You scream, I scream…

We all scream for Ice Cream!

July 16 is National Ice Cream Day. Which means, of course, that you have a perfectly good excuse to get out there and eat ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream.

Fortunately the state of my freezer permits full observance on my side of the mountain – and all because Yak the Younger decided to watch the Food Network. Last night’s offering: an episode of “Unwrapped” featuring ice cream toppings and how they’re made (entertaining, but trust me, if you know what they do to those cherries, you might not want to eat them).\

As the show ended, YtY looked at me and said “The only problem with Food Network is that I always end up wanting to eat whatever they’re showing.” A moment later he added, “OK, unless it’s Iron Chef.”

Of course, I’d watched just enough of the ice cream show to understand exactly where he was coming from – and enough of the kitchen to know that “audience participation” was going to require a field trip.

Never one to put off the inevitable, I told him to grab his shoes and we headed off in search of ice cream. And not just ice cream: ColdStone Ice Cream – with mixins. In pints.

Which means, of course, that we’ve got leftovers in the freezer – at least until midafternoon.

Take a few minutes this afternoon and go get reacquainted with an ice cream cone. And don’t worry – you’re not cheating on a diet or acting from weakness of will – you’re celebrating an important American custom: National Ice Cream Day!