so. the thing about the ice cream sandwiches, is that the stall was manned by jeremy piven. ok, no, it was manned by a guy called patrick who resembles jeremy piven. there was nothing before him on the counter but a large container of marinated olives and gherkins (from the marinated olive and gherkin stall in the next aisle) which he ate with a toothpick. next to the counter was a freezer thingy.

he started making some “hi how are ya” smalltalk, but i couldn’t concentrate because i was distracted by the poster over the freezer thingy. six fat discs — six different ice cream sandwiches. i think he figured the only way to get my attention was to wave a small plate of samples in front of me. “this is our new flavour this month,” he said. “it’s banana ice cream and banana bread on the outside.”

nellie, come and have one immediately!

“oh i need one for the walk home,” i said, “but i don’t know which one to get.” there was a coffee one, a couple of vanillas (different cookies), a berry yoghurt…

“the double chocolate,” he said without hesitation. “if you like chocolate, get the double chocolate.”

“but the banana one was so banana-ey,” i said.

“but you’ve already tried that one. get the chocolate.”

“um.”

“the chocolate.”

so i did. it was belgian chocolate ice cream sandwiched between chewy chocolate cookies. it came, a neat package wrapped in paper. i held it for ten minutes, nurturing, anticipating, and then it was melty and creamy and good.

patrick lived in guangdong for a year, years ago. he speaks chinese, probably better than i do. his first ice cream machine was a handcranked rock salt and ice one. he makes his ice cream out of home. he’s on the verge of expanding, moving into premises. his partner in ice cream, the other guy pictured in the logo, is freakishly tall, maybe six-foot-nine, and is known as “stick”. all this you can find out while buying an ice cream sandwich.