A Summer Classic

Dear Foodies,

Is there any food in particular that you just couldn’t live through summer without? What foods take you back to your childhood?

For me it’s strawberry popsicles, peanut butter sandwiches, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and real, full-sugar soda.

I remember sitting outside with my mother in blue and white striped lounge chairs when I was a little girl – oversized sunglasses on my face to match her tortoise shell cat eyes. My lips were usually stained some sort of red or pink from a strawberry popsicle I’d just run down the ice cream man for.

I love reminiscing about childhood, and I especially like to muse over those memories during the summer months. Today I did so by picking up this bottle of Coca Cola from Grimaldi’s coffee house.

First off, I love the retro, green-tinted glass bottle. Coca Cola is such an iconic, American summer beverage. I strongly believe that bottles are so much better than aluminum cans. Who’s with me?

Second, Coca Cola takes me right back to being a little girl when diet soda just wouldn’t do.

Third, this particular bottle is a Mexican version of Coca Cola and is made similarly to the way Coca Cola was produced pre-1980s, before U.S. bottlers switched from sugar cane to corn syrup. It tastes cleaner and crisp and less syrupy.

The sunglasses are just for fun. I picked these up at a vintage boutique yesterday. They remind me of the original Barbie, in her black and white striped bathing suit. They just belong next to a bottle of Coca Cola, don’t ya think?