The 34th Episode : Ice cream

The river Seine and Île de la Cité over the bridge   (The spire of Nortre-Dame de Paris burnt down by a fire in 2019, at the back in the centre.)

[April, 1991　Paris, France]

      We had lunch with our customers near The Triumphal Arch next day.  Desert is necessary for the western people after meal.  They often ask me "how about desert?".  We Japanese basically don’t have the custom to have, so I usually answer “No, thanks, just coffee please”.  They ordered chocolate ice cream.

     After a while a waitress brought a thick glass vessel in about 8 inches diameter and height, holding it around her stomach.  The vessel was filled up with chocolate ice cream.  She left a big spoon and small dishes on the table and got back to the kitchen.  People could take the ice cream with the big spoon to the small dish, with no limit just they wanted.  Of course they could eat all, if they could.

     Wow, so much they had actually.  As far as I remember, no Japanese men had such sweet desert so much still more after the meal those days.  They took other dishes, not all though.  No wonder they got fat stomach.  It’s metabolic syndrome, although no words yet those days.