Can we please talk about ice cream?!

OK, one of the great summer (or if you're me...fall, winter and spring as well) pleasures is eating ice cream or frozen yogurt. I'm not necessarily a purist, but most of the time I am just as happy with my ice cream or frozen yogurt plain as I am with some sort of topping or sprinkles embellishing the top in a fancy way.

The exception to that is at Fenton's Ice Creamery in Oakland, California...that bastion of ice cream excess that is a decades old tradition for UC Berekely students especially Cal's sorority girls which I once was. We (and when I say we I mean as in 10-20 of us) used to make regular treks to this place to where we literally inhaled the most humongous ice cream sundaes you have ever seen. The most popular one was (and still is) called a Black & Tan. Traditionally, the Black & Tan is served with layers upon layers of Toasted Almond ice cream, Vanilla ice cream (I go for all Toasted Almond ice cream...others have been known to go with all Swiss Chocolate - Fenton's is very accomodating when it comes to these kind of requests), caramel sauce and creamy dark fudge sauce, then topped with a huge mound of whipped cream, slivered almonds and a bright red cherry.

The parfait glass it is served in overflows to the point of being ridiculous...by the time you've eaten just the top part of the ice cream and hit the glass part of the serving cup you've probably already consumed the equivalent of several ice cream cones. But you can't possibly stop because you have all that luscious caramel and fudge (made specially by the Fenton's people) to dig into...which you do by lowering your spoon ever so gently into the depths of that parfait glass bringing up the oozing stuff and plopping it directly into your salivating mouth. I'm telling you there is nothing much better than that. Within a distressingly short period of time you have hit the rock bottom of the cup still licking your spoon as well as contemplating licking the parfait glass to boot (the only thing holding you back is decorum...not wanting to look like a total pig in public though it is tempting).

Well, I am  here to tell you that I was able to walk down memory lane at Fenton's when I was in Berkeley visiting Tracy a week or so ago. I made her promise to take me there and God bless her she did. We split a crab salad sandwich (another Fenton's/Cal sorority girl staple) and then indulged our inner gluttons...Tracy with a Swiss Chocolate Milk Shake, me with a Junior Black & Tan - Juniors did not even exist when we were in college - I opted for that version only so I wouldn't seem completely out of control). It was all pure delight...every single spoonful more delicious than the one before...and every one totally reminiscent of the delectable tastes hidden in my cobbed webbed memory banks. Tracy and I had a bunch of fabulous moments in our few days together (not the least of which was cruising the magnificent UC Berkeley campus and feeling 19 years old again!) but that Black & Tan at Fenton's was the highlight...a sense memory bonanza!

There are moments in life that bear repeating and going back to Fenton's for me is one of them...I am already plotting my next trip. And if you find yourself in the East Bay Area at any time I highly recommend you giving it a try yourself...then for sure let me know what you think...

xoxo Nanci