green tea, a magician, and a rock star

I used to get a major kick out of buying ice cream when I lived in Japan. Wow, you say, that's some obsession with ice cream. Or perhaps you wonder if there was a special ingredient in Japanese ice cream. The Japanese do have some interesting ice cream flavors--but that's not the reason I so enjoyed buying it. In fact, I never got round to trying even the more mundane ice cream flavors, such as green tea. I pretty much stuck to vanilla and Neapolitan.

No, the reason that buying ice cream in Japan fascinated me was that the shop clerks packaged it in dry ice. It's a great idea, especially in the heat of summer when you're walking or cycling home from the supermarket. Apart from the practicalities, however, I couldn't wait to get home, put the ice in my sink, run the water, and watch the smoke rise. I was a magician working wonders under cover of a cold cloud; I was a famous rock star making a spectacular entrance on stage; I was--an English teacher thrilled to be playing with dry ice in my kitchen sink.