Today's a good day for sugar lovers as we celebrate Charles E. Minches's invention of the ice cream cone ninety-seven years ago.
Cones are good.
My grandfather was the one who would pick me up from elementary school and as a treat, he would stop at Baskin Robbins so I could run in and buy myself a cone. Accustomed to paying with coins, I was faced with a major life choice the day he handed me a $10 bill.
Should I stick with the under $1.50 cone? Or, should I move onto something a bit more impressive?
Keep in mind that my grandfather, like many grandfathers who lived through the Great Depression, always counts his change and wants to see a receipt.
Counting change wasn't necessary when I came out of Baskin Robbins with a $7 banana split. The minute he saw me come out with a bag, he knew I spent more than the allotted buck and a half.
Note: Seven dollars has always been the amount I remember paying the for the banana split. Now, I think that is a bit pricey. That's more than I think they even charge now. I'm not sure if I created a higher price in my mind based on what my grandfather told my grandmother or if the staff at Baskin Robbins saw me coming and tricked me into adding all sort of extra toppings.
Regardless, I don't think I even wanted to eat my banana split after being reprimanded by my grandparents. My split -- the glorious three-scooped creation -- became tainted with guilt when my grandfather called me a little con artist and my grandmother just looked at me with grandmotherly disappointment.
Today, I can't eat a banana split without feeling a bit sick to my stomach. The banana/ice cream combination gives me the same queasy feeling that I felt on that trip home from Baskin Robbins so many years ago.
More ice cream:
Farm boys eating ice-cream cones. Washington, Indiana. From the Library of Congress.
Do you remember Farrell's? Or their Selective Service shannanigans?
