Did you know that the Dairy Queen Blizzard turned 25 last year? I remember when the Blizzard was introduced which makes me officially...old. Anyway, there was no Dairy Queen in the town where I grew up but there was one where my great grandfather lived. Do you remember when a trip longer than 15 minutes lasted fuh evah? When I was little, the 65 minute drive to my great grandfather's small town felt like an eternity. Maybe it felt so long because I was hoping for that extremely rare occurrence of a stop at the Dairy Queen. My parents were teachers and the budget was always tight, but occasionally we would stop at DQ and we could get a small cone. We never got to choose--it was always just that small vanilla cone, but it was a treat nonetheless.
Once I was able to drive and had a job, those stops at DQ were almost mandatory when I ventured on my own to my grandparents house. I probably tried something different each time--a Peanut Buster Parfait, this time, a Mr. Misty, or Dipped Cone the next. Then, that fateful summer of '85 I discovered the Blizzard. From then on, my choice was always the Blizzard. I still had to choose what flavor but there were plenty of choices.
Then for years, we lived in DQ unmapped territory until last summer when DQ opened a store in our neighborhood. It has been fun rediscovering all those frosty goodies. Sometimes revisiting memories of your youth can be disappointing. In the case of DQ treats, the taste of today meets or exceeds the memory of yesterday.
Once I was able to drive and had a job, those stops at DQ were almost mandatory when I ventured on my own to my grandparents house. I probably tried something different each time--a Peanut Buster Parfait, this time, a Mr. Misty, or Dipped Cone the next. Then, that fateful summer of '85 I discovered the Blizzard. From then on, my choice was always the Blizzard. I still had to choose what flavor but there were plenty of choices.
Then for years, we lived in DQ unmapped territory until last summer when DQ opened a store in our neighborhood. It has been fun rediscovering all those frosty goodies. Sometimes revisiting memories of your youth can be disappointing. In the case of DQ treats, the taste of today meets or exceeds the memory of yesterday.
I do remember when DQ Blizzards were introduced and I was totally in love with them, particularly one that had chocolate and cherries.
ReplyDeleteOnce I became a parent, I didn't realize what an important part of childhood that visits to DQ are (we tend to not eat fast food, so DQ isn't on my radar), so it never occurred to me to introduce my children to DQ until two years ago when they asked what it was. We remedied that gaping hole in their educations with a trip to DQ and now go a few times a year. The only thing is, now that I know more about nutrition and have cleaned up my diet of processed foods, Blizzards are ruined for me. They're too sweet and I can practically taste the artificial flavors. So, other than possibly having a sip of one of my daughters' treats, I never have them anymore.
Having a child with Type 1 Diabetes certainly makes me more conscious of responsible eating but that makes a treat even more special.
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