Ah…summer refreshments. Is there anything better? Ice cream, hot dogs, popcorn, milkshakes and Coca-Cola were summer staples when I was a kid. Not exactly high nutrition, but it was summer and we got away with lots of things we couldn’t get away with during the school year — like not eating our vegetables and chowing down on salty and sugary snacks and drinks.

My mom used to make homemade ice cream and my dad would stir up root beer floats in ice cold aluminum glasses. We had one of those old school popcorn makers, too. There was nothing like sitting down to watch our favorite sitcoms with a bowl of hot popcorn and a cold root beer float or a milkshake made from Mom’s vanilla ice cream and lots of chocolate syrup.

Of course, nowadays I can’t gobble down bowls of popcorn and wash it down with bottles of Coke and milkshakes all the time. But once in a while, I just have to stroll down memory lane and trade in my adult sensibilities for a decidedly unbalanced summer diet.