Summer Days Make Me Feel Fine

It was so sunny, warm, and gorgeous in SF yesterday that I made M. take me out for ice cream twice! That last part is a bit of an exaggeration. We did go out for ice cream twice, but I only ate one ice cream cone. Here's what happened:

It is warm and lovely outside. We eat lunch in the backyard (broccoli salad, ice tea, cherries...) and discuss the growing plants. We decide to head to the nursery for stuff to combat the bugs munching on the roses and rhubarb and for those wire things to prop up the tomato plants. I begin to picture an afternoon reading in the garden in my big sun hat and go inside to pour strawberry kefir into my popsicle molds so I can have a nice afternoon treat.

Return home from nursery. Popsicles are not done. They are not even close to being done. I get disgruntled. We decide to go to Bi-Rite in the Mission for ice cream. But first we go to TJ Maxx in search of a new suitcase for M.'s trip to NY. We get lost inside TJ Maxx for awhile. Then we go to Farnsworth's, a mid-century modern furniture store we love. There is a dresser in the window for $1500 that I covet. I make the lady write down the dimensions, believing, somehow, that we really might purchase this piece of insanely beautiful and expensive furniture.

By this point it is 5PM and it seems like ice cream might ruin my dinner. We are planning to eat early, since M. has to go to the airport to catch the red eye to the east coast. We drive past Bi-Rite, as usual the line links around the corner. We don't stop.

Instead we go home and make dinner: braised kale with chorizo and a poached egg on top. Walnut toast on the side and a hefty glass of rose. We eat outside and it is beautiful!!

But then, shortly after dinner my craving returns. And this time I am not in the mood for my refreshing, fruity, kefir pops (despite the fact they're now done). I want ice cream. Real, full fat, chocolate, nutty, caramel rich ice cream. M. looks at me like I am crazy. And then he takes me to Mitchell's.

A SF establishment, Mitchell's is a little ice cream shop all done up in black and white subway tile. The people behind the counter still wear those funny paper hats. You take a number and wait and wait, peering over someone's shoulders to get a look at the toasted almond, the cantelope, the sweet coconut, the rocky road. It reminded me of being a little kid. I wanted a scoop of every flavor!

We got two cones: sweet & salty peanut and chocolate caramel crunch. Alone the peanut was too salty, the chocolate-caramel too sweet. But together? Oh my how it hit the spot.