Ice Cream Social

As you know, Kristy and I spent last weekend in the Chicagoland area. We stayed in the northwest suburb of Palatine. The last post focused on Billy Joel and his amazing performance that capped off the weekend in the best way possible. However, for one of us, something permeated the entire weekend, in addition to anticipation for the concert: ICE CREAM.

I left Green Bay on Saturday morning to meet Kristy in downtown Chicago at about 1:15. I thought I had planned for enough time, but alas, I was about ½ later than Kristy due to traffic. I called her to tell her to pick up some milk for the no pudge fudge brownies I was bringing for her. So, Kristy traversed a few blocks, carrying anywhere from 50-100 pounds of complaint-inducing luggage. Apparently, she gathered more along the way, because the more I talked with her the heavier her luggage got. Anyway, she got the milk, but in addition, she got herself a pint of Vermont’s finest. I believe it was Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough and brownie concoction. Kristy’s Ice Cream Scoop tally: 2

After I picked her up, we drove to Palatine, and then to Evanston to meet a friend of ours and his girlfriend for dinner. We ate at a Tappas restaurant that was delicious. After that, someone brought up the possibility of getting ice cream. Nobody raised any objections, so we walked a few blocks to the smallest, most crowded Cold Stone I have ever seen. There, we all ordered ice cream. However, since Kristy had a pint earlier, she decided to just sample the oatmeal cookie batter and take one for the team and order raspberry sherbet. She let me know later that if she had not had Ben and Jerry’s earlier, she would have definitely gotten the good stuff. Kristy’s Ice Cream Scoop Tally: 4
The next night, a family friend of ours took us out to a delicious Japanese steak house. There we each had a multi-course meal that included as dessert… ice cream. So, after a massive dinner, we each had a scoop of ice cream. I believe Kristy ended up voting for chocolate on this occasion. Kristy’s Ice Cream Scoop Tally: 5

The next morning, we planned on staying in and working on the homework we had brought with us. However, when we got up, we decided to go out for breakfast. We were driving down a main drag when Kristy picked out a restaurant called “Billy’s.” We sat down and looked over the menu. Krsity asked, “What is hollandaise sauce?” I replied, “It is a cream-based sauce, usually with some spices like paprika.” Kristy: “Oh. That sounds kind of good. Maybe, I’ll get the eggs Alexander.” Me: “Okay.” Well, we ordered and then the food came. I’ll admit that the hollandaise sauce was a little buttery for my taste as well, but I ate most of my meal. Kristy, on the other hand, barely touched hers. After I paid for two meals, one mostly ate, one mostly disassembled, but barely eaten.

As we were driving back to where we were staying, Kristy remembered a conversation we had the night before about an amazing ice cream place a few towns northeast of where we were. Stunned, I questioned her about it and her desire to have ice cream again. Well, neither of us could quite remember the directions exactly, but we drove in the direction we knew was right and on the roads we recalled being mentioned. Somehow, as God smiled down upon us, we found Buffalo’s, conveniently on the edge of Buffalo Grove. We parked and walked in to the ice cream parlor and diner and waited to be seated. The hostess approached and asked, “Breakfast or lunch?” To this, Kristy hesitated a little and replied firmly, “Ice cream.” The hostess skipped a beat and looked us over for a few seconds. She said, “At 11:30?” No reply from us as she turned away and showed us to our booth. We looked over the ice cream menu and somehow decided on the “Hubb Hubba.” We ordered and after a few minutes, the waitress returned and said, "I forgot to ask for your flavors. What did you two want?” Kristy: “Umm… Surprise us.” We watched our waitress tell the creator to surprise us. It had five vertical scoops of ice cream, bananas and wafer cookies along the side for support, butterscotch dribbled all over and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. It was amusing to watch them, make as all of the wait staff gathered around the parlor to witness the creation. When our colossal ice cream beast arrived at our table, I knew immediately there was no way I could even eat a quarter of the ice cream melting in front of me. I had breakfast though and Kristy had not. She was impressive as she persevered through the ice cream and after about 15 minutes, it was gone. I must say, I had maybe the equivalent of a scoop and a half at most, but no more as I felt sick relatively early in the process. Kristy’s Ice Cream Scoop Tally: 8.5

Kristy was impressive all weekend, and this post in no way is to make fun of her, but to honor her achievement. I know I can never match her ice cream tally. Incredibly, despite all of this, she will still be skinny and look amazing. Love Ya!