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Friday, October 12, 2018

On opening things


         
Last week, for the first time since last July, I quit the car and went into the grocery store.  To celebrate, I went to the dairy case and began putting pints of interesting ice cream into a shopping bag (it’s my job to carry in the shopping bags).

This is our whole food store, remember, and it is only great good fortune they devote a quarter of one side of a freezer column to ice cream.  I hoped to see a good chocolate and peanut butter go by, but I didn’t. The spoils were decent, however, and over the week Laura and I have indulged in my ice cream plunder. 

Today, for lunch, after I sent her off for a haircut, I took the last pint out of the freezer. Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. It had a plastic sealer around the lid that did not easily twist off, so I carried it intact to my desk, bypassing the kitchen trash.

Over the last decade, my hands have become increasingly useless. For a long time I squeezed a blue rubber ball to increase strength, but I have no idea where the cat last parked it. But be honest, I never really found a solution, and didn’t work hard at it.

First it was just hard to hold a pencil, turn it in my fingers, draw a line. I eased from cursive into printing, and then to printing block letters. Now I quite unapologetically use the keyboard, on the whole. 

I don’t bother much with knitting; since the bus accident a year and a half ago, my brain wanders away and my fingers don’t move fast. Weaving still works for me; my wrist is quite strong enough to send the shuttle through a shed. Now, my shoulder says “Enough” at the end of a bobbin. I’m taking care of that come Wednesday.

I have purchased most every aid known to augment hand strength. A gripper for lids was a wonderful find. The kitchen scissors get through most everything. But the plastic seal on my pint of ice cream obviously would need released by my razor sharp desk shears with the lethal point.

The deed done, I eased off the lid. That’s not easily done, either.  I set it on the desk, and uneasily eyed the ice cream. It neither looked nor smelled vanilla. Back to the front of the carton, I read “banana ice cream”. I ask you, who makes ice cream from bananas? They officially leave the food chain about age three, save possibly for boys. I don’t care if they are free trade bananas. That does not alter the taste.

Seeing chunks of black chocolate (I did not check its trade status) and walnuts (which I don’t particularly like), I tried a bite.  And a bite and a bite and a bite.  I gave it a quarter of an inch opinion test. I put back on the lid and returned it to the kitchen.

I bet the only reason I found it there is that Laura does not like it, either.


The haircut

31 comments:

  1. I like the haircut. :) Banana's in all sorts of things don't quite make it. My grandfather used to salt them. Aand too, if you trim one end just right it will answer your questions yes or no. LOL

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  2. Smart haircut!

    I have never indulged in Chunky Monkey, but it does seem that I might like that combo of flavor and texture.

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  3. Hari Om
    Joanne, de ja vu in the trying to open things over here; gotta really want those contents. Sorry yours disappointed. Meanwhile, that hair trim is grand! YAM xx

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  4. Oh ice cream, my favourite indulgence. These days I can't buy any because I'm batch cooking and the smallish refrigerator freezer is too full all the time.

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  5. Bananas chocolate and walnuts...I don't think even the monkeys would like that lol. The hair cut looks good.

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  6. the loss in hand strength is infuriating..

    Banana flavouring has never seen a banana by the way....

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  7. I agree with you about the bananas. Just No! I have almost no strength in my hands either. If I can't open it then it waits until someone comes to visit!

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  8. Lol. Great ice cream story! I’d get the banana flavour down!

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  9. Laura looks great with her haircut. Bananas and ice cream just don't go together, even if the "popular" banana split.

    betty

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  10. But even bad ice cream is better than no ice cream at all. Right?

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  11. Blue Bunny has a really good banana split ice cream. I love it. I try to keep a good supply of ice cream too.

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  12. Thumbs up, but not for Ben and Jerry. I hear that B&J sold out to some vast company a few years ago anyway. We have a choice here between organic and non-organic coconut milk. I thought about it, and wondered if there is any coconut farm which actually sprays or feeds its palms with fertiliser?

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  13. bananas are my fall back fruit to have in the morning with my oatmeal. in the winter it's about the only fruit I'm willing to buy since I won't buy produce from Chili. I don't even like buying produce from California. so I like bananas all right, but banana ice cream? ick.

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  14. Do you remember fudgesicles? (still available some places) Well, many decades ago they made banana-sicles in the same fudgy format. They were to die for. I haven't had banana ice cream but I'm thinking I'd like it, especially with chocolate and walnuts in it. Just send that sucker up here, Joanne. lol

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    Replies
    1. Were they Barney Bananas? That's what we get out here, (ice cream on a stick) and I love them.

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    2. I can't remember the name, but I wish they still made them here!

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  15. I bet Laura could make homemade ice cream. Seems like she can do just about anything.

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  16. Yes, Laura's hair looks good! We have found it necessary to keep pliers in a kitchen drawe feo opening bottled drinks, etc. Have an assortment of accessories made for opening jars. Oftentimes it takes many tries to accomplish the task. At Lowe's I bought a bottle of coke. Took it out to the car. No way could I open it! Took it back in the store and asked the clerk to do the job. I did not realize that weak hands, wrists, was part of getting old!!

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  17. I don't have issues with my hands, but I do find that using a regular kitchen rubber glove (you don't even have to put it on) makes opening lids much easier! I don't think I would like banana ice cream. I remember my parents buying maple walnut ice cream. Do people still eat that? -Jenn

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    Replies
    1. Maple flavors are quite staple around here, and a lot with real maple syrup. I like maple with pecans the best.

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  18. Frozen bananas are an old-time diet trick, but I would never confuse them with real ice cream.

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  19. I read this post last night, it's morning and I still have not let go of passion for ice cream, Saturday and all the stores are closed.

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  20. I don't find getting into ice cream containers very easy myself. Breaking the seal on the plastic cover and then levering it off are both like breaking into Fort Knox. But I couldn't do without my daily dose of ice cream in the summer months.

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  21. I LOVE banana ice cream, also make banana smoothies with real bananas and vanilla yoghurt too.
    I've tasted the Ben and Jerry's Chunky monkey and find it's okay but the cookie chunks are oreos I think, and I don't like them. Also, out here in Australia, Ben and Jerry's is way over-priced.

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    Replies
    1. All the pints were on sale for $2.99. Since I was going to buy it, not a bad price.

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  22. I don’t think that I would like banana ice cream, but I remember making frozen bananas dipped in chocolate when my kids were growing up. They were yummy.

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  23. I do like bananas (to a point)... like banana and peanut butter sandwiches. But I don't like bananas in ice-cream. I like ice-cream Ok, but would rather have chocolate pie if I had my druthers. However, my grandson discovered Blue Bell's Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie dough... and THAT is terrific!

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  24. I have fallen so behind on my blogging, and I see I have missed so much with what is going on with you! Anyway, sending you good thoughts and I hope you have found some ice cream that does not involve bananas (in a literal and metaphorical sense!) I HATE those stupid seals around ice cream containers... so hard to get off!

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