We all talk to people that we've never met either over the phone, by email or Facebook. When that happens to me I will sometimes ask what their favourite ice cream is as it's a great indicator of their personality. More often than not, they not only tell me but they can't wait to share their favourite ice cream memory as well.
Today I had just such an example when I spoke to Drew. Known to his friends as Drew Trumpie Mills, Drew's favourite ice cream is vanilla ice cream and he told me the story of how he came to love it at an early age - in hospital! Drew suffers from asthma and as a young child was in and out of hospital for weeks at a time. His asthma affected his eating and he became underweight so whilst in hospital the nurses gave him 2 foods that were easy for him to eat whilst at the same time affording him some nutritional value:
1. Vanilla ice cream (for the dairy content)
2. Mashed potatoes (for the carbohydrate element)
Drew recalls not only being able to eat these foods but loving the experience of being able to have lots of ice cream ... something he still relishes today.
It just goes to show that you never know who you're going to speak to in a day and what you might learn from asking a simple question. I'm so glad I asked - thanks Drew!