I delayed buying a birthday gift for my wife because the neighborhood jewelry store had been closed for Coronavirus. With time running out, I bought her something else instead. Yesterday, we walked down the street to pick up our ice cream order for her birthday celebration and guess what? The jewelry store had re-opened. Guess what? I ended up getting her two gifts. Double-dipped! It was the most expensive ice cream I’ve ever bought. All for a  couple of “dips” of Salt & Straw salted caramel ribbon. Triple-dipped even!

I thought of George Costanza in the classic episode of Seinfeld. It is one of the most famous and most damning accusations in all of popular culture: “You double dipped the chip! You dipped the chip, you took a bite, and you dipped again!” “That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!” Double-dipping food in these viral times gives germaphobes a whole new level of fear. Especially if you’ve just pulled down your mask to take a bite. I don’t think that we’ll be seeing much shared food in the future. Individual servings of chips and salsa and maybe no more all-you-can-eat buffets. 

I’ve been accused of double-dipping chicken wings. There was a time that I would finish my order of wings and then go back and gnaw on the bones. It was a habit broken when someone else pointed out that their bones were also in my pile. Yuck! I’m very careful with my bones these days, as I will never live down that awkward moment. The story was just recently recalled while visiting friends in Phoenix. It would always get a good laugh, just like George when he got caught double-dipping chips. 

Double-dipping does have a good side when it comes to chocolate. There’s nothing better than double-dipped chocolate covered strawberries or peanuts. Two layers is always better than one – like a double-stuffed, double-dipped OREO. However, getting double-dipped on birthday gifts took some layers of cash out of my wallet. DipDip!