Of Love, Ice Cream and Addictions

I am Slao and I am an ice cream addict.

When I 1st saw that Haagen daz had a buffet, I was in Singapore with my husband and our friends.  Immediately, after we (Monica and I) saw the tarp saying it was eat all you can ice cream WITH toppings we decided to have that for dinner.  Everyone else asked us were we sure? Didn't we want to take a look at any of the other restaurants and we were only half listening to them as we were already ordering our 1st of many scoops.  When selected Haagen Daz branches started having the buffets here we also went.  I went 3x.  Best days of my life.  I ate around 15 scoops one time.

To say I love ice cream is pointless, obviously I love ice cream.  People say "its just ice cream", well, maybe to YOU its just ice cream.  To me, those are just shoes or its just a bag.  I don't go crazy for cheese nor do i like wine.  I know there are more important things in life, like world peace or my children.  But of all the non living things there is in the world, yes, even my cellphone (I can lose my phone and not notice but you can't make me lose ice cream), ice cream is the most important to me (especially right now).  We realize how important things are when they're gone.  Well, it's almost gone and though I did not take Haagen daz for granted I did make the most out of the time we had left.  When I love/ want something I do everything in my capacity to get it.  So, what do we have?  This is what we have...

cups

cups and a pint

more cups

pints

more pints

bars

more bars

my stash in my freezer and my brother and I! pic in pic in pic

These are not for sale.

They are also no longer complete.  We have already finished around 10+ bars and 2 pints.
To each his own addiction.

May you find your true love and be with it for all eternity.

"In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Only artistic excellence is incorruptible. Pleasure cannot be bargained down.  And sometimes the meal is the only currency that is real."


Have a sweet cold weekend everyone!

Haagen Daz, Goodbye

Goodbye Old Friend

Around a month ago Haagen Daz bars went on sale at 100pesos each.  I only told a few of my closest friends to keep the hoarding at a minimum.  I told my parents and my dad asks the Moa branch if they were on sale and they weren't but that they were closing in a few days. Then weeks later someone posted on my wall that Haagen Daz is going on sale everywhere and that it is leaving us.

I have relatively early childhood memories of Haagen Daz.  Walking around in Hong Kong pouting ( I was a sulky child) and only ice cream would make me happy again.  I remember being in High School sitting on my bed eating a pint of Choc Choc Mint while reading a book.  I forget what book it was but I do remember the taste of chocolatey mint goodness.  I also remember the 1st time I tried Cherry Vanilla in my BFF's house, there are no words to describe it.  The 1st time I tried macadamia nut, how subtle and eloquent the taste was.  How eating too much Coffee kept me up all night.  Then years later they came out with Cappuccino Truffle and I knew it would keep me up BUT I could not stop myself.  Yes, I stayed up and it was worth every spoonful.  I remember tasting strawberry cheesecake, cookie and cream, midnight cookies and cream... I remember each and every moment I tasted them for the 1st time.  Now, as I recall I just keep closing my eyes... These flavors I mentioned were my favorites, to me they were the best of the best.  I almost finished a quart of Melon Haagen Daz in one sitting.  I am happy I ate at the Haagen Daz buffet 3x in this lifetime.  They were calories worth eating, time well spent, memories to last a lifetime.

Haagen Daz, you will be missed.  You were not the 1st ice cream I ever ate, you will not be the last that I try BUT you truly have everything that can make me happy. See you when I fly abroad.

Take Me Back To Paradise City

As we grow older the problems seem to grow bigger.  Bills never stop coming and money seems to evaporate like water.  When I was young, in High School to be exact, I thought all the problems I had were the end of the world.  I thought I had gone through so much already that I could write an epic novel about my supremely devastating life.  More than 10years later?  I realize now how lame I was.  That having a bad report card was nothing.  That cutting classes was an adventure I now remember fondly.  My parents were furious to say the least but every now and then my best friend and I mention that fated day and we laugh about it.  I wonder now if all the problems I am going through I can laugh about in 10 or so years.  


I was in such a hurry to grow up.  If marathons were the thing then, I would have been at the finish line seconds after the go signal.  I wanted to grow up and be an adult not realizing that adulthood SUCKS.  I wanted to get out of my parent's house because I wanted to be "free".  Free to do what? Free to go out with my friends anytime or day I wanted to.  Free to do whatever my heart desired.  Now I am "free" and I truly LOVE spending time at home and I see my friends no more than once a month.  


What I would give to live in my parent's house again, to be woken up for lunch that is already prepared.  Then lay down in bed to read or to talk on the phone.  I would watch tv, eat junk food and ice cream like there was no tomorrow and like it cost nothing.  I'd turn on the cd player and take a long bath singing my pains away.  Then dinner would be ready and I would eat again.  I would complain and whine that I didn't like the food and I refused to eat my vegetables.  What a difficult child I was.  I was a brat.  We would travel during the summer and I would sulk and pout if I didn't get to buy what I wanted.  I remember buying an unreasonable pair of Doc Martens, 8 holes and cherry red.  I thought I deserved it, from the bottom of my heart I really thought I did.  Even if my parents had already bought me 2 other doc martens.  If I could go back in time, i'd slap myself.  In my recent trip to hongkong I realized how much a pair of DMs was and since I am now using my own money, I couldnt bear to buy that same cherry red 8 hole pair.  (my old ones were donated to the poor).  My only problems then was where we would go next, what I would buy and what we would eat.  


Today, I wake up to no food prepared, I can no longer take long baths because the water bill is extremely high and the ice cream I like costs more than 400pesos a pint.  My tastes have not diminished, I still long for the finer things in life but now they taste a bit less yummy because I have to pay for them myself.  I have been living in a bubble.  My last trip to Hong Kong was the 1st trip I have ever had that I had to pay for my own food.  My childhood favorite restaurant serves vietnamese spring rolls for 100++ hkd.  WOW for fried veggies rolled in wrapper.  Ridiculous.  Everyday I find myself feeling grateful to my parents who worked hard to give me the life I had.  And at the same time I am annoyed at myself that I wasn't grateful then.  Today I never complain about food.  I eat whats there because if I don't I would have to cook something else.  


What I would give to be able to live in my parent's house again.  What I would give to be a child again.  I want to experience the freedom that a child has that no adult will ever have (unless you win the lottery or rob a bank).  What I would give to be able to watch a movie with no one talking in the background or with no work that needs to be done.  What I would give to not be in a hurry in the everyday things I do.  


I hope my kids stay young, stay as young as they can for as long as they can.  I hope that somehow they get the most out of their childhood and never be in a hurry to grow up.  Because once you're grown up, there's no going back.