As I type this, Halloween night is coming to a close (and there’s freaking snow on the ground). Finally the night where everyone celebrates my little guy and his relatives!

happy halloween! (mr. sc took this pic)

You may not know this, but black cats are usually pretty sweet. The black cats I’ve gotten to know have been “lovers,” and strivingcynic cat is no exception.

And you may not know this either, but black cats, or at least my black cat, likes sweets!

thanks to the shadows, I look like I have an abnormally long index finger

For some reason, over the last few months, sc cat has decided he likes ice cream. So, when I’m eating a bowl (which happens pretty frequently), first he’ll come over and look at me plaintively…then he’ll jump/climb onto my lap and stand there trying to get his head in my bowl. As a compromise, I dip a finger in and then let him lick a little off. Then I send him on his way (ice cream is not good for cats).

Sc cat is just following in his “mom’s” foot steps. I’m a sugar fiend myself. Cookies, cake, candy, ice cream, pies, cereals…it’s all good. In fact, it’s too good, so I try to not follow my instincts to eat sugar all the time (remember, I’m the woman who became anemic in college thanks to a steady diet of Lucky Charms and bagels…). In fact there have even been a few places where I’ve managed to cut it down.

I used to drink coffee and tea with sugar…actually first I drank it with artificial sweetener. Then I wondered what the artificial sweetener was doing to my body and switched to sugar. Then I thought that I should probably not be adding several teaspoons of sugar to multiple coffees and teas every day and cut that out (I do use vanilla soymilk in my morning coffee for a hit of added sweetness…). So, I’m used to lightly sweet at best when it comes to these.

The other week, my mother was visiting and I made us both a cup of tea. Mine had nothing in it, but hers had sweetener (aspartame I think). She had gone to look at my computer. I put my tea down somewhere, went by the computer to talk to her, saw the tea cup, thought it was mine, took a sip and said something like “BLAAAAH.” I just got bowled over by the unexpected jolt of bitter/sweet aspartame-y taste and I proceeded to make various “yuck” faces at at my mom, which I think she didn’t appreciate.

When it comes to foods, I have a theory that nothing is too sweet. Every once in a while I will actually find a food that I acknowledge is too sweet. I had this experience the other week.  When it comes to ice cream, my policy is the more goo, the better. I almost never like fruit ice creams (mr. strivingcynic and his daughter love strawberry ice cream; I won’t go near it). I want to see fudge stripes, malt balls, cookie pieces, chocolate-covered peanut-butter filled pretzels, you name it. Last week, they got a carton of strawberry. I got a carton of “Chips Ahoy” flavor, with chips and chocolate chip cookie pieces. And it was and is great….but I do have that nagging…this might taste a bit *too* sweet for me thoughts. I got curious and looked on the carton and noticed something interesting/peculiar.

it's not exactly ice cream . . .

Frozen dairy dessert? It’s somehow frozen dairy dessert, but it isn’t ice cream? I’m guessing it isn’t frozen yogurt or ice milk (is that made anymore?). Isn’t ice cream a frozen dairy dessert? It’s frozen. It’s dairy. It’s dessert…but somehow…

The strawberry ice cream (same brand, Breyers), that’s ice cream.

it even says "ice cream"

Wow. It does look almost wholesome doesn’t it? Although my taste may be moving away from certain types of sweet, I suspect it’s not going to venture into strawberry ice cream territory.

Enough rambling for Halloween night. November goals coming soon!

What is your relationship with sugar? What flavors of ice cream do you like? If you have a pet, what kind of human food do they want to eat?