream. We all scream for ice cream."
My family and I...for a tactful way to put it..struggle. Since moving back to my husband's hometown, careers have been turned around, we've taken menial positions that we abhor, work several gigs and sacrifice a great deal.
One of one sacrifices has been the family's favorite sweet craving: ice cream.
But there are those days when you just
need that cold treat. To have the sharp yet creamy coolness putting your parched throat into shock treatment. The feel of mounds of milk and sugar oozing around your molars and falling past your tongue like a slow moving waterfall is sometimes, sometimes what you need to just get through that stress-filled day.
Did you know that this cold nectar of the Gods(and Goddesses) has been here since the time of Mesopotamia? Well actually it was ice but that was only the beginning. The Greeks created snow cones using honey and fruit. In 400BC Persians donned their imagination caps and came up with a pudding like dish made with rose water and vermecilli(I know, doesn't sound quite right does it?) that is still served in Iran today.
Then ice sorbets were born. Some say by the Chinese and then there's the story of Charles I who supposedly offered his ice snow make a lifetime pension if he would keep the recipe secret therefore it would only be a royal treat. The cad!
Ice cream that we know, love and 'need' didn't come on the scene until the 18th century both in England. But we seem to owe the Quakers a debt of gratitude since they brought it with them with they came to America.
Years ago, then President Reagan declared July to be national ice cream month. But he was wrong. Because apparently ice cream is just as popular in the winter months as it is in the summer. I suppose because it doesn't melt as fast and you're not competing against such events as festivals, 4th of July, family reunions and your average kid's birthday parties and picnics.
I don't believe it matters. There is still that yearning for a sweetness that can only be saved by ice cream. No chocolate candy, cookie or cake will do. Not even a icy popsicle will be a sufficient replacement.
Now there are some people who believe themselves to be ice cream connoisseurs but I believe that translates into snobs. Now, don't get me wrong I could live on Blue Bell ice cream(made solely in Texas thank you very much) but I know that there are some states who aren't able to receive this delicacy. That would not stop me from salivating over another brand of my most favored obsession. Unless it is made out of frozen lard, then I would be first in line to try it!
It's difficult to say that I will sacrifice my craving for this icy dessert. I just can't bring myself to cut off cold turkey and I have tried in the name of my family, my pocketbook and (ahem) my waist line. May two out of three of them be damned for my family would defend my statements here to the death as they reached behind me with thier Baskin Robbins spoon ready to sneak a smidgen to taste.
After all it is the nectar of the Gods and I would not be the only one to rise to challenge the naysayers of the world. Sacrfiice is the 'mother' spelled backwards in so many cultures. Ice cream, however, is not one of them.
