= The Search for Vanilla Ice Cream =
I'm a pretty simple dessert person. I prefer to forego dessert if possible, and if not, I prefer something very simple. This little foible of mine created a small adventure, as my wife and I were stymied again and again, by my requests for a bowl of "vanilla ice cream" at various restaurants within Sevastopol. Nobody knew what it was!
How can that be? There's nothing simpler than plain old vanilla ice cream! Instead, you can get 5 bazillion different types of ice cream desserts, but no vanilla. Finally, I caved in one day and ordered cherry ice cream at a restaurant. Lo and Behold! Out comes a bowl of VANILLA ICE CREAM with a cherry sauce on top! We waylayed the waitress the next time we were there and asked if we could get the cherry ice cream without the cherry sauce. "You mean you just want plain MILK ice cream?" She asked, surprised.
Here it was: a case of a simple name change! Instead of being in an episode of the Twilight Zone (i.e. "A World Without Vanilla"), we simply were calling it by the wrong name.
On the plus side, since I ordered plain ice cream without the trimmings, a lot of restaurants gave me a larger helping of it without any additional fee. I thought that was a nice touch.
Just a small snapshot of life over there, but I thought it amusing...
