money-saving tip from starving artists #2: invite your 'in-laws' out to 31 cent scoop nght

what? don't know when 31 cent scoop night is, or worse what 31 cent scoop night is?

blasphemy!

perhaps ice cream isn't as high a priority in your life as mine.
perhaps you don't list mint chip ice cream as your favorite food.
perhaps it isn't one of two reasons you're not vegan (number 2 being CHEESE!).
and you must not have had a big sister who worked at baskin-robbins as i did. seriously, for an eight-year old, could it get any cooler than that? actually, yes, it could. incidentally, my other sister worked at the hello kitty store at the mall. my sisters were demi gods in my mind.
a quarter century later (!) and still, i haven't outgrown my eternal love for ice cream. well, maybe outgrown isn't the best choice of wording here...

so i may have mentioned that the dining out budget has been severely reduced of late, in the interest of staying afloat. and yes, that includes even pints or scoops of ice cream.
especially pints or scoops of ice cream.
so how excited was i when i spied the annual 31 cent scoop night poster at my local raskin bobbins?
like it was christmas in april. um, or easter. like it was easter.
except without the depressing dead jesus part.

i wrote it on the calendar. i got nervous every thursday that perhaps i'd forgotten that it was the night before, then rejoiced in being reassured it was still forthcoming.
when jade's brother announced he would be in town one evening only from chicago for business, and that evening happened to coincide with 31 cent scoop night, i ALMOST hesitated to agree to hosting him for dinner (okay, i'm exaggerating here. seriously kip, i swear!). but after some thought, 31 cent scoop night became even more brilliant because not only could we get almost free ice cream--we could treat jade's family to almost free ice cream, thus looking like total big-shots. brilliant.

despite this month of anticipatory buildup, it's been an exhausting week of de-installing a museum show, in the rain. i know, a flimsy excuse for almost forgetting 31 cent scoop night (gasp!). thankfully, however, ice cream is never far from my mind, and as jade chatted with his lovely brother kip about how he always orders the same dish at thai restaurants--massaman curry--i related that i totally knew how he felt. mint chip always stands in the way of my venturing into other flavor territories. and when i do, i usually just lick my cone thinking of how i wish it was mint chip. and OH MY GOD IT'S 31 CENT SCOOP NIGHT!!!! DID WE MISS IT?!

no. we had not. but we only had 20 minutes to get ourselves (including my favorite disabled cane walking boyfriend) down to baskin robbins for this:


this:
and oh my god, this!

jade and his totally impressed brother, kip--they look like brothers, no?
and we all lived happily ever after. the end.