I scream...

If you've been keeping up with this blog, you may have noticed that I posted about my early pregnancy craving for gummy bears. Well, this is my other main pregnancy craving. Unfortunately, it hasn't been easy for me to obtain. I don't just crave mint chocolate chip ice cream. Oh no, that would be tooo easy. I crave Mellobuttercup mint chocolate chip ice cream, and you can only get that in one place, I think. You can only get it from Doss' in Kernersville, NC. They have the best mint chocolate chip ice cream that I've ever tasted, and I've tasted a lot of brands. My memory never fools me; it's always just as good as I remembered it. There have been times when I've been tempted to beg my mother to go down there and get me some and send it up to me packed in dry ice. =) So when I was home at Christmas, Dad and I went and got me some. See how happy I look? And this is a single scoop cone, folks, for the low, low price of $1.75. Beat that, Ben and Jerrys!

Here we have my favorite ice cream scooper. I realized that this man has been serving me great food for my entire life, and I've never taken his picture. He is a Doss, and he's an owner of this fine establishment. Just about every time I go, he's there, bent over the griddle. I can hear him calling out the order numbers in my mind- "188!" Doss' is a Southern, small town institution. It has something that no chain restaurant can ever have, in my humble opinion. It serves up greasy grilled cheese sandwiches (my favorite) and pink hotdogs and cherry coke made with real cherry syrup (mmmmm). But it also serves up something else. There is a small town atmosphere there that you just can't find at Hardee's. And the food is better. There are pictures of clowns all over the walls, and you see the occasional old Snoopy poster or Nascar picture. The booths are red and white plastic, and there's country music playing. If you've been in one of these kinds of places, you'll know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you just won't.

Doss' is special to me, too, because it's a special place for me to go with my Daddy. Mom is a health nut/wacko, and she refuses to touch anything they serve with a 10 ft. pole, so somehow it developed that Dad and I would go there by ourselves. Now we wouldn't let her come if she wanted to. Sorry, Mom, but this is father-daughter time. Dad and I go just about every time I come to visit, and we chew the fat and just have a little time to ourselves. I'm so glad that I have a father who looks forward to these kinds of little traditions with me. He has always made it a priority to find ways to spend time with me, even though I don't share his abiding love of fishing, golf, and hunting. My dad is a man of few words, and we don't always have "deep" conversations at Doss', but going there provides a way to make sure we get the face time we need. It's something stable and abiding in my crazy world, and I'm thankful for it. Thanks for clogging my arteries, Daddy. I love you.