Although fudge and chocolate usually appeared at birthday cake time during my childhood, it's butterscotch that brings back memories and reminds me of comfort food.

That said, my mind immediately runs to the Hawthorne Room, a family restaurant that once graced north Meridian Street. My dad regularly treated us to dinner there after Sunday church. Favorite meals began with corn bread sticks in the shape of ears of corn and ended with butterscotch sundaes served in metal pedestal cups. While our family rule was no desserts to keep costs down so we could dine out more often, the Hawthorne Room's luscious butterscotch-topped ice cream was included with Sunday dinners.

Martha Washington at 38th and Meridian also had wonderful butterscotch sundaes, which rewarded piano and dance recitals. Our teachers staged recitals at the Riddick Building or Shortridge's Caleb Mills Hall, so Martha Washington was on the way home. If we stopped there on non-celebration nights, we only got cones. Raspberry salad or lemon ice were my usual picks. (Raspberry salad ice cream was raspberry sherbert with salty pecan mixed in.)

Maplehurst was another ice cream parlor that topped ice cream with yummy butterscotch. How we loved to slip through the little peoples' door where only children under 4 feet tall could pass. The 62nd and Guilford location was our destination on many a hot summer night when cool-off refreshment was in order.

I also remember the butterscotch sundaes at Linder's in Broad Ripple, worth every bit the wait when lines streamed out the front door on 62nd street near Westfield Blvd. As much as we adored buttery sweetness, Vassar Hot Fudge sundaes reigned supreme at Craig's when Glendale first opened. This is probably because my mother had grown up relishing them with her grandmother as part of Saturday movie excursions. While you may have your own flavor favorites, tastes from childhood have a way of staying with us for life, continually evoking large emotions and lingering memories.