I Scream for Ice Cream!

I miss eating ice cream; I mean really eating ice cream.

I had a bad day today (entirely my fault - too much wine last night = pounding headache all day.  Imagine a hangover when you're surrounded by freshman students a week before school's out.  That was my day).  Anyway, I came home knowing I deserved a snack.  There was nothing salty in the house; my husband and I often have saltines or tortilla chips laying around, even though we try not to snack too much.  In fact, I just acquired a tasty, locally made black bean and corn salsa last night and even considered stopping by the store to get some chips, but the headache got the best of me.  I made it home with just enough energy to let the dog out, walk upstairs, pour a glass of water, and plop on the bed with a good book until my husband got home.

When he did, I immediately asked him, "What's for snack?"

We went through a few options:
"Pasta?"
"Ate it all yesterday."
"Cheese and crackers?"
"No crackers.  And no chips for the salsa Cheryl gave us."

Which got us back to the original question:
"What is for snack?"

He left the room to finish cooking the menudo for dinner (but that's for another post), and I grudgingly followed him into the kitchen.  And on the way down the stairs, it occurred to me - the perfect post-hangover snack in a snackless house: chocolate ice cream!

I rushed to the kitchen to see if we had any toppings for the ice cream (I was mostly checking for Hershey's Syrup), but to no avail.  That's OK.  Plain chocolate ice cream is good enough for me any day.  In fact, being that we don't partake in artificial desserts very often, the pint of ice cream that's been in our freezer has been quite a treat lately.  I scooped myself out a generous serving and settled in the dining room to enjoy it.

The meager scoops of joy I had served myself went quickly, though, more quickly than my desire to consume more ice cream, so I returned to the kitchen for seconds, and then it occurred to me, "And why shouldn't I?  I'm an adult, and I deserve ice cream!  And I don't need to explain or apologize to anyone!  And so what if I want to put peanut butter in my ice cream and top it off with stale, sweet coconut flakes that have been in the fridge for more than I care to admit?"  And then I did just that.

And that brings me back to the original intent of my post, which is to say that I miss partaking of gratifying meals (or desserts) unapologetically.  So often, in today's Western society, simply because we are no longer children, and because we work full-time jobs, and because we are expected to be "responsible adults," we don't allow ourselves to indulge in such luxuries.  No, we sell ourselves short and compromise for something we don't really want, like a Skinny Cow, or a Snackwell's cookie when what we really want is a ginormous ice cream sunday with chocolate AND caramel syrup, whipped cream, bananas, and nuts, or oozy, gooey brownies, soft in the middle and finished off with Vanilla Bean ice cream, full-fat, please!  And what for?  For a mote of the satisfaction we would otherwise get by indulging every now and again?

Now, I'm not saying we should give in to every unhealthy craving we have.  No, health is a lifestyle, and being healthy is about training your body not to crave McDonald's and 44 oz. Big Gulp Mountain Dews from QuikTrip by not consuming these atrocities on a regular basis (or ever - ew - McDonald's and MD - the worst two foods I could think of!), but I don't see anything wrong with allowing yourself an ambrosial snack every now and then.  In fact, I think it's detrimental to all of our children within every time we try to fool them into thinking a Snackwell's cookie is a gooey home-made brownie.  Shame on us, society.