vanilla

Your love is better than ice cream.
Better than anything else that I've tried...

~Ice Cream by sarah mclachlan

ice cream should be a major food group, in my opinion. i have loved it for as long as i can remember and for years a bowl or a cone of ice cream was a staple in my evening routine. when i was a teenager, i had a part-time job at baskin robbins. i was an assistant manager there, in fact, and could rattle off the 31 plus flavors in my sleep.

i was always intrigued most by the customer who would come in and order a single scoop of vanilla ice cream. this customer would come in alone, walk straight to the register, and place their order. no deliberation, no ambivalence. this customer was a yoga practitioner before it was in vogue, lived on a sailboat, taught art, drove a classic mg convertible... or so i imagined.

there weren't many of these customers. most people were drawn to one of the flavors with nuts or chocolate or caramel or swirls. the vanilla afficionado stood out among the crowd as a person that appreciated the simple pleasure of ice cream. and i imagined, of life in general.

personally, i loved chocolate. gold medal ribbon, peanut butter and chocolate, chocolate almond - just to name a few. but i admired the vanilla lovers and imagined that one day i'd grow up to be one.

and i have. i star gaze and i sky gaze and i love to arrange flowers and i love to read a good novel. i like a nice breeze and a loud storm. i love the smell of grass and autumn and lilies and wisteria and honeysuckle. i talk to my cats. i talk to the wind. i sing off-key to my car stereo. i cry at luke's baseball games. i curl my hair with my fingers. i have 9 pillows on my bed. i love the simplest things. and i love ice cream.

even vanilla.

when i moved to atlanta about 11 years ago, i discovered bruster's. though i hate to admit it, they top baskin robbins. they make their ice cream fresh daily and it's so creamy it makes my mouth water to think of it.

but perhaps my favorite thing about bruster's is that even flavors such as pistachio and birthday cake start with a vanilla base.

vanilla can take you anywhere.

d: pain, pain go away. especially in my hips.
b: simple beauties do not go unnoticed by me.
g: vanilla took me to birthday cake, which i never thought i'd like...and now i can't get enough.