I love desserts! Who doesn’t? I always look forward to every dessert. Never have I skipped a dessert. I live by the words of Erma Bombeck: “Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.”

Desserts are wonderful because they don’t even require that you to eat a meal first. For example, the ice cream truck comes rolling down your block. Do you run into the house and eat a complete meal so you can eat ice cream? Of course not! You skip the meal and run straight for the ice cream. And the ice cream truck has so many varieties.

When I attended Divine Heart Seminary in Donaldson, Indiana, the students ate at assigned tables family style. Each table consisted of students from each grade. We would pass the serving dishes and take our own food. All the students ate the same food. Desserts were very modest. Occasionally, we would get apple pie. But we always had ice cream for dessert! And what variety! We could choose vanilla or chocolate! Each table received two one-gallon cartons of ice cream: one chocolate, one vanilla. I always chose the plain vanilla ice cream. But I chose vanilla creatively. Let me explain.

We were allowed to keep our personal condiments on our assigned table. I kept a container of Nestle’s strawberry powdered mix that I would add to my white milk. I was the only one drinking strawberry flavored milk. Other students would ask where I had gotten the strawberry milk, and I would tell them I had added Nestle’s strawberry powder. They were excited at first sight, but lost interest when I offered them the strawberry powder for them to mix it into their own milk. I enjoyed drinking the strawberry milk.

Later, I brought a jar of orange Tang, the drink of astronauts, to the table. The Tang instructions said to add two tablespoons of Tang to a glass of water, which I did dutifully at first. Then I had the brilliant idea of adding Tang to my white milk! I loved drinking that orange milk! Again, other students asked me where I got the orange milk, and I explained that I mixed orange Tang into my milk. Once I explained how I made my concoction, everyone lost interest. Maybe it was too much work for them. Or maybe they thought I was cuckoo.

For the first few months of my freshman year, I alternated between strawberry milk and orange milk. Aah! But I felt a need to expand my culinary enjoyment. After one supper, as the ice cream was being passed around the table, I had another brilliant idea! Why not eat strawberry ice cream? Or orange sherbert ice cream?

So, I added extra strawberry powder to the remaining strawberry milk in my glass. I then added the strawberry milk to the vanilla ice cream. And, voila! Strawberry ice cream! It tasted like real strawberry ice cream. Students at my table asked where I had gotten the strawberry ice cream. I explained my simple process and offered them my strawberry mix. Again, no one took me up on my offer.

Ditto for the orange sherbert ice cream! Sure, it didn’t taste exactly like orange sherbert ice cream, but I did enjoy the variety of vanilla, strawberry, and orange sherbert ice cream. And my classmates were always surprised that I had a variety of milks and ice creams.

Aah! I have such fond memories of desserts past!