God knows there are elaborate desserts, but there's nothing simpler than a float.

If you can take an aspirin, you can make a float.

Take a drinking glass, either the tall, straight-up-and-down variety or the Coca-Cola shape whose woman's curves embrace ice and dark effervescence, and loosely fill it with tablespoons of good vanilla ice cream, the type speckled with dark flecks of vanilla bean.

You should spoon these pure white scoops into the inner curves of the glass in such a way there are crevices between the coldness in which Coca-Cola can be gently poured.

Be patient. As you tip the can of Coca-Cola over the glass, letting its darkness seep into the ice cream, a wood-colored foam will rise. Allow that to subside and pour still more Coca-Cola down between the cold white shapes.

When you're through, you'll have a chilled glass heavy with ice cream and surrounding soda.

Use a tablespoon to scoop up the mounds of vanilla dripping with Coca-Cola, licking the soft, cold sides of each scoop with your tongue. A frosty crust of ice cream and Coca-Cola will form over each almond-shaped mass, which you can pull off with your lips as you sensuously slide each sugary lump in and out of your mouth.

Once all the ice cream is gone, tilt the glass back and drain the cold, snowy liquid.

Heaven.

Practical instructions: start with room temperature Coca-Cola, rather than chilled. Room temperature allows for a better interaction, and an icier crust. A lot of people use root beer for a float instead of Coca-Cola, and that's up to you while you're standing in front of your opened pantry, wondering which can to twist down out of its six-holed plastic web.

In the privacy of your own home, you're allowed to think for yourself.

Isn't that what homes are for?

background on the recipe

This is one of the simplest desserts possible, and also one of the best. A child can construct it, and its sweet, cold oral satisfaction is sure to bring out the child in you with each indulgent suck on the spoon.