I Scream, You Scream - Simple Pleasures

At times we forget the simple pleasures in our lives. These are the little things that make us happy during our day to day existence. A kiss on the cheek, a pat on the back, a nod of the head in appreciation, a smile or a wink that has just told you that you have “made my day” or perhaps just a simple Ice Cream Cone.

I have always preferred the sugar cones over the waffle cones. But out of a cone is not the way to really enjoy eating Ice Cream. It should be eaten out of a bowl or better yet, out of the Ice Cream container itself. This may be pure decadence on my part. But I believe that this is what eating Ice Cream is all about; satiating our primal wants and needs and enjoying it in the process.

My all-time favorite Ice Cream was produced by a Baltimore-Washington food chain; Giant Inc. It was named Double Chocolate Chip. This was one of their gourmet Ice Creams made with rich dark chocolate Ice Cream and large semi-sweet chocolate chips. This was truly a chocolate lover’s delight. Needless to say, I am a chocolate lover.

My second favorite is Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. A Banana Ice Cream with large chunks of semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts. Nuts are on my “no-no” list, so I have ceased to purchase this product. A few years ago,during my annual visit to Chicagoland, my sister, “the Saint”, bought a pint of Chunky Monkey for me knowing that it was one of my favorites. She had forgotten that I could no longer eat nuts.

There it sat in her freezer calling out to me; “I’m in here, come and get me”. After four days the voice calling me sounded so sweet that I could no longer resist the temptation. I devoured the entire pint in less than 10 minutes. I spit out most of the walnuts. The one’s that did make it to my digestive tract did not harm me. But I am not one to tempt the Fates, so I haven’t eaten Chunky Monkey since that day.

Ben & Jerry's has come up with a new flavor. According to their website; The new flavor is a decadent melting pot of vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and a caramel swirl. It’s the sweet taste of liberty in your mouth. Colbert believes AmeriCone Dream can make a difference. “I’m not afraid to say it. Dessert has a well-known liberal agenda. What I hope to do with this ice cream is bring some balance back to the freezer case.”

Stephen Colbert is donating his proceeds from the sale of AmeriCone Dream to charity through The Stephen Colbert AmeriCone Dream Fund. The Fund will support charities of concern to Stephen such as food and medical assistance for disadvantaged children, helping veterans and their families, and environmental causes.

The helping of veterans and their families is a very important issue to me. Our government, especially the current administration and the current and past House and Senate have treated veterans and their surviving families like garbage. This is a moral shame. It’s a greater shame because private citizens have done more for our veterans than our government has.

I do not support the war in Iraq, as I did not support the war in Viet Nam (and I spent four years of my life in the Army during the peak of the Viet Nam War). I do, however, support our military; the guys and gals that put it on the line for us on a daily basis.

At heart, I am a pacifist. To my way of thinking wars solve nothing and serve only as a means to deplete the world population. We live in a world with finite resources. The greater the population equals the lesser resources per inhabitant of our small planet. Therefore, religious scholars say that wars (as well as pestilence and famine) are a necessity. I just don’t buy into this biblical theory!

I am not fond of Vanilla Ice Cream, I do not like Waffle Cones and I’m a bit iffy on Caramel, However I will be buying Ben and Jerry’s “The Stephen Colbert AmeriCone” Ice Cream, as I now know that part of the proceeds will go to our military Vets and their families.

The Beach Bum