"A Taste of Honey"

For many years when I was growing up, my dad managed a Howard Johnson's Restaurant.  Anybody remember them??   Well, if you do remember, you might recall, they had 28 Flavors of Ice Cream.  This was before the days of Baskin-Robbins, so 28 flavors was downright amazing.   I don't remember many of the flavors because the only kinds I ever had were vanilla or infrequently, butter pecan.  It used to drive my dad crazy! 

We only had one car (ever), so if my mom needed to do anything other than sit in the house all day, she would have to drive Daddy to work and then go and pick him up at the end of the day.  Dad was usually ready to come home somewhere around 9:00 pm, so I would usually stay at home with Lil' Sis, while Mom went off to get him.  Occasionally, however, we would all go off to the restaurant to pick him up.  On some of those times, we would go in and have a dish of ice cream while we waited for him to finish up.  Mom would get chocolate or butter pecan or sherbet or  black cherry or maybe even peppermint.  Lil' Sis (being only 3 or so at the time) would share whatever mom was having.  And I would have, you guessed it, vanilla.

"We have 28 different flavors!  How can you always get vanilla?  Don't you want to try the featured flavor??  Dad always made some remark to try to get me to branch out, but it never worked.  I would stick to plain vanilla almost all the time.  What I don't recall him asking me is "Why?" 

I'm rather glad he never asked me why I wouldn't try other flavors because it would have been hard for me to answer it honestly.  The truth of the matter is that I really didn't like ice cream all that much, even the vanilla!  I didn't want to hurt his feelings, after all this was supposed to be a treat!  Most of the kids I knew would have turned somersaults for having a dad who gave them ice cream!  But not me! 


You see, not only did I not  like ice cream, I didn't like any sweets!   Oh, I'd occasionally have a plain Hershey Bar or a skinny slice of peach pie, or a piece of birthday cake, but have something sweet every day?  No, no, no!  Dessert was never my thing.  I didn't even like anything candied (yams, carrots, onions, etc.)  No apricot glazes or raspberry dressings for me.   No thank you!   Many things were just too sweet for my tastes, so I would eat as little of it as I could get away with.  Now, Mom, being of the "you have to at least try some of everything being served" school of parenting, would be satisfied as long as I ate some of everything.  So I would, but I didn't like anything sweet!


I don't think either Mom or Dad realized how little I cared for sweet things until I was much older and not so hesitant to say I didn't like it!  There were only two things I could safely refuse to eat:  liver or fish.  Mom didn't like fish and Dad wasn't big on liver, so we rarely had either one at home and if we did have one or the other and I refused to eat it, they could understand.  But not eating sweets?  That was just outside the realm of their belief system!  lol!


When I had my tonsils out at age 6, I totally shocked the nurses when I refused ice cream and asked for cold milk instead!  It just wasn't what kids did!!


Once I was married, I was in charge of meals (sort of) so I could avoid whatever was too sweet for me.  The trouble was Mikey was exactly the opposite.  A day without dessert wasn't worth living in his world!  He accepted the fact that sweets were very low on my list of priorities.   That doesn't mean he understood it, but he did accept it.   But deep down he just didn't get it.  Still doesn't!


For example, I remember one time (not all that long ago either), Mikey made something (I think it was chili or spaghetti sauce) for dinner.  When I took the first bite, I made a face and said,  "Ick, it's sweet!!  It's not supposed to be sweet, it's chili (or spaghetti sauce)!  What did you do?"  He swore up and down he hadn't added anything sweet and it took us a little while to figure out it was the onions!   They were Vidalia onions which as you probably know,  are sweet.  They completely wrecked the flavor for me.  Mikey couldn't even taste the sweetness!  Like I said, I really don't like sweets, especially in things that aren't supposed to be sweet!

Now before you start thinking that I am completely and totally weird, let me assure you that I did get sweet in my diet very regularly. Growing up I would drink milk with my meals, but once I was married,  I discovered I loved sweet drinks....Pepsi became my beverage of choice for decades!  I liked sweet iced tea, I would put sugar in orange juice, lemonade had to have a ton of sugar in it before I would drink it.  It's a conundrum that I do not understand to this day!

I stayed fairly thin through most of my life and that I am sure is largely due to the lack of a lot of sweet stuff (except for the drink part).  I have a somewhat addictive personality (may I remind you that I am not allowed to go to a casino by myself!!).  So I am grateful that sweets were not my vice of choice!  I would have weighed a ton....maybe two!

So, all that being said, by all that's holy, would someone please explain to me why, after all these years, have I recently begun craving sweet things???    Pie, cookies, candy, cobblers, fudge, and absolutely worst of all, Hot Fudge sundaes???  I'm afraid to get on a scale!  My teeth are going to rot and fall right out of my head.  So far, it doesn't take much to satisfy that craving --  a piece or two of candy, 3  cookies, a spoonful of cobbler, a small sundae from Sonic without whipped cream...but still.  This is just flat out wrong.  Perhaps I have been invaded by an alien with a sweet tooth!

All I know is that it's got to STOP!  It used to be that I was happy with "A Taste of Honey."  Now I want the whole damn jar...all over everything!!   Arrggh!

"Bits and Pieces" (ad infinitum)

Just a little bit of this and tiny piece of that....

***  The Big Guy is doing OK.  The facial drooping has gotten a bit better, although he says it doesn't feel any better or different.  The thing that appears to be the most bothersome is the eye watering.  The doctor warned him that the eye probably would not close properly and to watch out for dryness.  Well, his problem is certainly not dryness.  His eye is almost constantly watering.  He has taken to wearing a gauze pad held in place by an eye patch which helps a lot.  It is a bit like living with a pirate though!   Arrrggh, Matey!

*** The other thing that happened on Wednesday was that M-t-G got her first set of braces.  She anticipated only getting the top set (to make room for her canines which have no where to go), but ended up with a full set.  The first few days have been pretty painful while she eating.  There is a huge list of things she can't eat, and it encompasses many of her favorite things -- nuts, corn on the cob, popcorn, gummy anything, and so on.  She informed her mother and I Wednesday evening after dinner, "This is not making me happy!"  Well, nope, I guess it wouldn't.  Don't worry, honey, it will only be for a year or 18 months"  Cold comfort, I guess!

***  Last year from the end of May to September we had almost constant HOT (over 100F) weather, which got to be really uncomfortable and made just about everyone cranky.  This year we didn't hit 100F until August, which is an improvement.  Nevertheless, it has been over 100F again for the last 2 1/2 weeks.  OK, we're done now.  That's enough!!

***  M-t-G is experiencing some anxiety over going back to school this year.  Not only do we have the addition of braces (never easy on kids), but the poor kid has to go to a whole different school because of the School Board's decision to re-draw the school boundaries.   Arrrr!   Most of her friends will remain at the old school.  She met her new teacher yesterday and I hear that meeting went well.  School starts Monday, so we shall see. 

***  Ratchlet informed me that "Jersey Boys" (about The Four Seasons) is running for the next 3 weekends.  She will secure some good seats and put them on hold for one of the Friday nights, so I'll pay for them when I get there, but will have better seats than the "hoi polloi".  She can't get free tickets of course, but she can get good seats....I'll take it!  As the Associate Director for the theater she has a little pull, not much, but enough!  Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the show!  In fact, I'm already humming,  ".....big girls don't cry, big girls don't...."

***  Had dinner with our 2 best girls tonight at dessert heaven, The Cheesecake Factory!  Being the non-dessert person in the family, I only had one bite of the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake the Big Guy, M-t-G, and Ratchlet shared (they serve enormous pieces!)  They were all in 7th Heaven, particularly M-t-G.  I thought it was too rich and too sweet!  Heresy in my family!!

***  I'm continuing to run out of new things to read.  I haven't had a chance to go to the library this week, so I'm reduced to re-reading some of the books that I have.  Several folks have urged me to get a Kindle, which gives you access to hundreds of books almost instantly.  Considering how quickly I go through books, it would make a lot of sense, but I'm resistant.  I love books and somehow reading electronic versions just doesn't seem like it could possibly be the same!  Besides, I'm cheap!  I wish I knew someone who has one that I could borrow for a couple of days.  So far, no luck in that quarter.  Maybe I can squeeze in a side trip to the library tomorrow.  That would hold me for another couple of weeks!

***   I have an addictive personality.  I'm not at all tempted by alcohol or illegal drugs, but after my experience during my one trip to Las Vegas, it is clear that I could become addicted to gambling very easily.  Hence, my "one trip to Las Vegas"!!  So actually, my only addictions are smoking and Pepsi!  I drank nothing but Pepsi and Pepsi Free for years!  I was notorious for always having Pepsi in my travel bottle!  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Midnight snack....didn't matter, Pepsi was my drink of choice.  Well, this past year, for whatever reason I don't know, I have drastically reduced my Pepsi intake.  Now you might think that is good news.   Well, not as much as it could be.  You see, I've just replaced Pepsi with iced tea!  That's all I order in restaurants and since I found that I can purchase pre-made, unsweetened tea by the gallon (wheee!), I am pretty sure I have slipped over into a tea addiction.   I can go through a couple of gallons in a week!  Like I said, addicted!   I sure wish I could become addicted to something positive for a change, like saving money, or cleaning, or the like.  I'm pretty darn sure that won't ever happen.  I'm too busy enjoying blogging, FaceBook, and Iced Tea!

Okay, that's enough random thoughts for tonight....besides it's time for more tea!!

"Sugartime"

I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but I'm not much of a desserts/sweets kind of person.  This is an oddity in my family.  Everybody from my grandmother down to my granddaughter loves sweets.  "Sugartime" in our house is a must.

I remember my Gram's favorite way to diet.  She would give up her toast in the morning so that she could have pie at night!  (In case you're wondering, it didn't work!)  It was a running joke at Thanksgiving whether my mom was having pumpkin pie with a little whipped cream or whipped cream with a little pumpkin pie!  I don't remember my dad ever turning down dessert. 

Little Sis and both of her kids have a bit of a sweet tooth, I think.  Its been a while since I've seen the kids, so I'm not 100% sure.  But I definitely don't remember them NOT liking sweets.

The Big Guy is a sweets-a-holic!  He frequently sits in the evening and has a pint of ice cream!  His piece of pie rivals my mother's regarding whipped cream!  He even has certain rituals that must be followed when he has layer cake.  It must lie on the plate in the "right direction" (meaning the icing must be on  the right) so that it is easy to get icing with every bite.  Its kind of hard to explain without a piece of cake to illustrate and it took me years to figure out and remember.

His entire family also liked sweets....his mom, his dad, and all six brothers and sisters.  It was usually a two dessert (at least) meal when they all got together.  And everybody would have some of each dessert.

Even my darling daughter, who is soooo like me in most things, likes  pie, or ice cream, or cheesecake, but she doesn't like layer cake (I think she was traumatized as a child by the whole "right side/wrong side" debacle with her father!!)  Even her wedding cake was cheesecake!!

T.A.  is big on dessert too and will frequently order dessert "just to share" with Maddie-the-Great.  HA!  This fools no one!

And M-t-G originally didn't much care for sweet things until she was maybe 2 years old.  But she has gotten over that little quirk entirely.  Now she is worrying about dessert before she even begins her meal!  She likes all things sweet except whipped cream  (definitely not related to my mom!)  Ice cream with sprinkles is still her favorite though.  The truth of the matter is that it's probably more the idea of dessert rather than the specific thing.  She can be just as excited over one piece of hard candy as she is over a big gooey ice cream creation with all her favorite "stuff" on it.

I, on the other hand. just have never gotten excited about sweets....ever.  Most times I won't have anything at all.  Or sometimes I'll take a spoonful or two of the Big Guy's creme brulee or something else special, but just to taste it. Now I want to assure you that I am not an alien or diabetic or just weird.  I just find most desserts too rich, too sweet, too many flavors, just too much!  I will occasionally get a craving for chocolate or jelly bellies but that is generally satisfied in one or two days and then I'm good for another several months.  When I was pregnant I wanted Fudgecicles, had to have one every day.  The Big Guy even had to go out late at night to get some.  But once Ratchlet was born, that was the end of the Fudgecicles.  I didn't have another one for at least 10 or 15 years!  Seriously. 

Candy jars on someone's desk??  cookies?? popsicles?? pudding??  No thank you!  I can generally resist them all.  They don't tempt me in the least.  I do like sweet drinks like iced tea or Pepsi, but somehow that's not quite the same at all. 

My addiction is to the salty/crunchy things like peanuts, chips, Chex Mix, Cheetos.  I don't eat them everyday or anything.  But I really like to have something in the house to nibble when I feel the urge.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure and complete honesty, I must confess that there are a couple of things that I find a bit harder to resist .  Dolce de Leche ice cream..... brownies.... those are fairly easy and quickly satisfied.  But there is one thing, one tiny little addiction, that keeps cropping up from time to time.  This is something that is not widely known about me, even among my nearest and dearest. About once a year or even less often, I simply have to have (I'm embarrassed to tell you) a....Hot Fudge Sundae.  I don't know why, I can't explain it.  All I know is that I feel restless and unhappy until I have one. 

Yesterday was the day.  I went to the frozen custard place and had their small Hot Fudge Sundae.  It was delicious and I ate every drop.  Ahhhh, heaven. 

So now I'm good for the next year or so; my personal "Sugartime" addiction is satisfied once again.  I don't want another one, thanks.  But damn, it was good!