I have often been derided for my fondness for ice cream, in any weather, at any time of year, at any time of the day. Both at home in the UK and here in China. It's cool, it's tasty, it's soothing to the throat - what more do you want? But some people, many people, perhaps a majority, seem to think that this is just too much pleasure to be absorbing at one time, particularly in allegedly inappropriate conditions - such as late at night, early in the morning, when it's not summer, when it's not that warm....
I have been a much bigger consumer of ice cream in China than I ever was back home because.... well, it's one of the few reliable pleasures you can find out here, and it's ridiculously cheap.
So, I have suffered a lot of this "How can you possibly be eating that now?" scorn, both from foreign friends and from the locals.
So, I was rather touched, on returning to my apartment building just now, to find the skinny teenage gate guards (and the gate guards from other adjacent buildings [I assume] and their waitress "girlfriends") having a little ice cream fest at something after midnight - 8 or 10 of them all crammed in the sentry box by the entrance, all eagerly chowing down on a local rip-off version of a Wall's Cornetto.
These are the things that make me happy when otherwise I am not. Strange indeed I am.
4 comments:
"Strange indeed I am."
This last sentence brought me to a horrible realization.
I have never seen Froog and Yoda in the same place at the same time. Just maybe...
Aah! i love coming across such fun scenes. what a smile it must have brought to your face.
p.s. have you tried Gustamento? Bei Sanlitun, just south of Dongzhimen.
No. Heard it recommended often, but.... it's not really the China ice cream experience, is it? It's the thrill of experimentation with all the weird - often crappy - flavour combinations, the occasional delight of finding a passable knock-off of a favourite from back home, and the miserliness of knowing you never have to spend more than 1 or 2 kuai that appeal to me.
Gustamento sounds like a "date place"..... and I.......
I like ice cream at anytime regardless of the weather... except perhaps for breakfast.
Strange really, because I am not a fan of cream or milk? And I am not such a 'sweet tooth' as I used to be but ice cream almost always hits the spot. Contrary to popular belief I think that chocolate is often not the best choice.
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