Every once in a while as an adult you stumble across something from your childhood that knocks you flat with nostalgia. I experienced this yesterday when I saw a sign for the Orange Julius in Vancouver.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Julius, let me explain: It’s like an orange juice smoothie. It’s frothy and icy and sweet. It used to be a chain in the U.S. but I never see them anymore. There’s a special way to drink them: An experienced Orange Julius drinker knows that you have to position your straw in the sweet spot in the cup, dead center, so you drink the juicy and the frothy at the same time. But this is something that you had to learn the hard way. Because inevitably the first few times you had one, you drank too fast from the bottom, sucking up all the delicious concentrated juice and were devestated when there was only the frothy stuff at the top left.
The Orange Julius pre-dates Jamba Juice; it does not contain any nutritional vaule. I used to think that Dr. J was somehow connected to them. As I was drinking it, I was immediately taken back to shopping trips to the Ingleside Mall in Springfield, Ma., about an hour away from where I grew up. Getting one was a total extravagance, only bought because my mom likes them. I remember being young enough to learn what savoring something meant
