West Chester Dish

On days when I feel overwhelmed, down-in-the-dumps or just a bit lost, I tend to do what any normal person would do…I go to the grocery store. It seems to be my ultimate method of relaxation. There have been many a stressful day where just a glimpse of a produce section helped me inhale a yoga-style breath of relief.

In any recent moments of stress, I’ve inevitably ended up at the same spot time and time again…Wegmans. It seems to work for any of my life issues. Work stress? Sushi station. Feeling sick? Soup station. Boy trouble? Ice-cream aisle.

Recently, I was having a lost kinda night. I found myself driving for about 15 minutes and somehow ended up at Wegmans. I cruised by the Downingtown movie theater to check out the next show times for something that might look decent and hoped it would allow enough time to roam the grocery-store aisles.

I had 20 solid minutes to spare and headed immediately for the ice-cream aisle. After an unsuccessful search for my Ben & Jerry’s low-fat version of Half Baked® (bummer), I perused the Wegmans’ pint varieties.

I committed to a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough (to fufill my need for chunky chocolately goodness) and I couldn’t resist trying the seems-way-too-simple-yet-never-would-have-done-it Peanut Butter and Jelly ice cream (check out its history here: http://www.wegmans.com/about/pressRoom/pressReleases/pbjIceCream.asp).

I swung by the candy aisle to grab some delectable chocolate-covered gummy bears. Realizing it took my most of my 20 minutes to finalize my pint choices, I headed for the checkout and grabbed a bottle of water.

As my movie dates made their way down the conveyer belt I asked the cashier what he thought was missing from my selections.

“Salty,” he said, smiling, “you need something salty.” He pointed to a small package of pistachios and I tossed them in with the others.

“Movie night,” I explained, “do you have any plastic spoons?”

He laughed, pointed me toward the spoons and wished me luck. And off I went to the theater.

I never know the “rules” for movie theaters and outside snacks (perhaps a future feature article??), so I always feel guilty if I bring my own snacks. I suppose that means I have at least a suspicion of their preference. I probably shouldn’t admit this on my own site, but here it goes…

I am THAT girl. I took BOTH pints of ice cream, an entire container of chocolate-covered gummy bears, a bottle of water AND a small package of pistachios into the theater. Guilty. I did my best to make my purse not appear too bulging with the perfect shape of a pint of ice cream. I couldn’t relax until I was seated comfortably in my seat, all goodies accounted for neatly laid out to my right. I waited patiently until the lights dimmed and I dug in.

I took a deep breath and enjoyed my quiet two hours of ice-cream bliss in the dark theater. I only enjoyed a few bites of each flavor, but I balanced it with a few of my salty pistachios and a handful of bears. It was exactly what I needed.

The reality was that the movie was so-so and the ice cream was slightly disappointing (only because I wanted there to be ripples of peanut butter in the ice cream but it just just peanut-butter flavored ice cream), but the entire experience was just right. Me, myself and ice cream. It was quite possibly the best movie date I ever had. Thank you, Wegmans for saving the day once again.

The Final Dish: To the couple behind me…yes, I heard you laughing; yes, there were two pints; and yes, I let them melt. I know you’re just jealous.