Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Neapolitan

Neapolitan ice cream. It was the nemesis of my youth. It was the only bad part about birthday's. It was created to punish me. I can still remember every prayer, "Please, please don't let it be Neapolitan. Please make it just be vanilla, please, please." Parents bought Neapolitan thinking that it would make everyone happy, a flavor to suit everyone. Well, it didn't. Only 10% of children actually prefer chocolate over vanilla and it is even less for strawberry. Most parents made you take a big scoop that had all three flavors. Occasionally you would get a parent who would ask, "Alright, what flavor do you want?" That was actually worse because by the time I got to them there was only chocolate and strawberry left and I simply couldn't stomach either one. Chocolate tastes like dirt to me and strawberry always had those nasty, stringy, little specks of real frozen strawberries in it. I can honestly say that I have NEVER once in my life ever been responsible for buying the offending medley myself.... oops... well.... o.k., that used to be true. It was true until about 5:21pm last night. I was grocery shopping with the kids and I had a coupon, it was a coupon that said I could get one half gallon of cheap, store brand ice cream for just a buck. 99 cents. I was thinking I would grab one for the kids. They only had 5 flavors of the cheap stuff and none of them sounded good (I don't know why I cared since I was buying it for the kids). Neapolitan sounded good. WHAT?!?!?!?! It did, it sounded good and so I grabbed it and put it in my cart and headed straight to the counter in a bit of a daze. There was a very very tiny voice whispering, "What are you doing, you crazy lady? Put it back, put it back!!!!" But my belly was happily humming to itself and singing, "Gonna eat some Neapolitan, and love it, and love it. Gonna eat some Neapolitan and love it till it's gone."

With the key still in the lock, my arms full of groceries, the kids run past me to watch their new DVD and I let them run. As soon as I'm alone I pull my nasty ice cream from its clinging plastic bag. The box is always hard to open on these cheap brands and it rips a little in the corner. The scoop is big, worth 4 single scoops at least, and it isn't only vanilla. No, this scoop has the perfect layered effect of strawberry (it has lots of chunks), vanilla, and the same old dirty chocolate from my childhood. It glistens because it is soft from the drive home so I must hurry and eat before it melts. This is good, this is sooooooooo good. I lick my spoon after every bite and I scrape up every last drop with my spoon. The kids haven't had any, and I don't think I'm going to share. They can eat my nice name brand stuff if they want 'cause this is all I will be eating for the next little while. Oh yes, I am DEFINITELY pregnant.

9 comments:

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

Congrats!

I like neapolitan, but I want every flavor in one scoop. Are you serious that kids prefer vanilla? Maybe I'm just old, but I want major dark chocolate with thick swirls of caramel...

Family Adventure said...

That is *funny* :)

I'm glad you are doing well.

Heidi

Anonymous said...

I've never liked chocolate ice cream.

I'm glad that your indulgence is cheap! That means you can have more!

Montserrat said...

What? You don't like chocolate ice cream??!!! Goodie, that means more for me. ;D

cindy kay said...

I have memories of Neapolitan from my childhood too. We used to go visit my Grandma and Grandpa every Sunday, and Grandma always kept Neapolitan ice cream on hand. I always ate chocolate, my brother always ate strawberry, and the grownups nearly always ate vanilla. And, oddly, I don't think we hardly ever mixed flavors....I don't know why.

I don't bother with Neapolitan now, in spite of my fond memories, since I'm the only one who eats chocolate, and NOBODY eats strawberry!

Kellan said...

That was so cute - the whole post and that last line just said it all! Fun post - see ya.

Anonymous said...

Bon Appétit!

Misty said...

You so ARE, honey! Get your rest, ya here!

LaughterThoughts said...

Okay, so I'm feeling a bit "lost"- First I checked out your current ice cream flavor cravin' and saw the pregnancy bit in it... then I saw it in the neopolitan (mmm!) post, so I need some updatin'! Have I missed that much being sick?

When are you due?