Yum! I do love that so many of the “national” days celebrate wonderful foods. Ice cream cones have always held a special place in my little world. As a child, I struggled to finish even a small portion, so Dad always suggested I order a flavor such as strawberry or mint chocolate chip, since he knew that he would be finishing my ice cream. Naturally, he wasn’t impressed if I selected one of those crazy kid flavors, like bubblegum or red, white, and blueberry. Nowadays, I go for a true lemon ice cream (not sherbet), a delightful sorbet, mint chocolate chip, or even some knock-off on the Almond Joy bar. Oh, and serve it with a sugar cone, please.
Dad will always be with us in spirit, and I can see him beaming from ear to ear at the very mention of ice cream. A half-gallon tub was a single serving for him. No joke. When they would be entertaining guests, and Mom wanted to serve vanilla ice cream with the perfect pie she was baking, she had to get reeeeeally clever at disguising the ice cream box. It would be gone otherwise. Her best trick was hiding it inside an empty plastic bag from a jumbo package of frozen French fries in our big chest freezer. Then, of course, she’d neatly bury it under other packages in the vegetable section! Hah! Dad did not catch on…. at first.
As the photo shows, he was a master of the ice cream cone. What!??! I mean, are five scoops really too many for a devoted fan? Not for him on any day, but certainly not on National Ice Cream Cone Day.
