The Time I Didn't Know the Difference Between a Baked Potato Bar and Dessert

Troy and I started dating in high school. Someday I will tell that story. But for now, we are doing a week of silly/ridiculous things that Natalie has said/done. And let's be real. It happens A LOT. I can only remember these ones because, somehow, I manage to do/say them in front of Troy. Or his family. This particular instance is the latter. I do ridiculous things all the time, but when you do them in front of people, they don't let you forget them.

Troy and I were in college. It may have been my FIRST time down to North Carolina to visit Troy when he was a freshman at ECU. We were both from Washington, DC and part of the reason Troy went to ECU was because ALL of his extended family lives in Wilson, about 40 minutes from Greenville. This gave Troy lots of opportunities to visit with family on some weekends or go to family dinners or whatever.

I had met a lot of Troy's family when we graduated from high school and his family had a BBQ at their house. This was my first time going to NC and seeing them at their homes. Troy and I headed out to Wilson on a Saturday night for a family dinner at a buffet in town called "Western Sizzlin'." And I guess I wanted to make a memorable first impression.

We are talking his whole family on his dad's side. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Somewhere between 12 and 15 people were probably there. Enough people to witness the event. And anytime we go to a buffet together now, they say, "look out for the dessert bar."

Okay, so we get a big table in the restaurant and are all eating at our own pace and drinking sweet tea. It was my first time meeting some of his family and I was trying to make a good impression. I LOVE dessert. LOVE. I do not understand when someone says the phrase, "it's too rich." NO. Nothing is too rich. You just aren't in the mood for whatever it is you're eating. I have a huge sweet tooth. So after I had my fill of dinner, I headed up to grab dessert.

The whole dessert area was on one end of the baked potato bar. So on the left side, there were potatoes, bacon, green onions, shredded cheese, butter, sour cream, etc. On the other side were Oreo cookies, brownie pieces, sprinkles, gummy bears, cherries, etc. I mosey up to the bar and make myself an ice cream sundae with all the fixings and head back to the table.

I sat down with Troy's family and make the PERFECT first bite. And time slows down. I feel like everyone is watching me (even though I know they weren't). I take a bite and it isn't cold. It isn't sweet. And it isn't ice cream.

I totally took a bite of BUTTER and toppings. I immediately opened my mouth and the bite fell back into the bowl. Troy's Aunt Betty was like, "where did you get the ice cream from? I thought they only had soft serve?"

Realization dawned on me. I had scooped butter from the baked potato bar and made a sundae with butter. Now, I like Paula Dean just as much as the next person, but a butter sundae is not on my menu of favorite desserts.

Realization hit his Aunt Betty quickly and she started laughing SO hard. I discreetly tried to put my full ice cream bowl down in the dirty dishes pile at the end of the table for the server to pick up, but everyone wanted to know why Aunt Betty was laughing so hard. She couldn't talk because she was crying, so I just said "I made a butter sundae by accident."

I am now the running joke at buffet dinners with his family. Well, the good news is, Troy and I got married 4 years later and they like me. I think :)

But they will never let me forget the day I ate butter with Oreo cookie topping.

So, as a lesson to you all, butter and vanilla bean ice cream look VERY familiar. If you go to a buffet where the potato bar and dessert fixings are on the same bar, make sure you aren't taking a HUGE scoop of butter. But maybe there is a problem when there is an ice cream scoop in the butter!!! My bad.