Hot Fudge Sundaes

My 7 year old Nephew, Nate, is now out of school for the summer. Last Thursday I decided to take him to the famous Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. Mid morning we headed over the Bay Bridge viewing Alcatraz Island on the right. Nate asked, "Are there still people in prision there?" I said,"No, no prisioners have been there for many years since the 1960's." "Where did they go?", Nate asked. "That is a very good question", I said, how precious and innocent are these observations from our younger generation. Our day consisted of many of these question/answer periods. As we neared the Fishermen's Wharf area the cable cars were coming and going from Powell Street to the Wharf, letting passengers on/off right in front of the Buena Vista Bar. The sprawling green lawn of the Marina was surrounded with lush, colorful flowers. Vistors from other countries abounded the Marina. I heard alot of French being spoken. The day was a perfectly warm 85 F. Clear and warm. Nate and I hit the beach. As we drew in the saltly air, we could see the letters looming overhead behind us, GHI, a lamp post, then RARD, a tree, and finally ELLI. "Look behind us Nate!" "There it is! Ghirardelli Square!" "Wow!", Nate said. I can imagine how big it must had seemed to him. "Let's go check it out", I said. We dried off our bare sandy feet, put our shoes on and headed to the chocolate factory. After arriving at the chocolate factory, I realized that lunch was not served. So, being a 'good, repsonsible Aunt' I took Nate promptly to McCormick and Kluetos for a fabulous seaside, incredible view lunch. The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the 'Pirate ships" were all in view. Nate made great conversation, asking me questions like, "What is your favorite thing to eat?" and "What do you like to do?" It was wonderful. Then the subject of dessert came up. I asked Nate,"Have you ever had a Black n'Tan?" No, he said,"What is that!?" For all of you born prior to 1980, we all know what a Black n'Tan is. For those of you who don't it is simply two large vanilla ice cream scoops, one has hot fudge(Black) and the other has caramel(Tan) on top. The ice cream is smoothered in mounds of whip cream, some chopped toasted almonds and a red cherry, of course. Memorable and delicious.
Nate and I high tailed it straight to the chocolate factory. We looked at the vibrant picture menu of twenty different ice cream combinations. "Where is the Black n' Tan", I asked the cashier. She had never heard of it. "Its not on the menu, but you can have caramel sauce with the hot fudge sauce as well", she replied. We took one of those and Nate ordered the same with milk chocolate fudge sauce(another new twist to my suprise). We settled ourselves in front of the factory part of the restaurant and watched the giant wheels turning around to crush the cocao nibs on the granite stone. Our hot fudge sundaes'(Black n'Tans) arrived and they were more beautiful than I remembered from twenty years ago. Nate and I ate as much as we could, exactly half for each of us. We were in ice cream heaven. Then we proceeded to China Town, the authenic, locals only part of Stockon Street. That is another story to be continued in two weeks . . .