The Joys of Eating an Ice-Cream Cone
It's now summer! Time to shed those winter clothes, break out the shorts, short-sleeved and sleeveless shirts, flip-flops and sandals. Time for swimming and playing ball, playing with your friends or sitting outside on your porch with a nice, cool glass of lemonade! It's also time for something else most of us love... ICE-CREAM!
As we well-know, there are many, different types and flavors. You can choose from good 'ol chocolate, vanilla or strawberry, or what about something more eclectic... like, rocky road, double-chocolate chip or lemon. Certain flavors I recall, because of people I know who used to eat them. Butter pecan. That was my grandfather and grandmother's favorite flavor! If I went to their house, I knew not to expect something as "outrageous" as triple fudge brownie, or Superman... with all its many, rainbow colors. Oh, no! Granny sure liked her butter pecan.
We didn't have a whole lot of ice-cream at home, either, growing up... because, mom's a diabetic; however... mom did keep sherbet in the freezer. To be honest... I wasn't too big on sherbet;( It just wasn't the same as good, 'ol faithful chocolate=) I had a cousin who didn't like chocolate (I don't know how?!), but liked vanilla instead. If we went for ice-cream, I knew what she was gettin... the off-white, creamy and delicate flavor, vanilla.
One thing that's on my mind, is... how we eat ice-cream. Some people like it in a cup. Others enjoy their's in a cone. What kind of cone, though? A nice, big waffle cone, or the smaller, yellow cone? There's also the sugar cone... dark brown, but narrow and very crunchy. Some people enjoy ice-cream on top of other desserts, such as apple pie. What about cake and ice-cream? One scoop or two, or... more? The options are endless!
Little ones enjoy taking their time eating their treats. Time is non-existant in their, happy world=) It's o.k. if the ice-cream drips. It's not going to ruin their day! Afterall... it's only a little ice-cream. It can be cleaned up. If you've ever seen a child eating ice-cream, it's a treat in itself=) Often times, they have the cone sideways or tilted and you just know that ice-cream's gonna fall right on the ground... yet, it doesn't! They lick and lick and lick the cold confection until they are so covered in the wet, sticky mess... usually handing the half-eaten, half-warm/half-cold disaster to mom or day.
I also enjoy seeing elderly people eat ice-cream. They're a lot like kids, in that... it takes time and skill to master the art of eating ice-cream. These precious moments cannot be rushed. Bit by bit, the sweet ball of cream is eaten. A lick here, a tiny bite there. A couple more licks, maybe a bite off the cone. These precious people treat a moment in time, that many of us "young adults" take for granted. There's really no need to rush such a delicate art.
Now, the rest of us ("in-betweeners," I'll call us;)... we're usually the ones ordering our concoctions "to-go," or if we do have a few minutes to spare, are scarfing them down as fast as humanly possible, so we can get on with the task at hand. You can pick us out of a crowd. We're the ones with the cold-rush headaches and stomachs about to explode! Maybe, if we just took a little TIME to savor the moment, and the dessert??!
So... I'm not so sure there's any, one way to eat an ice-cream cone. During moments as few and far between- and, PRECIOUS!- as these, we need to stop, take time to savor each moment, each bite, each beautiful conversation, because... like the ice-cream, it'll be gone before you know it!
