Saturday, December 12th, 2020

The ice cream joint is just opening as I walk by. It’s dark already. The Sabbath is over. It’s too chilly to eat ice cream outdoors, so I ask for a sahlab again. “OK, but it will be a few minutes. You can come back, or sit over here.” I sit down. The worker continues setting out the sherbets and gelatos in their bins. The case on the left has two rows of nine bins. The case on the right has two rows of twelve, though the two bins on the far end of each row are divided in half. Those and the four bins nearest them hold frozen fruit. The rest of the bins on that side hold gelatos. Several customers come in while I’m waiting. From the conversations, I can tell that they’re regulars. Each is getting kilos of gelato to go. Most of the kilos contain multiple flavors. He puts them in side by side, like neapolitan ice cream. He finally gets around to me when they’re gone. It’s OK. I’m not in a hurry. He takes a liter of milk from the refrigerator and pours some into a metal cup. He steams that from the cappuccino maker, then pours the milk from the metal cup into a paper one. He spoons in a large amount of one white powder, possibly a starch, and a smaller amount of another. He steams the mix again in the paper cup and hands it to me. “Coconut, peanuts, and cinnamon are over there. You know what to do.” I take a plastic spoon from a dispenser, go over to the small table, and put the toppings on. I go to a bench outside to eat it. More people pass by. Cars honk at each other. Across the street, another eatery opens, with food to go. The workers wait for customers to come in.