Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Belted!

I'm a firm believer in leading with your big news. Don't you just hate it when you've been talking to a friend for like 15 minutes about stuff like nail polish or the latest US Weekly cover and then, all casual like, she says, "I ran into Tyra Banks yesterday at Wal-Mart."

The rule is that you lead with Tyra Banks! Always give the big news first because that will give your friends and family enough time to be sufficiently impressed.

So the big news is that we got our yellow belts!!!!!!! Don't we totally look fierce?! Or dopey? Or like safety guards? They're SUPER yellow. We definitely look hot and sweaty because we spent an hour running around the dojo without air conditioning. Knights of Columbus, Upland Martial Arts Center, it's August!

Don't tell the Sensei you saw this picture because we're wearing those illegally. We're not allowed to wear the belt without the gi. But how could we not? As soon as we got out of the car we put them on. And then we stuck our nunchucks in them like the 10 year olds do. We wanted to be totally authentic.

By the way, those belts are a fat joke. They're outrageously long. I could repel out of my window with it.

In other news: I think I need to conduct a poll about ice cream cones. Colleen thinks that cake cones are the best and Stephanie is for the sugar cone and Amanda says, based strictly on size, that the waffle cone is superior. I am a cake cone girl. There is something magical about that last bite of the cone when the ice cream has pooled up in the grid at the bottom and you stick it in in your mouth and crunch down on it. I want to high five people when I do it. Plus, I feel like the cake cone isn't intrusive. A sugar cone is too crunchy and often times enormous chucks of it break off when you bite into it. And a waffle cone is too, too crunchy, and too much work. There's all this fiddling that you have to do with it. Do you eat it with a spoon or lick it? Do you eat the cone as you go or do you wait till the end? Too much to worry about, I say.

But what do you say? Cake, sugar or waffle? Or bowl? Weirdo.

15 comments:

Valerie said...

Wait, there are things you are and aren't "allowed" to do with a yellow belt? Fascinating.

Sadly, unless you move the ice cream social to Central Park or thereabouts, I won't make it, but, for what it's worth, go with a cake cone. You're right, it's entirely unobtrusive in the ice cream experience.

Camille said...

Most definitely a cake cone. I agree...the pooled melted ice cream at the bottom is like a burst of heaven when you put it in your mouth.

Stephanie said...

Sugar cone, all the way. The only thing cake cones are good for are to bake little cakes in (have you ever done that?). I would do it with sugar cones, but they don't stand up straight without a jig, and who wants to make a jig for a little cake? (Even if it would be terribly, terribly cute).

The grid at the bottom of a cake cone is unnatural and scares me a little with it's sharpness and coldness. I am willing to pay up to $.25 extra for a sugar cone! That's how much I love them.

I especially like it when the Thrifty's girl puts shards of broken sugar cone in the bottom of a whole sugar cone - it makes it that much more delicious.

One vote for sugar!! Anyone else with me?

Chris said...

I'm a fan of the sugar cone.

First, it tastes better. And second, after you've eaten the ice cream off the top, you can bite a hole in the bottom of of the cone to suck out all of the delicious melted ice cream like a funnel.

Gina said...

Cake cone! Hello, Rachel...Remember "shove it down your throat"? If you play that game with a sugar cone, you push all the ice cream out. Cake cone for sure!

Andrea said...

Congratulations Rachel, I'm a little jealous on this one. And don't worry, you don't look dopey. But when Andrew first saw this picture he said he thought you guys were just supporting the troops.
I like the cake cone the best but they aren't the same as they used to be. Does anyone remember the brand of cake cones the grocery stores sold with a picture of a big freakish clown on the front? Those were my favorite because it was fun to see what name you got on your cone. Hopefully there are a few of you that remember those things, otherwise I feel a little dumb right now.

Rach said...

What's a cake cone? Are they the wafery kind that are flat on the bottom that you give little kids so they don't drop it? That's the only kind I can think of that you could be talking about. If that's the case, sugar cone all the way. All my mom ever let me get was the cake cone as kids, and I would sit in the Baskin Robbins and covet the sugar cones. Ooh, or chocolate dipped waffle cones. Plus, my grandma always pulled out the cake cones at her house, and ice milk that had an inch of ice on it, and the cones were like 15 years old and the taste of a super stale cake cone has ruined them for me forever.

Rach said...

Oh, and nice belts. Very sunshiney.

Bronwyn James said...

I'm a sugar cone girl. I love the flavor, I love the crunch, but I don't love how ice cream sometimes leaks out of the conical bottom and drips down your hand. That said, I'm still a sugar coner.

Anna said...

Bowl.

Buuuut - I don't feel like being called a Weirdo today so my next best option is sugar.

Jennette said...

Congrats on the belt!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who is unfamiliar with cake cones. I do prefer waffle over sugar. 2 things I've learned about ice cream cones: hopefully the server places the ice cream firmly in the cone. A few weeks ago my scoop fell off completely and I caught it in my left hand. 2. Sticking a melting ice cream cone outside the window of a moving car to prevent a mess inside the car is futile. Sometimes there is a time and place for a bowl.

Wendy said...

Honestly I prefer a cake cone. I know they are considered juvenile, but I agree that the lightness and mildness make the actual ice cream much more the star of the show. And Andrea, I totally remember the clown cones with the names. I had forgotten until you mentioned it, but it all came back to me.

colleeeen said...

obviously, cake. the mild, non-sweetness of it lets the ice cream shine and acts as a neutral foil for the often overwhelming sweetness of most commercial ice cream brands. it's like when you put just a few grains of salt on a caramel - the caramel becomes inexplicably more rich and grand.

courtney said...

SUGAR!
was that fierce enough to count as two votes, because that's what i was going for. in berkeley there is a beautiful little ice cream shop called ici where they make their own cones--they are of the sugar variety, hand rolled, finely dusted with sugar, and each one has a dollop of dark chocolate in the bottom. oh my, i'm getting the vapors...

teresa p said...

Umm, bowl. I've never liked cones. I don't like cake either, btw. Like actual cake, not just cake cones.