Ice cream can be fun.
I'm actually not a huge fan of ice cream. But to say that I don't like ice cream usually returns a look of horror from whoever hears me say that, as though not liking ice cream means that I am pure evil and cruel to children.

Ice cream is cold. And too sweet. But I don't completely dislike it. I'm just choosy about when I like it, how I eat it, and which kinds of ice cream that I like.

Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream- hands down best ice cream on the planet, and something I will gladly eat almost any time. Except when it's cold outside. But especially in a comfort-food emergency. Cookie Dough ice cream is essential.

My other favorite kind of ice cream is Neapolatin. I don't like any one flavor - chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry - enough to justify an entire container of just one flavor. But all three together allows me just enough of each of them so that I will eventually eat all of all three flavors.

Of course, when I was younger I would go through a strawberry ice cream phase, as it is my favorite of the three basic flavors. This would often result in a container of Neapolatin that quickly ran out of the strawberry stripe well before the chocolate and vanilla. As an adult no longer living with my parents now, I can admit that I was the guilty one who left the partially empty (minus only the strawberry stripe which I had consumed) container in the freezer for the rest of my family to eat. My goal was for them to finish off the chocolate and vanilla, so we could get more ice cream. I had no problem leaving that container there, waiting for someone else to finish the ice cream.

This is not unlike the episode of The Simpsons when Homer pulls a carton of Neapolatin ice cream out of the freezer, notices it is full of chocolate and vanilla but completely empty of strawberry, then yells out, "Marge! We need more strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream!" I'm pretty sure they stole that from me.

Anyway, while at the grocery store yesterday, I had a HUGE desire for ice cream. It's spring, I've been playing outside. It's time for ice cream. And not just any ice cream- Neapolatin ice cream.

But more than just ice cream, I really wanted an ice cream cone. I wanted the ice cream, and the cones, and to make my own ice cream cones at home. With the Neapolatin ice cream- the best ice cream for cones. In fact, I prefer my Neapolatin, and ice cream in general, in a cone. I don't even really like to eat it in a bowl. For some reason, liking ice cream is much easier when it comes in cone form.

Locating the ice cream in the store was easy. There is a big sign in the freezer section that points any ice cream seeking person directly to cases upon cases of ice cream. As I scoured the selection for ice cream, I discovered a gold mine: there in all its glory was Neapolatin, on sale AND buy one get one free!

Holy cow. TWO gallons of Neapolatin for the price of one. It was meant to be!

However, I suddenly remembered that this whole ice cream thing would not work for me without the cones. I didn't want ice cream without cones. So I had to first find the cones before letting myself put the Neapolatin into the shopping cart. I began frantically combing the store looking for cones. Where are the cones??

This is when I became frustrated. I looked everywhere. But where do cones fit in a grocery store? What is their category? I looked in all of the logical places. They were not on the cake and baking aisle. Not on the cookie and snack aisle. Not on the breakfast food aisle (certainly someone eats ice cream cones for breakfast). They weren't even on the novelty seasonal aisle. Now I was getting angry.

I just want an ice cream cone!

So, I started going up and down every aisle. Lawn and garden, automotive, laundry detergent. No cones. I looked on the ends of the aisles for 'special cone displays'. Nothing.

Soup aisle? No.
Softdrink aisle? No.
Bread aisle? No.
Fruit department? No.

No cones.

I was determined not to ask for help, because I decided it might seem silly for a grown adult with a shopping cart full of fruit, cheese, water, and clearly without a child in tow, to ask directions to the ice cream cones. So, sadly and very disappointedly, I wandered back to the ice cream aisle to take one last look at my two gallons of Neapolatin. I could not buy it without the cones. I needed to say goodbye.

As I rounded the corner, I noticed a rack across the aisle from the ice cream. Wait. Could it be? Yes, it was.

The cones.

Crammed in front of the permanent rack of birthday party supplies was one rack of one kind of cone. While I'd hoped for some variety, or maybe the multi-colored cones my mom used to buy, all I was able to find after my long search was one kind of cone. I had no options.

At first, I was mad. I'd searched this whole store, and there they were right where I started. But then I realized that I had found the cones. So, I grabbed a box of cones. And I grabbed two gallons of Neapolatin. And I paid and got the heck out of the grocery store.

Do I feel guilty for owning two entire gallons of ice cream? No.

I earned it after walking that entire grocery store looking for cones.

These better be the best cones ever.

My ice cream will be fun.

C.T.