Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Name Your Poison

by Cassondra Murray

Is it Rocky Road? Pralines & Cream? Or perchance..Strawberry Cheesecake?
Double Chocolate Chunk or Gold Medal Ribbon?
Sidle up to the bar in the lair and order one. Make it a double (scoop, that is).

Hey, we never said alcohol was the only scandal served at the Bandit Bar.

Ice cream and me, we go way back.

My mom went to church three times a week. Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night prayer meetin'. Most of the time I was forced to attend these three (*cough* boring *cough*) services along with her. But every now and then I'd get a reprieve.

My dad, you see....well...he had no use for church. Never saw him in one. Didn't mean he didn't have faith. Just meant he didn't like church. My mom didn't drive at that time, and my dad would drive her in to the services. So when I was about three, I figured out that on Wednesday nights when we'd head out to prayer meetin', if I begged hard enough, I'd get to stay with my dad instead of going with my mom.

This was a good thing.






What did my dad DO while my mom was in prayer meetin'?

He went to the pool room to shoot pool. And he took me.

First we'd go in, and the regular fellas would all ask me how I was doin'. I'd tell 'em I was doin' fine. Then we'd go up to the counter and I could have a hot dog or a hamburger and a small coke. Then I sat in one of the armchairs on the side of the room right beside the table where my dad would play pool. Now that I'm older, I realize that he put me there so that I was never out of his sight, but I didn't know that then. Then, at age four, this part of my world was good.
I watched while my dad chose a pool stick and proceeded to play. I don't remember whether he won or lost. I was too busy getting an education in male behavior. Now as I look back, I also realize that all those guys straightened up their acts and cleaned up their language just for me. And it was quite a gift, getting to spend prayer meetin' night in the small-town equivalent of the men's club. As I ate my burger and drank my coke, I'd plan what I'd get for dessert. Once my dad hung up his pool stick and we said our goodbyes, we climbed in his truck and drove around the square and down the hill to see his best friend and hunting buddy, Merle.


Merle owned the Dairy Queen.

The Dairy Queen in our town was about the size of a Dixie cup. No lie. It was tiny. About three employees could fit inside and then it was crowded. The DQ was basically a box made of windows, and it set at the bottom of the big hill a block from the town square on Jamestown Street. Yes, the square with the courthouse in the center and the clock on top. It's true. I lived in a cliche.

You had to walk up to the DQ window to order. The thing I remember most clearly was the giant plastic ice cream cone (complete with the fancy little twirl on top) in the window. It was enormous. But it had a seam going up the side. Even at age four, I saw that seam as a dead giveaway. That cone was not real. But what it represented? THAT was real. The perfect cone.
I also recognized the immense skill level necessary to make the "poofs" on the real ice cream cones just above the wafer cups, and then to put that little twisty-twirl right on the top? Not everyone had the gift of the twirl.

You could always tell when they hired new people. The poof was never right. It was lopsided. And new people never added the twirl. Obviously, the twirl was the hardest part of making an ice cream cone. There's one bad thing about working in a box made of windows. Everybody in town gets to see you try--and fail--at making the "ice cream cone twirl".

As I grew older, they stopped adding the twirl. It was a sign, to me, of the lack of ambition and onset of good-for-nothing-ness in the population of teenagers in our town. I mean, really, if you're getting ice cream from DQ, it bloody well ought to have a twirl on top.

I always got a strawberry sundae. I was a tiny little thing at age four. Short for my age, and blonde. (Yes, I was once blonde. Go figure.) And I ate the whole thing. I think that was the beginning of my true love affair with ice cream. By the time I was six, I'd moved on to the banana split. By that point I was an afficianado of soft-serve ice cream.

I have no idea when some angel from God first shoved a bit of ice cream into my mouth, but it had to be a cataclysmic moment. A life was changed. I saw the LIGHT, BABY.

I moved on from that first, unremembered bite, to the developmental stage (sundaes and the banana splits), and finally to the pinnacle of DQ delights....the parfait.

To this day, I still see the light. I've broadened my horizons and I've tried all kinds. But I'm true to my own north star...it guides me back, regularly, to the Baskin Robbins or the DQ.


I love Baskin Robbins many choices of flavors, and their seasonal specialties like eggnog ice cream. Yummmm.
But if it's a banana split I want, nothing will do but Dairy Queen. Nobody does soft-serve like DQ.

I've tried soft-serve at all kinds of places. There's a little "box of windows" in a town near me. It's called the Frosty Freeze. It lures me sometimes, but the ice cream is sort of...well...mealy. It's like you can taste the sugary grit in the ice cream. I'm sorry if I seem judgemental, but...well...it's sub-standard.
Still, I like walking up to the window and ordering from teenagers, just the way the generation before me, and the generation before them, walked up to that same window and ordered from the people who were teenagers then. Maybe that's why I like those places so much. Getting ice cream there makes me a bit of that town's history.

Yes, I've dawdled with the newfangled shops with the marble slabs--the ones that let you watch while they smoosh all kinds of goodies into the scoop of whatever you want and serve it up to you deliciously unfinished and raw....for $5 per scoop.
And yes, I dropped my money on the table and took their ice cream and LOVED IT. But I looked squinty eyed at them as I slurped. Okay it was good. Okay. It was ungodly good. But since it was double the price, when the temptors went the way of all stupidly overpriced places in our town, I was happy to go back to the thirty-onederful flavors at Baskin Robbins, and to my old standby, Dairy Queen.

My banana splits are made in the traditional way. Strawberry, chocolate, and pineapple syrups, no whipped cream, no nuts. Just like the ones I got from Merle's DQ at the bottom of the hill. Nuts are nice and all, but on a banana split? For me, they're just wrong.


I've shot a few games of pool since I sat in that armchair and watched my dad. I suppose it didn't affect me. I suppose it was fate that made me the pool champ at my first two-year college. (Fate and a guy named Glen, who taught me how to slice a ball into the corner and how to cuss like a sailor.)
Ice cream is still a perfect ending to an evening of such debauchery.
Tonight it was a scoop of Nutty Coconut, plus a quart of Strawberry Cheesecake, and one of plain vanilla, so that later, I can make a sundae with fresh strawberries (a gift from some Amish friends--it's strawberry season in Kentucky).
What about you, Bandits and Buddies?
Do you like ice cream? How much?
What would you choose? Let's tally the score.
What kind--hard ice cream (scooped, like Baskin Robbins) or soft-serve?
And what about those hoity toity marble slab places? Do you like those?

But now for the real questions:
What flavor?
What do you like on your banana splits?
Oh, and ....ahem....nuts, or no nuts?
Name your poison.

255 comments:

1 – 200 of 255   Newer›   Newest»
Anna Campbell said...

HE is mine!!!!!

Christine Wells said...

Woohoo!! Anna got the bird!

As usual, what a fantastic post, Cassondra. We need to make a book out of your posts!

My favourite ice cream was Jamocha Almond fudge, can't remember the brand. It's so long since I've had it, I don't think they make it any more. I'm more of a cornetto/drumstick girl--you probably have them in the States. I used to go to Rugby matches with my dad just so I could get the Cornetto when they came around selling them.

I don't like soft serve much unless it's blended with fresh fruit like mango. Banana splits--here they come with one topping, chocolate, strawberry or caramel and usually nuts, too. Never pineapple, as far as I know! One time, at a Chinese restaurant, a banana split came out with just a whole banana and two balls of icecream. You can imagine the sniggers:)

PinkPeony said...

Oh no! Another food subject!
We went out for our anniversary last Saturday and I had a vanilla and coffee ice cream bombe for dessert. Heavenly! I usually buy vanilla for the house but my favorites are Jamoca Almond Fudge and Rocky Road. Last year, my husband showed up with six cases of Drumsticks. We went door to door and tried to give them all away but we got stuck with a case. I can't eat Drumsticks for a while. I love soft serve cones. They're hard to find. The ones at McDonalds just aren't the same as DQ or Foster's Freeze. Congrats on El Pollo, Anna!

Helen said...

Anna well done have fun with im

Cassondra another fantastic post

I do love ice cream soft serve or hard scoops we have a Wendys and a Baskin Robbins at our local shopping centre and I do sometimes have one I do love the cookies and cream from Baskins and just a nice vanilla soft serve from Wendys.

When I was young we could by ice cream at the local milk bar but only vanilla. I have never seen a marble slab place so that I can't tell you.

I like ice cream but I wouldn't say I had to have it all the time I do like ice cream with other deserts like warm mud cake and I do love a banana split they normally come with one flavouring and nuts and sometimes cream as well and hard or soft serve ice cream depends on where you get them
I like both hard and soft serve as for flavour I really love vanilla.

Have Fun
Helen

Laurie G said...

I grew up in the Diary state Wisconsin! I love ice cream started off with mint choc chip Sealtest. I think they now maybe Breyers? We had a DQ. I loved Buster Bars! My mom loved dillies.

In college-UWisconsin had it's own Babcock diary.. DELISH! I loved choc chip and it had bits of toffee thrown in.

As I grew older Blue Bunny had Exquisite Mint= mint ice cream with a ribbon of fudge and hunks of dark choc.
Now my favorites are:
Breyers -Heath Bar
Edy's- mint choc chip and choc fudge brownie

hrdwrkdmom aka Dianna said...

Oh yeah, I scream for Ice Cream......
I prefer the hard scoop but love the soft serve in a banana split. On my banana split I want nothing but chocolate. On my sundaes nothing but hot chocolate. Baskin Robbins I just go nuts, it can take 15 minutes to decide ande it is different everytime. One of my favs was a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of orange sherbert, sounds funky but I am telling you chocolate and orange work well together.
At home it is Edy's Chocolate or
French Silk.

Marisa O'Neill said...

Cassondra, what a wonderful post. You made the prayer meetings, pool hall and DQ come alive and it brought back some special times I had with my father. We grew up in the South Bronx so we didn't have DQ we had a corner deli and my father was all about the egg cream. Me? I always said YUCK; Because even though it was ice cream and seltzer, anything that had egg in the name was off limits to the pallet of a 5 year old. But I digress. I don't believe in banana splits. Ice cream and fruit are not a combination found in nature. However give me some chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and I'll do your laundry (I'd rather have my eyes boiled in oil than do laundry) for a week.

Deb Marlowe said...

Hey Cassondra! Love the post. Love your time with your Dad.

We had a DQ just like that in my hometown! My sister worked there and she was danged good at the swirl. :-)

Love ice cream. I've had to mostly give it up, but I love it. Chocolate with a peanut butter swirl. Yummmm....

Gillian Layne said...

Dairy Queen means my Dad to me, too. They still live in the same small town and Dairy Queen was a Friday or Saturday night thing after everyone had cleaned up from all the farm chores; drive into town, order out of the little window, then sit at the picnic bench or in the truck and eat. My dad always loved the peanut butter parfait, and I was a Dilly Bar girl, all the way.

When I was pregnant, before our Baskin Robbins closed (sob), I lived on Daiquiri Ice ice cream. Pure heaven.

Terry Odell said...

We didn't have Dairy Queen, we had Foster's Freeze, and it only came in vanilla -- the curlique on the top was my favorite part as a kid.

I still love soft-serve, but will enjoy just about any ice cream. Gelato in Italy was a daily "must" on vacation.

Best sundaes were at Blums in Los Angeles - they served a sidecar of more hot fudge so you'd never have to worry about running out.

And my parents' code for taking us to ice cream -- they'd ask each other if they should stop at the "White Milk Building" because there was a soda fountain in the Carnation Building, and Carnation was a popular brand of milk back then. Of course, we figured out the code after the first trip and would ask to stop there ourselves rather than wait for them to bring it up.

A Coldstone Creamery just opened near us, and we go there because it's handy -- but we're just as likely to go to the also nearby TCBY.

Tawny said...

Mmmmm, I'm now starving. Not a good thing at 4 am after a rotten writing night, let me tell ya!!

Okay, ice cream. I love it. I love the chocolate dipped cones at Fosters Old Fashioned Freeze (our equivalent of Dairy Queen, I think). I love Ben & Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch. I love this ice cream Baskin Robbins used to have -it was chocolate with caramel swirls and almonds.

Oh - yeah, I so love nuts. And whipped cream. But not cherries. I'm definitely not a cherry kind of gal *g*

Alaine said...

Oh yum! Pralines and Cream and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, don't like Banana Splits, nuts!

Hmm and maybe get some tomorrow!

Tawny said...

Hey, Marisa... I have a gallon of chocolate chip ice cream here with your name on it (and a pile of laundry *ggg*)

Donna MacMeans said...

Dairy Queen is a tradition in my family as well. My daughter and I go there right after our aerobics class (grin). Do you think that might be the reason I just can't seem to lose weight?

I'm not fond of those slab places. Ever since my dh ordered butter pecan and they said the nuts would cost extra (seriously - I guess the base is just butter ice cream)I've avoided those places. Plus the ice tastes waxy to me - it has some sort of coating.

My coveted vice is Graeter's ice cream. Not the prepacked stuff, but the ice cream fresh from the store, and the flavor is mocha chocolate chunk - not chip - chunk.

If we're talking DQ - it's got to be a blizzard - chocolate with snickers pieces, please.

Yummy post, Cassondra!

Kirsten said...

Ooohh, now here's a topic I really can get into -- my favorite substance of all time. Ice cream. I don't drink, can't have chocolate, but ICE CREAM. Now there's something worth putting on a few pounds for. :-)

We have a DQ just a few blocks from our house. In fact, the kids and I walk past every morning on the way to school. This is very bad, because we also walk past on the way HOME from school, and guess what? Kids don't have a lot of restraint when it comes to DQ. I have resorted to leaving my wallet at home so I have a good excuse.

I like to keep a gallon in the fridge at all times. I used to go for cookie dough or some chocolate-infused things, but now I'm a vanilla girl.

I'm with Marisa on the fruit thing. Not a fan of fruity ice cream mixes. But OOOHHHH the Peanut Buster Parfait. The greatest dessert known to human kind.

Susan Sey said...

Anna! Congrats on snagging the GR! Stuff him full of DQ & he won't give you any trouble at all. He'll just sit on the sofa, nap & belch every so often. :-)

And Cassondra--how did you know ice cream is my one true vice? I adore ice cream & I'm not fussy. I like all brands, all flavors, all incarnations.

Two exceptions:

1) I HATE chocolate ice cream. I love chocolate, love chocolate IN or ON my ice cream. But actual chocolate ice cream? Ack. It tastes wrong. Sort of the way actual coffee tastes nothing like what the smell promises? Anybody who knows what chocolate tastes like should be disappointed by chocolate ice cream. My opinion only.

2) I object--strongly--to putting ice cream in soda. Floats, coolers, whatever you want to call them? A waste of perfectly good ice cream. Again, my opinion only.

I have discovered over the years that what really trips my trigger, sweet-tooth wise, is cold & sweet & chewable. Some people like salty, some like sweet-n-salty, some like greasy-n-salty. For me, it's sweet & cold & chewable. That's why diet soda doesn't satisfy when I'm off sweets. It's cold & sweet (after a fashion) but you can't chew it. Therefore it doesn't work.

A frozen cookie will do it, though. Frozen birthday cake is also just fine. But in my humble opinion, there is almost no dessert worth eating that would not be improved by a big fat scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummers.

Christie Kelley said...

Cassondra, you're killing me! What's with all the food talk this week? I'm trying to be good!

Do I like ice cream? It's just my little obession. I grew up in upstate NY and there was no DQ in my town. But we had Pat Mitchel's ice cream. The New Yorker magazine was called it the best ice cream in NY (and we lived 3 hours from NYC).


They had some of the best varieties of ice cream ever. My personal favorite was mint chocolate chip. Only they didn't use chips, they used chunks. Sometimes you could find a chunk almost as big as a pink eraser.

Now, we do have a DQ not too far and it's okay. But I still prefer a nice scoop of mint chocolate chip. And I'm with you on the marble slab places. Really good ice cream but horribly over priced.

Cecile Smutty Hussy said...

Damn, I already had breakfast and now I am straving again!!!! lol!
Well, I have to thank my daughter for introducing me to a new ice cream... I am/was just a plain Old Fashion Vallian girl. That was my deal.. that and Chocolate Chip Cookie dough... but my daugther.. introduced me to... Birthday Cake with a scoop of Cake Batter and OH MY GOSH HEAVEN!!!
I am not a nut girl in my food... I prefer them "stand alone *wink".

p226 said...

Here at the office we have a circuit of lunchtime haunts. We have nicknames for all of them. Most of the nicknames are HORRIBLY un-pc, and, well, offensive. REALLY offensive. Probably the most tame example is "cat." A typical pre-lunch conversation goes like this.

*beepbreeep* (office phone)
*pickup*
"Yo."
"Man, what's for eats?"
"Hmm... we haven't had cat this week."
"I could go for some cat."
"Ok, you drivin?"

In case you haven't guessed, "cat" is our codeword for the Chinese restaurant we prefer. Terrible. I know. At this point however, I know I'm going to hell and my only hope is that my life can serve as an warning to others.

Anyway, at "cat," they have a kind of an ice-cream bar. It's cheap. The ice-cream is cheap. It has this big stainless machine with three levers. The lever on the left doles out chocolate ice-cream paste with the consistency of caulk. The lever on the right will give you vanilla. And if you pull the middle lever, you'll get some ratio of vanilla to chocolate mix. It's never consistent.

But what makes ice-cream at "cat" worthwhile is the bar. The bar, and the fact that I have developed a sublime concoction.

Here's how it works.

1. Grab cup. Try to find a clean one.
2. Hold cup under the middle lever and pull. Hope it comes out pasty instead of liquid.
3. Return with your cup to the bar, and scoop up about four gallons of melted chocolate with the obscenely over sized ladle. Dump on your cup of paste. Avoid splashing any on your shoes.
4. Leave a trail of chocolate (it strings along behind you like a rappelling line) to the vat of crushed peanuts.
5. Use the tiny spoon provided to shovel peanut crumbs onto the chocolate. Don't worry about the three or four pieces of peanut that try to escape down the chocolate rappelling line. It's about volume. Leave them be.
6. Pick up the tongs from the rainbow sprinkles. Use them to surgically select exactly two 'nilla waifers. Carefully jam them into a parallel position in the top of the pile of chocolate and peanut chunks roughly one half inch apart.
7. String your chocolate rappelling line back to your table. Laugh as other patrons trip over it.
8. Eat.


Paradise.

Nancy said...

Anna, congrats on taking home the bird!

Cassondra, when I was growing up, we had the Tastee-Freeze with soft serve ice cream. They had a truck that drove around, and I remember getting dip-top cones (as a kid, I loved chocolate, but I now prefer butterscotch) and then carefully setting them upright in our pull-out, under-the-fridge freezer until after supper.

I used to love B&R hot fudge sundaes with banana ice cream, but the B&R near us has switched out that thick, rich hot fudge for something remarkably like chocolate sauce, and it ain't the same.

We have a wonderful soft-serve ice cream place near us. Come down sometime, and we'll treat!

When I was a kid, I used to love Shoneys' hot fudge sundaes. My mom used to take us there after orthodontist appointments (or else to the local department store, which still sold books, and if I wheedled well, I could get Nancy Drew for $1; yes I'm really that old). Mom never ordered dessert; she just wanted "a taste" or ours. Her spoon wold dip in and what looked, subjectively, like half my sundae migrated across the table. So I adapted by learning to inhale all desserts. Forget savoring! I wanted it out of spoon range fast.

I shared this story with my family to explain why I always finish dessert way faster than they do. The dh was out of town not long ago, and the boy and I went out to dinner. As we split a chocolate cake dessert, he suddenly grinned across the table at me, and in perfect imitation of my mom's more pronounced Southern accent, said, "Lemme have a taste of your cake."

And I cracked up. I can see him sharing that with his own kids someday.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

All of the above? :>

Marisa, I have chocolate-choclate chip in teh freezer. C'mon down girlfriend, the laundry - and spoons! - are waiting! HAHAH!

OMGosh, P226, you made the dogs bark. I was laughing so hard they jumped off their doggie beds and started barking at me. (This may have something to do with the fact that I've lost my voice so any sound I make comes out either smokey-gravelly or Squeaky-mousy!) However, ROFLMAO!!!

What a great post, Cassondra. (As always!) My favorite ice cream flavor is...wait for it...coffee. Heehee. Second fav is Chocolate chip cookie dough. Then again, I like to eat Toll House Cookie batter raw. I know, I know. Like P226, I'm probably already going to hell for eating raw dough of all varieties, so nevvvvermind.

Anyway, I'm not big on foo-foo ice creameries. I love DQ, Baskins, etc. There's a Biltmore Dairy Bar in Asheville, near where I went to school....ahhhhhhhh, heaven. Fresh ice cream from the beauteous, (unnaturally) clean cows that were kept in the windowed area so you could see them be milked. GORGEOUS ice cream. There was also a Borden's dairy bar like this. Elsie the cow.

Nothing compares to goooood ice cream and even bad ice cream - a la P226 - can be eaten with great satisfaction if there are enough toppings to pile on.

Nuts? Abso-frickin-lutely. And yes, I DO mean the nutritional kind, in food, on a regular basis. (Gutterbrains!)

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Good morning, y'all! Congrats Anna on nabbing that wiley bird.

Lovely post, Cassondra! And what lovely memories it evoked. We had a neighborhood DQ growing up, too.

Once a week, usually a Friday, Saturday or Sunday Mom would drive us up to the DQ so we could order our favorite sunday. Then she would order hers and Daddy's which we'd take back ASAP before it had a chance to melt. I always got hot fudge,just like my dad. My sister, Sami? Strawberry, just like my mom. Can't remember what my brother got.

When I hit middle school, my best friend Marion and I would walk over to get "something", mine was often a lime freeze, (I think that's what they called it). Then we'd make the walk around the park, past my friend Lyn's house, and if she was out we'd stand and talk a while, then back to the corner that split the difference between our houses. She'd go her way, I'd go mine. And we had to both be home by the time the street lights started to come on. Sigh....what a simpler time.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Nancy, that cracked me up! "No, I'll just have a bite of yours..." This was also a frequently used phrase in our house. My sister and I still laugh about it the same way you and the boy did.

Snicker. Yep, just a weeeee spoonful.....

Fedora said...

I want it all, Cassondra! Hard scoop, soft serve, nuts, whipped cream, sprinkles... Mmmm...

Favorite flavor? That's varied--for a long time it was strawberry (the kind with chunks of fruit in it). I also really loved Amaretto Fudge. These days I really enjoy a good green tea, but still am a sucker for cookies and cream :)

What a delicious topic! Oh, and sadly, I'm not sure I've ever been to a Dairy Queen... Must remedy this!

Congrats on the GR, Anna! What's he up to today?

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Oh, Suz! Lime freezes/lime slushies...slurp. Loved those.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Cecile...I didn't know they made birthday cake or cake batter ice cream but I am SO going to have to look that up. YUM!

Terri Osburn said...

Oh my, how this takes me back. As a child in the burbs, I spent many summer days walking down the road to the Frostry Treat. One of your box of window type places. That ice cream was so good. But then my mom went to work at a Dairy Queen and that was it. And she taught me how to do the swirl too. That swirl is very important.

I prefer soft-serve vanilla over anything else. But I don't like *stuff* in my ice cream. I think it's a fear of eating bugs or something. I love cookie dough and M&Ms, but can't even consider eating them in ice cream.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

OKay, that was stories #1 and #2.

#3 By the time I was pregnant with my oldest I'd disovered Baskin Robbins. And my husband introduced me to Pralines and Cream ice cream there. OH.MY.GOD. That child craved two things while I carried her. Hot and spicey foods, and ice cream deserts. To this day, I believe she still does.

#4 Teaching your children the art of eating an ice cream cone (lick the sides as you twist it, don't bite from the top)... When my kids were little, my son must've been like ohhhhhhh....3, we'd taken them to Knight's ice creamery. A small mom & pop place with glass windows, but a small alcove you stepped inside to order and some of the best homemade ice cream to EVER cross your lips!

We'd order the kids each a one scoop of their favorite. Thank goodness they all liked chocolate chip (my favorite), because I'd have to show them how to lick the ice cream before it rolled down their hands to their arms and onto their clothes. This is not a natural talent, it is an acquired skill with a few needed licks by mom to keep this from happening. But eventually they learned. (dang it).

Terri Osburn said...

Oh, cake batter ice cream is awesome! Totally forgot about that one. Vanilla is still my favorite and my Frosty's have to be chocolate, but cake batter ice cream is dang good.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

#5 And I don't know if Donna has had this, but in my home town they have HOMEMADE brand ice cream in gallon containers at the store. They make one called peanut butter. It is creamy with chunks of beanutputter in it. Add Hershey's Hot Fudge sauce and wha-la...a giant bowl of frozen Resse's!! (a resident at OSU hooked me on that one.)

Trish Milburn said...

Ah, Dairy Queen. Love it. Way too close to my house. I love soft-serve ice cream, always have. At DQ, I'm a Blizzard fan -- the Chocolate Extreme and the newer Midnight Truffle. Yes, I like the chocolate. Sometimes I also get just a cup of chocolate soft serve with strawberry topping. And on the occasion that I get a banana split, I don't get the pineapple in favor of an extra strawberry topping (like pineapple, just prefer strawberry). No nuts. Don't like nuts.

Now, it's not quite the same, but I also like Frosties from Wendy's.

Trish Milburn said...

Susan, I love chocolate ice cream, but I totally agree about the soda thing. That just seems wrong, though my hubby is forever trying to get me to have one.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Oh - yeah, I so love nuts. And whipped cream. But not cherries. I'm definitely not a cherry kind of gal *g*..

Tawny, why does this not surprsie me?

Trish Milburn said...

p226, my husband and some of his co-workers go to a Chinese buffet place like that for lunch often. And it has that same type of ice cream machine and fixins' bar. BTW, we had one of those machines at the steak house I worked at in college, and the stupid thing was always freezing up inside. Hated that machine.

Keira Soleore said...

Nuts!!!!! Fresh fruit!!! And either sweet cream, vanilla, French vanilla, or strawberry. That's all I want on my ice cream.

Unless you want to add a dram of brandy or cognac to it. Then I'd say, be generous, three tots to one scoop, please. I'm getting my sybarite on (blame Fo).

I'm also deeply in love with Haagen Daz and their rum-raisin, dulce de leche, lehua-cream, and mango.

Yeah, we're all cheering, Christine, because Fo got the bird. High time someone gave her one.

*thud*

(Keira's out cold because Fo socked her one.)

Suzanne Ferrell said...

But in my humble opinion, there is almost no dessert worth eating that would not be improved by a big fat scoop of vanilla ice cream...

Susan, this is how my daughter sees it in regards to peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler, apple pie, apple crisp or cherry pie. Of course the child believed cobbler with ice cream is an acceptable meal...which is a whole other blog post!!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

But MamaSuz, cobbler and ice cream IS a meal, isn't it? Fruit, grains, milk/cream - allllll the joyous portions of the food pyramid.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Suz, also had to LOL about teaching kids to eat ice cream. I don't get much anymore since my older boy has totally mastered his ice cream skills. The younger one's still working on it, but he doesn't let me have too many "tastes" even so.

Oh, and at the Delaware beaches, there's an ice creamery called Giffords. Y-U-M!

Suzanne Ferrell said...

But MamaSuz, cobbler and ice cream IS a meal, isn't it? Fruit, grains, milk/cream - allllll the joyous portions of the food pyramid...

Yes, Jeanne, that was EXACTLY her rational, er, still is...:) AND it's one of the two deserts the child can make. Peach cobbler or Caramel Apple Pie.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Suz, also had to LOL about teaching kids to eat ice cream...

Yep, one of the joys of parenthood they never tell you about and you get to discover on your own...Sigh...such nice memories...oh wait, we have a new generation to teach!!! whooppee!!

Suzanne Ferrell said...

beanutputter...okay...can I blame this screw up on my meds today? Otherwise, I'm thinking I have serious problems with my typing skills today.

Cecile Smutty Hussy said...

Oh yea, Cake Batter is "sweet"!! I was bowing to daughter for introducing me to that one... it smells like I am licking the bowl after mixing the batter together... and hell...birthday cake even has the little sprinkles in it too!!

p226, I am LMFAO over here!! The office story is killing me!!

Cassondra said...

WOOHOOOO the bird goes Down Under for the day!

Okay y'all. I'm up. I have coffee in my hand. Normally I'd check the first comments before I even make coffee. But today? Not. Yesterday was too hard a day at work. I haven't washed my face or brushed my hair. I'm sitting here lookin' pretty rough, but by gosh, I've got coffee, so all is well.

Fo, what are you and the bird doing? How's the weather there? Are y'all going out?

Cassondra said...

Christine said:

My favourite ice cream was Jamocha Almond fudge, can't remember the brand. It's so long since I've had it, I don't think they make it any more. I'm more of a cornetto/drumstick girl--you probably have them in the States.Yes, we do have drumsticks. I don't remember ever seeing a cornetto, but they're similar, aren't they? I looooooove drumsticks. That used to be my treat when we were out working on the farm and we'd go to the country store to have lunch. If you got ice cream there, you had to get it out of the little cooler by the door. I always got a drumstick or and ice cream sandwich.

Oh, and there's another treat we must show you aussies--the three-flavored split. I can see now that DQ would prosper if they had the foresight to open stores there in Australia. Poor chinese and their syrup-less split. They just didn't get it, did they?

Cassondra said...

Pink Peony said:

Oh no! Another food subject!
Yes, I know. I promise the text was already done when I read Christine's food p*rn post yesterday. I would have changed it and saved this one for another day but I was just too wiped last night. The thing that sealed the deal was that I came home from that hard day at work and what did I want? That's right. ICE CREAM BABY!

We drove all the way into town so I could get Baskin Robbins. And we even had some Breyers here in the freezer but that just wouldn't cut it after a really hard day. Had to have a scoop of nutty coconut.

The ones at McDonalds just aren't the same as DQ or Foster's Freeze. SEE!! SEE!! I'm not the only one! There IS a standard to be upheld here!

Cassondra said...

Okay that's two votes for Jamoca Almond Fudge. No wonder those flavors have stayed around so long. Popular.

Cassondra said...

Helen said:
I do like ice cream with other deserts like warm mud cake and I do love a banana split they normally come with one flavouring and nuts and sometimes cream as well Oh, cake and ice cream YUM. Helen, you're going to have to give us all that mud cake recipe unless it's a secret. Here we have Mississippi Mud cake, but I don't know of just a "Mud cake" so I'd like to know what it is. Is it chocolatey?

Personally, I think God had something in mind when he made bananas and strawberries. On the next day ,no doubt he made ice cream. I'm just sayin.

and hard or soft serve ice cream depends on where you get them
I like both hard and soft serve as for flavour I really love vanilla.
I love a good vanilla too Helen. Sometimes I just get that, even in the face of all those flavors. I'm weird in that I don't like chocolate ice cream much. LOVE chocolate, but not so much chocolate ice cream. Just every now and then I'll get some variety of triple dark chocolate or some such. But plain old chocolate? Never.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Yeah on having coffee, Cassondra! It's the nectar of the Gods, isn't it? Which is why I adore coffee ice cream...

Cassondra said...

Hi Laurie!

You grew up in the dairy state!

Oh, and Mint Chocolate Chip. That was my college roomie's favorite, and for each birthday, we'd get her a Baskin Robbins cake made with mint chocolate chip. YUM. MCC is not my favorite just for ice cream's sake, but it sure was good in that cake.

Sealtest became Breyers? Really? I had no idea. We used to have Sealtest here too, but I haven't seen it in years! I guess that might explain why.

Jane said...

Congrats on the GR, Anna.

I used to love vanilla, but now I'm a chocolate person. I love the Haagen Dazs chocolate. I'm also a big fan of cookies n cream. I do like soft serve ice cream because it reminds me of when I was little and how we used to run to the ice cream truck as soon as we heard the music. Cold Stone Creamery makes great ice cream cakes. The mint chocolate chip cake is one of my faves, but I still prefer to have a birthday cake from Carvel.

Cassondra said...

Laurie also said:

We had a DQ. I loved Buster Bars! My mom loved dillies.
You know what? Our DQ was so small, they didn't have the bars. They didn't have room for the freezer to hold them. No kidding. We'd see Dilly bars and Buster Bars on tv, but couldn't get them at our DQ. I was okay with that, as I had my favs already. But if you liked ice cream bars, you were out of luck.

Cassondra said...

aka Dianna said:

One of my favs was a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of orange sherbert, sounds funky but I am telling you chocolate and orange work well together.OMG! That sounds HEAVENLY! I love chocolate and orange, so that's got to be good. I don't know why I never thought of it!

Cassondra said...

Marisa said:

we had a corner deli and my father was all about the egg cream. Me? I always said YUCK; Because even though it was ice cream and seltzer, anything that had egg in the name was off limits.Well, I don't blame you. I never heard of egg cream, and the name does not sound good. Ice cream and seltzer you say? Kind of like a float perhaps? What do you think now? Are those good now that you're an adult?

I don't believe in banana splits. Ice cream and fruit are not a combination found in nature. Oh dear. I think we need an intervention everyone! Marisa is missing out! Well, I feel that way about nuts on my banana splits, so that's okay.

However give me some chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and I'll do your laundry.Ooooooo...there's a tempting offer right there. I'm thinkin I could get ahold of a half gallon of chocolate chip fairly easily. Hmmmm....I do have a full laundry basket.....hmmmmm.

Cassondra said...

Deb Marlowe said:

We had a DQ just like that in my hometown! My sister worked there and she was danged good at the swirl. :-)
SEE! I'm not lyin y'all. That swirl was a specialized skill. Deb, you obviously come from good stock.

Lessee...that's a vote for choc peanut butter swirl. Lemme tally up the votes.

Cassondra said...

Okay, y'all are pickin more than one favorite, so it's makin' it hard. (grin)

That's okay though. I know it depends on the "source."

Not all French Silk is the same.

Cassondra said...

Okay here's the tally so far best I can tell:

Jamoca Almond Fudge--2
Vanilla--1
Rocky Road--1
BR Cookies & Cream--1
Brey. Heath Bar--1
Edy's Mint Choc Chip--1
Chock Fudge Brownie --1
Edy's French Silk --1
Chocolate Chip --1
Choc. Peanut Butter Swirl--1

At the moment, Jamoca Almond Fudge is in the lead.

Cassondra said...

Gillian said:

When I was pregnant, before our Baskin Robbins closed (sob), I lived on Daiquiri Ice ice cream. Pure heaven.
Oh, poor Gillian! We will all pause with you for a moment of mourning for the loss of your Baskin Robbins. :0(

Daiquiri? I've never had daquiri. Oh, man, that sounds GOOD.

Louisa Cornell said...

Good on you, La Campbell !! Do they have Dairy Queens in Australia. I'm sure any ice cream will do for the GR. He is not known for turning down sweets!


Cassondra, you are a wicked woman! We have an old fashioned DQ here in Wetumpka and they have the most amazing chocolate dipped cones imaginable. NOW I will have to go down there this afternoon and indulge! It is all your fault! THANK YOU! Oh, and our servers here HAVE mastered the swirl and sometimes the double swirl!!

I really LOVE ice cream. Mint chocolate chip anyone? How about chocolate chunk? Strawberry cheesecake ice cream? I could go on and on.

I like Baskin Robbins. There was one within walking distance when the DH and I were in grad school at the University of Southern Mississippi. When I say walking distance I mean a mile away. Our logic was if we walked there and back we could afford eat the ice cream!

One of my favorite ice cream memories was of the ice cream treats we bought at the cinema in England during the intermission. The lady would come down with the little box suspended from the straps around her neck - like the old fashioned cigarette girls. The ice cream was Lyon brand I believe and it was scrumptious!

Cassondra said...

Terry Odell said:

We didn't have Dairy Queen, we had Foster's Freeze, and it only came in vanilla -- the curlique on the top was my favorite part as a kid.
I've never been to a Foster's Freeze. But here is yet another who understands the importance of the curlique swirl! Between you and Deb, I am vindicated.

A Coldstone Creamery just opened near us,Our Coldstone Creamery closed last fall. (another moment of mourning) I spent way too much money there. It was really good, but darn, for the money I could go to Baskin Robbins three times. I have to wonder if that's why it closed. We've had two marble-slab ice cream stores open--and close--within a couple of years here.

Cassondra said...

Oh, and Terry..

A sidecar of extra hot fudge?

Oooooo...yummmmm...okay, I have a jar of hot fudge suace in the fridge...I'm thinkin...

No. I have not had breakfast yet. I cannot have hot fudge for breakfast. Can. Not.

Cassondra said...

Tawny said:

I love this ice cream Baskin Robbins used to have -it was chocolate with caramel swirls and almonds.Is that the Gold Medal Ribbon? It's been so long since I've had it, I can't remember.

Oh - yeah, I so love nuts. And whipped cream. But not cherries. I'm definitely not a cherry kind of gal *g*None of this surprises me for some reason. ;0)

FWIW, I'm not a cherry kind of gal either--not on ice cream anyhow.

Cassondra said...

Alaine said:

Oh yum! Pralines and Cream and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, don't like Banana Splits, nuts!

Hey, Pralines & Cream is my husband's fav too. You know what? I've never had CCCD ice cream. I know, I know..been living under a rock....You don't like banana splits? For real?

Cassondra said...

Tawny said:

Hey, Marisa... I have a gallon of chocolate chip ice cream here with your name on it (and a pile of laundry *ggg*)

I knew it would not take long for the call to be issued...that was just too tempting.

Cassondra said...

Donna said:

I'm not fond of those slab places. Ever since my dh ordered butter pecan and they said the nuts would cost extra (seriously - I guess the base is just butter ice cream)I've avoided those places. Plus the ice tastes waxy to me - it has some sort of coating.
Well, see.. that's what I'm thinkin...Not about the waxy taste. I love the ice cream from the places we had here. But about the cost. Ours was a tad better. You got one flavor ice cream and one or two ingredients for one price, so you kind of knew up front what you were getting into. But it's kinda hard for me to justify getting two scoops of ice cream and dropping ten bucks. At least not often, and I think "often" is what it takes to make those places successful. Bigger cities, maybe...

Cassondra said...

Kirsten said:

I like to keep a gallon in the fridge at all times. I used to go for cookie dough or some chocolate-infused things, but now I'm a vanilla girl. Nothin' wrong with a good vanilla. Yumm. Makes the best base for FRUIT!!! ;0)

I'm with Marisa on the fruit thing. Not a fan of fruity ice cream mixes. But OOOHHHH the Peanut Buster Parfait. The greatest dessert known to human kind.Well, here we are--another ice-cream with fruit hater. What can ya do....one day, perhaps y'all will see the light. But if not, we'll keep some peanut butter and chocolate chips handy.

Now I'm picturing you forlorn little kids, standing in the street staring at the DQ..with no money. (snicker) Seriously, that's the only way. How could you say no if you had your wallet with you? If I walked by a DQ every day, I'd be as big as a house!

Cassondra said...

Susan Sey said:

in my humble opinion, there is almost no dessert worth eating that would not be improved by a big fat scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummers.Well, I can't say that I disagree with you on this. Nope. Not at all.

Now as to the floats...I LOVE ME SOME ROOT BEER FLOATS YUMMMMMM. I will have to examine this aversion to plopping ice cream in soda. I can't recall that I've ever come across this particular aversion before. Hmmmm.....

And now that you mention it, I do remember that ice cream is your one vice. And FWIW, I don't like regular old chocolate ice cream either. It has to be some kind of "death by chocolate" ultra-dark rich chocolate. But the regular old chocolate? Nah. You can keep that.

Cassondra said...

Hmmm. A trend has developed. Several people are refusing to weigh in with a favorite ice cream flavor.

Can't decide? I can relate.

Cassondra said...

Christie said:

Do I like ice cream? It's just my little obession. I grew up in upstate NY and there was no DQ in my town. But we had Pat Mitchel's ice cream. The New Yorker magazine was called it the best ice cream in NY (and we lived 3 hours from NYC). oooo, Christie, I'm envious. I want to try this creation.

Mint chocolate chip you say? Hmmm. Okay, I'm going to tally the vote.

And hey, as long as I'm suffering and falling off the diet wagon, I thought I'd bring all y'all along with me. (grin)

Cassondra said...

Cecile said:

Well, I have to thank my daughter for introducing me to a new ice cream... I am/was just a plain Old Fashion Vallian girl. That was my deal.. that and Chocolate Chip Cookie dough... but my daugther.. introduced me to... Birthday Cake with a scoop of Cake Batter and OH MY GOSH HEAVEN!!!Okay, wait. Do you mean birthday cake ICE CREAM? Or ACTUAL birthday cake with a scoop of cake batter ice cream?

I have to say, cake batter out of the bowl is one of my fav memories as a kid. Cake batter ice cream? Uh..scuse me while I make a quick run to town y'all......

Nancy said...

Susan, my grandfather taught me to make ice cream floats with vanilla ice cream and Canada Dry Ginger Ale. To this day, I recognize no other ginger ale as legitimate.

While I personally love the slushy texture the ice cream gradually acquires and the creaminess that bleeds into the soda, I think you are wise to avoid this treat. The heaviest I've ever been, aside from pregnancy, was after a prolonged course of nightly floats made with 3 scoops of Breyer's chocolate and Coca-Cola. This is what ultimately sent me to Weight Watchers.

I indulge occasionally now, just not after recently indulging in other foods.

A member of my local critique group turned us all on to the blackberry latte at Borders coffeeshop, which I now feel a need to have every time I'm in there. Meanwhile, he has sworn off on grounds "it's too similar to crack in its appeal."

It really is good.

Nancy said...

Marisa, after hearing a couple of my NYC friends rave over chocolate egg creams, I finally had one on a trip to the city (NYC also introduced me to Ben & Jerry's, which wasn't distributed in the southeast at that time). I love chocolate above all other flavors, but I did think that egg cream was just vile.

I think it be an acquired or else an environmentally ingrained taste.

Ben and Jerry's, OTOH . . .

Nancy said...

Donna, if the name of the ice cream is Butter Pecan, as opposed to, oh, Butter Pecan with extra nuts, then the pecans are integral, not extra! I'd boycott that place, too!

Cassondra said...

P226 said:

String your chocolate rappelling line back to your table. Laugh as other patrons trip over it.
8. Eat.


Paradise.
SNORK! I've eaten at ice cream bars like that. Once or Twice. I didn't find a concoction nearly even close to good. The paste was kinda mealy, even worse than the Frosty Freeze ice cream. Maybe your bar is better, I dunno. Nilla wafers...yummm....those are always good on anything.

I'm still snorking over the chocolate lines. Yup. Been there. Strung those. Snork.

Nancy said...

p226 wrote: Grab cup. Try to find a clean one.LOL! This says volumes about the place! Your description was a hoot! Anything becomes edible with enough of the right fixings, I guess.

Nancy said...

Jeanne, I remember the Biltmore Dairy Bar from summer trips to Montreat. Back then, we actually had Biltmore milk delivered to our door. In bottles, though they later went to cartons and then stopped delivery altogether.

Haven't been there in decades!

Nancy said...

Cassondra, I never addressed the favorite flavors thing:

As a general rule, chocolate above all else. I do occasionally deviate to:

chocolate mint chip
vanilla with vanilla bean
butter pecan
pralines and cream
blackberry
banana (I used to live near a creamery that mde the best banana milkshakes out of their own banana ice cream and actual bananas. The straw would stand upright in it!)

orange or lime sherbet (Howard Johnson's used to have an orange sherbet freeze that was yummy)

spumoni

mango, but only at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, assuming it's still there.

I don't like added nuts or cherries or even whipped cream; am not a fan of banana splits or triple-flavor ice cream, but I do love all foods involving hot fudge.

Nancy said...

Jeanne wrote: "No, I'll just have a bite of yours..." This was also a frequently used phrase in our house. My sister and I still laugh about it the same way you and the boy did.And later . . .


I don't get much anymore since my older boy has totally mastered his ice cream skills. The younger one's still working on it, but he doesn't let me have too many "tastes" even so.Ahem! Will your boys be laughing, too, in a couple of years? *G* and Snork!

Pissenlit said...

Fresh fruit and nuts? No way! Keep all that healthy stuff away from my ice cream! :D I looooove ice cream.

I'm a little skeptical about this cake batter ice cream some of you are mentioning. I can't tell if I'm interested or a little grossed out.

I prefer scooped to soft-serve but I do like soft-serve every now and then.

Growing up, there wasn't ever a Dairy Queen nearby. *tear*

ice cream truck:
- half-chocolate, half-vanilla soft-serve in a cone
Laura Secord:
- a scoop of their french vanilla in a cone with one of those chocolate cameos stuck in the top(do they still have those chocolate cameos? it's been ages since I last got a scoop there)
Baskin Robbins:
- I would usually get Cookies 'n Cream until one year in university when a friend turned me onto their Raspberry Cheese Louise. OMIGOSH, I LOVE that flavour! However, after several years of that, two weeks ago, I was DEVASTATED to learn that Raspberry Cheese Louise is in fact, not an ice cream at all but instead a Baskin Robbins flavour of "Yogurt Gone Crazy"(lowfat)!!! One of these days, I'm going to track down that old friend and shake my fist at her. BR's Strawberry Cheesecake flavour of ice cream isn't as good as Raspberry Cheese Louise. :( Oh, I also quite enjoy BR's Gold Medal Ribbon(a little bit once in awhile) and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough(yum).

Oh and while I'm at it, I'm also a fan of ice cream sodas(or floats or whatever other names they're known by). My first ever ice cream soda was strawberry ice cream and Orange Crush(not my choice, someone ordered it for me). Odd but not bad. Nowadays, I only do vanilla ice cream and coke. Nom-nom-nom.

I'm also kinda lactose intolerant but ice cream is sooooo worth it...as long as I don't have anywhere to go afterwards...

Cassondra said...

Nancy said:

and then carefully setting them upright in our pull-out, under-the-fridge freezer until after supper.
Oh! This operation gives me the willies just thinking about it. You must have lost some cones--how in the world did you keep them from tipping over?

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

There's a Biltmore Dairy Bar in Asheville, near where I went to school....ahhhhhhhh, heaven. Fresh ice cream from the beauteous, (unnaturally) clean cows that were kept in the windowed area so you could see them be milked. No way. They kept cows in the window so you could watch them be milked? What, were these house-trained cows or something? Sorry. My imagination is running like crazy now. Can't see THAT as good for selling ice cream.....

Coffee ice cream...snork. How could I have not guessed this?

and gutterbrains? Well..YEAH.

Cassondra said...

Suz said:

mine was often a lime freeze, (I think that's what they called it).Suz, what was it like? I've never heard of a lime freeze. See...back then, the DQs were almost all franchises. A lot of them had different stuff, but they all go the right to sell that incredible smooth soft-serve ice cream. (Actually I'm not certain there's much real dairy in it, but I dunno 'bout that, and I don't wanna look too closely. I'm just sayin.)

Anyhow, We didn't get blizzards at our DQ, which is probably why the blizzard is not my fav, and I never heard of this "lime freeze" thing.....I wanna know more.

limecello said...

Cassondra, you are KILLING ME! I was thinking about ice cream but I'm trying to drop some weight before this weekend. Then I'm going to dive face first into the Haagan Daz in the freezer...
I LOVE ice cream. I am passionate about ice cream. I try to convert everyone I know. A number of my friends aren't into sweets, and I'll sit down and have serious conversations with them, trying to show them the error of their ways.
Loved the post too, by the way.
But, two of my favorite ice cream places? Jeni's in Columbus, Ohio. My favorite was strawberry marscapone. Sounds not so good, maybe to a nonfoodie, but it was AMAZING. I also like their lime cardamom, and well, a number of others as well. I always say when I grow up and have enough money I'll order it. (Shipping is pricey. Not to mention the ice cream itself.) The other place, is Dolce Zza, it's actually Argentinian gelato, and is in Georgetown, DC. Pineapple mint is what I remember most vividly, but I got three in one. (Which is apparently how you're *supposed* to do it.) I was proud the owner approved. And you know, I got three delicious kinds of gelato.
I got an ice cream maker for my birthday last year, but while what I make tastes good, there's something wrong with consistency, and I haven't had the time to figure it out. Oh. Man. I LOVE ice cream.
In college, I'd get it - and smoothies in the dead of winter. My one friend and I; we'd step outside, and our soft serve would actually get harder because it froze more outside. So much fun. People thought we were insane, but we loved our sweet treats.

Congratulations on the GR, Anna! :) Give him some ice cream today.

Cassondra said...

Flchen said:

Favorite flavor? That's varied--for a long time it was strawberry (the kind with chunks of fruit in it). I also really loved Amaretto Fudge. These days I really enjoy a good green tea, but still am a sucker for cookies and cream :)
Oooo, I think that's the first vote for Amaretto Fudge or green tea.....have to put those on the list.


And strawberry... That was my fav when I was a kid, and still is, to some extent. I love strawberry ice cream, and strawberry topping. BUT-- some places have a kind of fruit glaze that's just sort of goo-like pie filling--and if that's what they put over it, I don't want that. Blech. It has to be just strawberries with sugar, stirred together to make the strawberry topping. Yummmm. That's how I do it at home--cut up the strawberries and stir in a bit of sugar to make them get juicy. Then pour that over the ice cream.

Oh dear...I think it might be time for some ice cream...

c

Cassondra said...

terrio said:

But then my mom went to work at a Dairy Queen and that was it. And she taught me how to do the swirl too. That swirl is very important.
Oh, my. You MOM worked for DQ? Well...and YOU can do the swirl? Can I stand next to you at the next conference?

Seriously. I watched some trainees learning to make ice cream cones. You never saw such disasters as those poor cones....inevitably, one of the trainees would move the cone out from under the ice cream spout while the ice cream was still running--TOO SOON, TOO SOON! It was bad.

I am so impressed that you can do the swirl!

Cassondra said...

Suz said:

This is not a natural talent, it is an acquired skill with a few needed licks by mom to keep this from happening. But eventually they learned. (dang it).
Suz, I'd forgotten this. But now I distinctly remember my mom teaching me to eat ice cream cones in just this way. She'd tell me to lick the drips down the side, and if I didn't keep up and they started to drip on my hand, she'd grab my hand, with the cone in it, and lick away.

Hmmmm. This is suspect. I sense an ulterior motive...

BUT you're right. It's not a natural talent. It's a skill. Gotta learn it somehow. Better your mom than your dog helping you keep up. (My dog, Princess, LOVED ice cream.)

Cassondra said...

terrio said:

Oh, cake batter ice cream is awesome! Totally forgot about that one.So many flavors, SO little time.

Cassondra said...

Suz said:

And I don't know if Donna has had this, but in my home town they have HOMEMADE brand ice cream in gallon containers at the store.Oh, they have that here too. That's some GOOD Stuff right there now.

Cassondra said...

WHY is blogger not letting me make a paragraph after the quote? (frowny face)

p226 said...

WHY is blogger not letting me make a paragraph after the quote? (frowny face)...


I cheat. See, I stick three periods at the end of the quote and then put in my carriage returns. Makes it readable.

I don't know what blogger changed, but it's been like this for a little while now.

Cassondra said...

Trish said:

And on the occasion that I get a banana split, I don't get the pineapple in favor of an extra strawberry topping (like pineapple, just prefer strawberry). No nuts. Don't like nuts.
....

Trish. We are soul sisters of the banana split. I sometimes do this. Get an extra strawberry. The strawberry is my fav. Any more though, I never give up the chocolate. If I'm gonna substitute, it's always the pineapple that gets tossed out.

Cassondra said...

Trish said:

Susan, I love chocolate ice cream, but I totally agree about the soda thing. That just seems wrong, though my hubby is forever trying to get me to have one.

....

Trish, you must try it. If you like root beer, get a root beer float. (extra root beer) If you don't, a Coke float is a thing to die for. Yummmmm. Vanilla ice cream with Coke. Yummmm.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Cassondra said: No way. They kept cows in the window so you could watch them be milked? What, were these house-trained cows or something? Sorry. My imagination is running like crazy now. Can't see THAT as good for selling ice cream.....

Heehee. They had these windowed stalls with these gorgeous jersey cows. Beautifully clean and brushed. They'd hang out there and periodically they'd be milked. Sometimes they'd have a calf in there with them and we'd get to giggle over the calf nursing.

One time I remember going when they were hand milking, just to show how it "used to be done." That was the first time I ever saw cats sit up nearby and wait for a squirt. Ever see that? My uncles who had cows never did it, thought it spoiled the cats for mousing - tho' how it would do that, I don't know! - so it was a wild, clap-worthy novelty for me.

Cassondra said...

Keira said:

Unless you want to add a dram of brandy or cognac to it. Then I'd say, be generous, three tots to one scoop, please. Oooo, now that's just decadent right there. I've had a few types of tawny port and sherry that I thought would make good ice cream toppings. Recently I brought home a bottle of Disaronno and I KNOW it would be good on ice cream. I haven't tried it yet, but I know.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Gotta admit, I'm with Trish on the float thing. My DH adores floats, especially root beer floats. I decided that in rootbeer, they're okay. But that's where I draw the line, I suppose...

BTW, just made my DH incredibly happy by finding root beer float ice cream. Turkey Hill creamery - some local off brand, I think - makes it. The DH just slurps that stuff up. :>

Cassondra said...

Suz said:

Of course the child believed cobbler with ice cream is an acceptable meal......

Well....YEAH. I see nothing wrong with her reasoning, Suz.

I'm just sayin.

Actually, I think pies and cobblers like that--warm from the oven--just BEG for ice cream. Lots of desserts can actually stand alone for me. Cheesecake with whipped cream--needs no ice cream (yes, I realize I'm speaking sacriledge) but these kinds of crisps, cobblers and pies...they need ice cream. Vanilla.

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

But MamaSuz, cobbler and ice cream IS a meal, isn't it? Fruit, grains, milk/cream - allllll the joyous portions of the food pyramid.

....

See!!!!!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

I guess my comments on the glassed in Jersey cows didn't explain the attraction. In Asheville, you gotta remember, most of the kids were "city-kids" and didn't get to see cows, much less milk cows. Seeing them milked and fed and all was a novelty, kinda like how at Krispy Kreme they have all that glass and you can see the doughnuts being made. (And someone quickly cleaned up after them if cow pies appeared)

Cassondra said...

Suz said:

beanutputter...okay...can I blame this screw up on my meds today? Otherwise, I'm thinking I have serious problems with my typing skills today....

Suz, I didn't even see it. Ha! Maybe it's the subject...ahem..

Cassondra said...

Cecile said:

birthday cake even has the little sprinkles in it too!!
...

Ah, so it IS birthday cake ice cream.

Why, I didn't know there was such a thing!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Cassondra said: but these kinds of crisps, cobblers and pies...they need ice cream. Vanilla.

Exactly. That and hot apple pie. A slice of cheddar cheese and a big dollop of ice cream. Vanilla.

SLURP!!!

(BTW, my DH thinks I'm insane for putting cheddar cheese and ice cream on my hot apple pie. Anyone else do this? And yes, I expect derision for it, so "lalalalalala" not listening!)

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

Yeah on having coffee, Cassondra! It's the nectar of the Gods, isn't it? Which is why I adore coffee ice cream...

Yeah...Some days, even if it's decaf...I just have to have it. It's a mental crutch. But a really YUMMY mental crutch.

Cassondra said...

Jane said:

I do like soft serve ice cream because it reminds me of when I was little and how we used to run to the ice cream truck as soon as we heard the music...
Jane, I'm getting the sense that a lot of us equate soft-serve ice cream with fond memories from childhood. I mean, from DQ, it's really GOOD, but it's more than just the taste for me I think. It takes me back to those times with my dad.

Cassondra said...

Louisa said:

Oh, and our servers here HAVE mastered the swirl and sometimes the double swirl!!
Louisa! A double swirl?

I never saw one of those. I might have to make a road trip! This would definitley be worth it. But I'll have to be sure to get there at a time when the correct server is there--wouldn't want to get stuck with a trainee....

Terri Osburn said...

Cassondra - Of course you can stand next to me. A)You'll be wearing the coolest shoes and I love to admire the shoes. And B)You'll make me look tall.

*flashes ice cream swirl to distract from last comment*

Cassondra said...

Nancy said:

To this day, I recognize no other ginger ale as legitimate.
Nancy, I have to introduce you to a local favorite from up here. Ale81. Technically, it would be pronounced A Late One. But we all just call it Ale 8. Yummm. Best dang gingerale I ever put in my mouth.

A blackberry latte? (wipes drool off chin). Do tell!

Cassondra said...

Nancy said:

I love chocolate above all other flavors, but I did think that egg cream was just vile.
Okay, I still don't understaned the phenomenon of Egg Cream. What IS it?

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

It's vile, Cassondra. :> I tried it once too. bleeech.

On the subject of Ginger Ale, ever had Vernors? Dark, crisp ginger ale. Lots of carbonation. Really good, but really snappy and strong.

Cassondra said...

Nancy said:

banana (I used to live near a creamery that mde the best banana milkshakes out of their own banana ice cream and actual bananas. The straw would stand upright in it!)
See...this is the ONE flavor at which I draw the line. I don't like banana flavored ANYTHING. I like bananas. I like bananas in stuff. I like banana pudding --but that's vanilla pudding with bananas in it. No "banana flavor" anything.

I just don't like banana flavored stuff. Even ice cream cannot win me over.

I think it's a genetic defect or something.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

It IS a genetic defect, Nancy. Snork. Just kidding. However, I think my husband has a similar defect as related to pumpkin and peanut butter. How can a person as American as an ADAMS not like pumpkin or peanut butter?

Criminal, I tell ya' - or genetic.

Gotta be a throw-back to his Swedish ancestor or something...grumble, grumble.

On the bright side, however, more pumpkin pie for ME!

Cassondra said...

Pissenlit said:

Fresh fruit and nuts? No way! Keep all that healthy stuff away from my ice cream!...

SNORK!

I'm so sorry you never were a DQ kid. WE can make you a DQ adult though. Just hang around. The way this crowd likes ices cream, we're all bound to end up at a DQ at some point.

one year in university when a friend turned me onto their Raspberry Cheese Louise. ...

Oh, YEAH BABY! That's some good stuff right there. Tastes like a slice of raspberry cheesecake. OMG. I'd forgotten that flavor. Hmmm. Wonder when they'll get it back?

You know, the last couple of times I've been to Baskin Robbins...I noticed they've added some stools across one side, and there are only two small cases of ice cream. Not NEARLY 31 flavors. I'm going to have to look closer. I'm suspicious of this....

Cassondra said...

lime said:

My favorite was strawberry marscapone. Sounds not so good, maybe to a nonfoodie, but it was AMAZINGSounds HEAVENLY to me. Macarpone is great. ANd strawberries..well..y'all already know how I feel about strawberries. (grin)

Cassondra said...

P226 said:

I cheat. See, I stick three periods at the end of the quote and then put in my carriage returns. Makes it readable.
...

Yeah, I started doing that after I noticed it wasn't working right just now. I tried the html code for paragraph and even the div. Nada. It wouldn't let me post with the code in there.

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

That was the first time I ever saw cats sit up nearby and wait for a squirt. Ever see that? ...

Yeah, my grandpa would do that. I think the only reason it "spoiled them for mousing" is cuz you were feeding them. I dunno though.

Interesting that they had stalls with windows in the ice cream parlor. Is it still there?

I can see it being a real novelty, and I bet it would be popular now too, though I still can't quite get past the aesthetics of the need for housekeeping...

If you're gonna do it though, Jerseys or Guernseys are the cows to use. Holsteins are just filthy. And Jerseys and Guernseys are little and cute.

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

I decided that in rootbeer, they're okay. But that's where I draw the line, I suppose...
...

REALLY? I'm surprised. My evil twin does not like floats. Hmmm. Maybe it's environmental. Perhaps you had a bad run in with a car accident that involved soda and ice cream or something...???

I just canno imagine this...not liking floats....

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

And someone quickly cleaned up after them if cow pies appeared)
Well then...okay. But can you imagine, going to apply for a job at the local ice cream shop, and you end up being the "cow pie cleaner upper"?

Maybe not the most prestigious position in the shop, eh?

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

Exactly. That and hot apple pie. A slice of cheddar cheese and a big dollop of ice cream. Vanilla.
WHAT???!!!!

Cheese on your pie and ice cream?

WHAT?

Not derision..not really..just...WHAT????

Cassondra said...

terrio said:

A)You'll be wearing the coolest shoes and I love to admire the shoes. And B)You'll make me look tall.
Hey...you callin me short or somethin'? (Looks up as she says this.) And Tawny's the one with the cool shoes. And Anna Sugden. And Christine...uh..okay, a lot of the Banditas have cool shoes. I have only a couple of pairs of shoes that can hold up to the BAndita shoe police. No ugly shoes allowed and all that...

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

It's vile, Cassondra. :> I tried it once too. bleeech.

On the subject of Ginger Ale, ever had Vernors? Dark, crisp ginger ale. Lots of carbonation. Really good, but really snappy and strong.

Nope, never had Vernors. But I'm not letting go of this egg cream thing. What's vile about it?

Is it ice cream and seltzer water? It sounds like a gingerale float but without the gingerale and substitute seltzer. And yes, that does, indeed, sound like a vile and stupid waste of ice cream.

Nancy said...

Cassondra, I think my mom braced the cones in the freezer with ice trays or frozen veggie boxes. I don't really remember. I just know we weren't allowed to eat them until after supper, but the truck usually came while we were eating.

Am going to try the . . . thing, since that running together and obliterating of returns is making me nutso. Thanks for the tip, p226.

Anna Sugden said...

Oh man - didn't dare read all the comments, the post was delicious enough!

At the moment, my fave ice cream is hubby's home-made (thanks to the ice-cream maker I got him for his birthday *g*). OMG it's to die for.

Fave flavours: mint choc chip - my bff and I bonded over a mutual love for mint choc chip.

Also love B&J's cookie dough and banana split.

Over here we have ice cream vans who have soft serve vanilla. It's served with a chocolate flake in it and is a '99'. Yum.

Banana splits - all the toppings, cream, nuts, sprinkles cherry on top - the works!

Growing up there was a fab ice cream parlour called Farrells near us. The coolest thing to do for your birthday was to go to Farrell's, have them sing you happy birthday and order the Pike's Peak for the whole table!

Oh and I once had an ice cream cake for my birthday - the pic on top was the Starsky & Hutch car!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

As I understand it, the ice cream part is made w/ eggs. To me, it's kinda slimy and icky, even w/ the selzer. Some people think it's richer flavors, like custard.

Not. Convinced.

And I do like root beer floats, but only root beer. :>

Nancy said...

Jeanne wrote; BTW, my DH thinks I'm insane for putting cheddar cheese and ice cream on my hot apple pie. Anyone else do this? And yes, I expect derision for it, so "lalalalalala" not listening! . . .

My grandfather always had cheddar cheese with his pie and ice cream. His mantra was "Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze."

And he meant it.

Nancy said...

Cassondra and Jeanne, I'm open to trying other ginger ales. Last summer, I had a strong one in Williamsburg that was pretty good. May've been Blenheim, but I don't really remember.

Of course, the heat index was 110, so anything wet would've been good.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

I love your Grandfather, Nancy.

And next time my DH razzes me about my pie proclivities, I'm tellin' him just that very thing. So much pithier a response than, "lalallalalala, not listening!"

Grins.

Anna Campbell said...

Well, the Rooster and I have been kicking our heels up all day. We've had a speedboat ride and we've trashed an art exhibition and I've watched him move in on various hot chicks. I tell you, his technique is a miracle in action...

Nah, I locked him in the pantry because I had to work. I now have to go grocery shopping tomorrow although at least he was good enough to throw away all the empty packets when he finished eating!

Christie Kelley said...

Thanks, Cassondra. I have to go show houses during dinner hours so I usually pick up something when I'm done. The ONLY thing I want is ice cream!!

Cassondra said...

Nancy said:

Cassondra, I think my mom braced the cones in the freezer with ice trays or frozen veggie boxes....

Ah. And ya know, I thought the "freezer on the bottom" thing was a new invention. It's what I want when I get a new fridge. But apparantly it's NOT a new thing? You had one after all...

Anna Campbell said...

Cassondra, I love your posts. That was just gorgeous - it said so much about family and town life. And all subtly. You're great, girlfriend!

I loved soft-serve ice-cream when I was a kid too. Mr Whippy was our local version. They still run around the streets playing a slightly off-key Greensleeves. Get a surge of nostalgia when I hear that tune. Last time I had one, though, it didn't really do it for me.

My favorite ice-cream memory is from a local Brisbane company called Le Scoops which was around in the 1980s. I still remember their espresso coffee flavor. To die for. Seriously! I've never had a coffee ice-cream that's come near it and believe me, I've tried. I don't think Le Scoops is around any more or at least I've never seen them. Perhaps Madame knows.

Oh, and my other favorite ice-cream memory is eating buckets of the stuff in Florence. Again from the 80s - clearly that was my ice-cream decade. I remember a flavor called stracciatella that was absolutely magnificent. When we hit Florence I'd been away from home for a couple of months and I got a real burst of home sickness. So sadly, I used to moon around the youth hostel licking ice-cream and cuddling the cats that seem to proliferate everywhere in Italy!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Anna, you crack me up. I had threatened that bird last time he was here, for NOT cleaning up. Glad he's mended his ways in that much, at least.

How much ice cream has he had?

Hellie Sinclair said...

Definitely prefer "hard ice cream" and my favorite flavor of all time (it's retired now) was a Baskin Robbins "Triple Chocolate Passion." Sex in a cone, folks.

I'm a big Ben & Jerry's fan. There are a couple "graveyard" flavors I still miss. One was a strawberry one with shortbread and ribbons of chocolate. YUM. Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk is another...

If I'm being cheap, I like to get a 1/2 gallon of Birthday Cake (whoever invented cake flavor ice cream deserves a gold medal) or Mint Chocolate Chip.

My favorite Dairy Queen delight was the dipped cone, specifically with the butterscotch flavor. Gosh, it'd be great to have one now, actually...but I think you can only get the chocolate dipped cones...

Cassondra said...

Anna Sugden said:

At the moment, my fave ice cream is hubby's home-made (thanks to the ice-cream maker I got him for his birthday *g*). OMG it's to die for.
...

So, someone in the comments was saying they couldn't get their homemade ice cream hard enough. Do you have that trouble...getting it frozen hard? I admit that the homemade I've had before has been kind of mushy--more like a slush than like hard ice cream. Just not frozen enough I think.


The coolest thing to do for your birthday was to go to Farrell's, have them sing you happy birthday and order the Pike's Peak for the whole table!
...

Okay, I'm envisioning this mountain of ice cream in the middle of the table, and everybody digging into it all at once. Is that it? What's the Pike's Peak?

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

And I do like root beer floats, but only root beer.Okay then...we'll let you slide....

Cassondra said...

Nancy said:

My grandfather always had cheddar cheese with his pie and ice cream. His mantra was "Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze."...

Okay we have to investigate this further. Do you use REAL cheddar cheese? And how thick is the slice? How big? Does it cover the piece of pie? Or is it just a little piece...like garnish?

I might look squinty eyed at something but I'm not stupid enough to keep dissing a good thing if it's really worthwhile. I admit that I had heard of this before, but blew it off in teh same way I blow off the idea of putting ketchup on mashed potatoes. Blech.

So okay...y'all elaborate on the cheese with pie and ice cream thing...tell.

Cassondra said...

Anna said:

I now have to go grocery shopping tomorrow although at least he was good enough to throw away all the empty packets when he finished eating!...

Well, that's something at least. Hey, it's better than Steve does. He tosses the packets onto the counter! Not always, but sometimes. I've never managed to train him to throw stuff away.

Anna Campbell said...

Hey, I'm loving all the ice-cream stories. Um, P226, CAT??!!!

Keira, you've got a rock jaw. My hand is still hurting! What? You think I should care about your jaw? You asked for it, baybeeeee!

Actually some people who live in the lair might just have promised Christine and me a DQ experience in Washington. Looking forward to that!

Cassondra said...

Christie said:

Thanks, Cassondra. I have to go show houses during dinner hours so I usually pick up something when I'm done. The ONLY thing I want is ice cream!!

Ha! Sorry about that. Showing houses is hard work! You need a reward. Get two scoops.

Cassondra said...

Anna C said:

Mr Whippy ....

Okay...I didn't even get any further than this. SNORK! I'm so sorry I'm not making fun of your ice cream. Truly. It just hit me...well...Mr. Whippy. Snork!

Okay, off to read the rest of the post.

Cassondra said...

Anna C said:

My favorite ice-cream memory is from a local Brisbane company called Le Scoops which was around in the 1980s. I still remember their espresso coffee flavor. To die for....

Oh...YUMMMMM. That sounds marvelous.

And so sorry you didn't enjoy Florence! I hear it's absolutely beautiful. But hey, at least you had ice cream. What was the flavor like there?

Anna Campbell said...

Actually just got another blast of ice-cream memory. Seriously, this post could rival Proust! There used to be a rather tacky but extremely popular restaurant in Brisbane called the Bavarian Steak House. Needless to say, the menu was mostly schnitzel. All the waiters wore shorts and braces so it could look a bit like a meeting of the Hitler Youth. But they had this great desert. Soft serve vanilla ice cream with creme de menthe drizzled over it. It was called a Bavarian Alps and it was absolutely delicious. The mint liqueur and the ice-cream somehow burnt on your tongue in the most delicious way.

Cassondra said...

Hellion said:

Baskin Robbins "Triple Chocolate Passion." Sex in a cone, folks....

Sex in a cone? Seriously? (fans self) That description would sell some ice cream. Why on earth would they retire such a flavor?

I'm drooling again.

Anna Campbell said...

Oh, Man, C, now you've made me review my childhood memories. Perhaps Mr Whippy was wandering around playing that plaintive melody because he was looking for Madam Lash!

I think stracciatella was a custardy sort of flavor. I can't remember. I remember that's what I always bought. And pistachio! Yum! I should go back to Florence one day - I really was a mopey head there and didn't do it justice. I travelled with my best friend and she had an attack of homesickness when we were in Venice. I can remember us sitting by a canal in this gorgeous city and her saying she'd rather be at home in Brisbane having a barbecue for Labour Day (it was an Aussie public holiday at the time).

Cassondra said...

Fo said:

Actually some people who live in the lair might just have promised Christine and me a DQ experience in Washington. Looking forward to that!
...

Are there DQs in Washington? If not, when you come to Nashville NEXT summer, we'll hit DQ for certain. And if you don't get real fried chicken in DC, that'll be in Tennessee too.

Anna Campbell said...

It's a boy thing, the not throwing away, isn't it? The other one is that charming little trick of leaving half a teaspoon in the bottom of a container because if they finish the contents off, they have to wash it. Grrr! Anyway, I've been most impressed with the Rooster's manners this visit. Clearly he's been keeping better company lately!

Cassondra said...

Fo said:

But they had this great desert. Soft serve vanilla ice cream with creme de menthe drizzled over it. It was called a Bavarian Alps and it was absolutely delicious. The mint liqueur and the ice-cream somehow burnt on your tongue in the most delicious way.
Oh. My. That sounds so good it's truly sensual.

Okay with hellion's Sex-In-A-Cone comment I've clearly taken a turn to the dark side in my thinking. First SIAC, then Mr. Whippy, then this totally sensual-sounding dessert.

Well, hey..we are the Romance Bandits.

Cassondra said...

Anna said:

I really was a mopey head there and didn't do it justice. I travelled with my best friend and she had an attack of homesickness when we were in Venice. I can remember us sitting by a canal in this gorgeous city and her saying she'd rather be at home in Brisbane having a barbecue for Labour Day (it was an Aussie public holiday at the time).
...
Homesickness is strange isn't it? It hits at the funniest times, and for the oddest reasons. It's not just the people we miss...but home itself..I don't know if we just get tired and overwhelmed with nothing familiar....I've never quite understood it. But it surely can suck the joy out of something if you're not careful.

Cassondra said...

Okay, I really have to wash my hair and make myself presentable. I'm still sitting here just like I was this morning--er--almost noon--when I got up! This won't do. Back in a few minutes.

Helen said...

Cassondra

I don't make the mud cake I buy it at the shop and it is very rich and chocolatey yummy.

As much as I love chocolate I don't eat chocolate ice cream either

Have Fun
Helen

Anna Campbell said...

I don't know - I'm still snorking about Tawny not really being a cherry kinda gal. Not sayin' nothin'. Nuh. No way. Keepin' vewy, vewy quiet!

The homesickness was strange - but it really was powerful. The cats kinda set it off - I started missing my cat which I'd had to give away before the trip. Which makes me think I'm very shallow! He shouldn't have been my first thought! ;-)

Louisa Cornell said...

Come on down, Cassondra. And if we don't get the right twirler the first time we will just HAVE to keep going back to DQ until we do!

And La Campbell you can come with her and I promise I have four cats that LOVE a good cuddle. In fact I have a 24 pounder, a 19 pounder and a 17 pounder, plus a lightweight 8 pounder so you can choose your cat cuddles by the pound!

I see a Bandita raid on the DC DQ in the future. Poor people won't know what hit them. And if there is no DQ in DC I KNOW there are a couple in Nashville!

Claudia Dain said...

Ah, ice cream! My favorite food! My favorite flavor is coffee, no toppings, nothing to get between me and the pure creamy goodness of ice cream.

How much do I love it? This much: I haven't eaten ice cream in 14 years. I'm addicted. I can't eat just one bowl, I have to eat the whole half gallon. In a day. And then another half gallon the next day. And so on.

I have no control. Ice cream is my crack. I don't care if the ice cream is the store brand with ice crystals or soft swirl or $25 a pint. Ice cream is ice cream. I'll devour it all.

Except I don't. 14 years. That's a whole lot of pure living.

Nancy said...

Cassondra, when I was growing up, everyone's freezer was on the bottom. Freezers on the top or side were once new.

As for the pie and cheese thing, PaPa would take a bite of cheese (from a slice) and then a bite of pie as near as I can remember (He has been gone a long time, and I wasn't quite 16 when he died, so I wasn't in the most attentive phase of my life.). I also have vague memories of grated cheese on top, but I'm not sure if that's accurate.

I like cheddar cheese with raw apples, so I can sorta see it.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Anna said: Perhaps Mr Whippy was wandering around playing that plaintive melody because he was looking for Madam Lash!


Oh. My. Goodness. SNORK!!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Oh, my Lord, TICD, that is some serious willpower. :> Then again, loving coffee ice cream too, I get it.

As to the cheese and pie thing, real cheddar, thick slice and let it melt a bit over the warm pie. Forkful of pie-n-cheese, scoop up some 'nilla ice cream...heaven. :>

Cassondra said...

Louisa said:

In fact I have a 24 pounder, a 19 pounder and a 17 pounder, plus a lightweight 8 pounder so you can choose your cat cuddles by the pound!
...

Dang Louisa, those are some BIG cats!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Ironically, my friend Diane Scalia just posted on her Facebook page that New Zealand ice cream's giving away free cones in LA tomorrow. www.NZUSA.com is their website. I looked at it...wow.

Cassondra said...

TICD said:

I have no control. Ice cream is my crack. I don't care if the ice cream is the store brand with ice crystals or soft swirl or $25 a pint. Ice cream is ice cream. I'll devour it all.

Except I don't. 14 years. That's a whole lot of pure living.
...

Claudia, I'm speechless. 14 years without ice cream. I'm just...speechless. I cannot imagine this. That is a helluva lot of pure living. Maybe too much. You could go to DQ with us. Then we could isolate you...you know...surround you and force you to go back home and keep you there until you've faced your demons...and WON by gum....

This is awful. How do you do it?

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

oops, that's NZNUSA.com As in New Zealand Natural

Cassondra said...

Nancy said:

I like cheddar cheese with raw apples, so I can sorta see it.
Well yeah..certainly. I eat cheese with fruit and wine all the time. But with apple PIE? This just seems odd to me. Add in the ice cream and it gets even more strange. The flavors....I can't quite fathom how they work well together...

Cassondra said...

Jeanne said:

As to the cheese and pie thing, real cheddar, thick slice and let it melt a bit over the warm pie. Forkful of pie-n-cheese, scoop up some 'nilla ice cream...heaven. :>
Really..melted? That sounds even less yummy. I'm going to have to find a way to try this though. I just can't see ruining good pie and ice cream like that, but I think, for the purposes of research, I shall have to try....

Suzanne Ferrell said...

I like cheddar cheese with raw apples, so I can sorta see it.
Well yeah..certainly. I eat cheese with fruit and wine all the time. But with apple PIE?
..

I've always though this was rather odd myself, but my mama who was raised in TN does this all the time. But me, ick!!

Cassondra said...

So, Suz and Nancy, did you ever TRY this, when your family was eating pie and ice cream with cheese?

I mean, I'll try nearly anything once (except the egg cream...y'all have convinced me that it is indeed vile).

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Anna, just had to pop back on and say I just saw this commercial and it made me LOL about your post. The one about the restaurant run by the leiderhosen clad Hilter Youth.

SNORK...just, well...Snork!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Wow, you ladies like your ice cream! My personal favorite is Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup, but if I am really spurging, I go to Brahms and get the Chocolate/Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae. Sigh...2 scoops of peanut butter cup ice cream, smothers with hot fudge and warm peanut butter topping, all topped with whipping cream, roasted peanuts and a bright red cherry. Heaven...

Anna Campbell said...

Louise, your offer is accepted with un-CAT-agorical gratitude! There's nothing so great as cuddling a cat!

TICD, I'm in awe of your willpower!

Jeanne, glad you liked Madam Lash and the Hitler Youth. Actually that's starting to sound like a death metal band!

Tour Maestra said...

OK now I am not a Romance Bandit (that I know of), but I am Jeanne Adams' friend and she told me to post here but look how late I am! You Bandits rock!! I want 162 comments on my blog but, I digress.

I am partial to Euro style ice cream, Italian gelato to be exact. When first landing in Italy I am known to enjoy gelato pistacchie (pistachio) before just about anything else. You know it by it's olive-greeny kind of color, not the prettiest shade but the silkiest flavor, I promise. The nutella and cioccolato (you guessed it, chocolate at its finest hour) are also worth a taste!!

But now, you all may be interested to know, if you're in southern California, that this Friday, 15 May, from 12-5, is free ice cream day for the brand-new New Zealand Natural Ice Cream company, and 5 stores: LA, Orange, Mission Viejo, Valencia, and Huntington Beach will scoop ya up with their best!! Check them out at http://www.nznusa.com

and thank you for letting me crash your blog. I hope to visit more often!!

Best,
Diane Scalia

Marisa O'Neill said...

Alright Tawny, Kirsten and Jeanne - I'll bring over the fabric softener sheets if you provide the spoon.

Cassondra - Kirsten and I know of where we speak - FRUIT and ICE CREAM do NOT mix. What up with that? Kirsten has the right idea - NUTS on ice cream , yum.

I still haven't developed a taste for egg creams, Nancy is right they're vile.

My belief - ice cream should be eaten naked. Not me naked, the ice cream naked. Nothing on it. Just the ice cream. How can you improve upon perfection?

Nancy said...

Claudia, I could not forswear ice cream for 14 weeks, let alone 14 years!

Hat's off to you.

Also, I finally read The Courtesan's Daughter, and it's wonderful! It has a new twist on the Regency form, complete with native Americans in a totally believable way, and I loved the characters.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

yes, Cassondra I did try it once as a kid. Not my favorite thing.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Hey, did y'all ever make homemade ice cream with the ice cream churn you had to crank by hand? I adored this....with real peaches mixed in. Too good!!

Nancy said...

Cassondra, I feel sure I must have tried the cheese and apple pie thing. PaPa was my best buddy when I was little, so I'm sure I did, but I don't remember forming an opinion on it either way. Sorry not to be more help.

I'm not sure I would like the texture of melted cheese. And I'm sure his wasn't melted. But the flavor would be easier to spread.

In fact (pursuing sudden train of thought) tucking little chunks of cheddar INTO an apple pie as it bakes . . . hmm.

Of course, I cannot make a crust, let alone an actual pie, for anything, not even a ride on the Enterprise at Warp 9, so my opinion isn't probably trustworthy.

Nancy said...

Suz, my dad made fabulous peach ice cream--initially in one of those hand-crank freezers. I can't drive through Gaffney, SC, without feeling an urge to stop at the roadside peach stands because he always insisted we had to.

PinkPeony said...

Anna S...Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor! We used to go there for birthday celebrations when I was a kid! I remember the Pike's Peak! For larger parties, we'd order the Zoo..it came in a huge silver punch bowl filled with different flavored scoops of ice cream and little plastic animals on top and they'd carry out to the table on a stretcher as the clanged a brass bell and ran through the restaurant. More memories..A&W Root Beer floats in a big frosty mug...chasing the ice cream truck. My dad always had change in his pocket for us to buy a treat. The tinkly muzak still makes my heart skip a beat!
Anna C...I love the name "Mr. Whippy"

Nancy said...

Daddy also cut and froze the peaches with sugar, and when they were just sorta melted--still kind of crunchy/slushy . . . Lordy Pete, that was good!

The dh makes blueberry compote for waffles and cranberry compote at Christmas and Thanksgiving. Both are great over vanilla ice cream (with apologies to the no-fruit-ice-cream crowd).

Cassondra said...

Sherrinda said:

Sigh...2 scoops of peanut butter cup ice cream, smothers with hot fudge and warm peanut butter topping, all topped with whipping cream, roasted peanuts and a bright red cherry. Heaven...
...

Oh. My. Goodness.

Yummmmm. Okay we don't have this around here. I don't know any ice cream place that has warm peanut butter topping. Oh. My.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Okay, something we haven't talked about...cones

Waffle?
Sugar?
Cake?

What's your preference? Me? BR's sugar cones!

Nancy said...

Tour Maestra Diane--free ice cream? Oh, wow, that sounds yummy!

And you're welcome to "crash" here anytime you feel inclined. :-)

Nancy said...

Cones, Suz? Hmm.

I generally prefer mine in a dish, but I get waffle cones at Baskin Robbins, and my dad and mom used to stock the sugar cones at home.

Our local soft-serve place has sugar cones. And yes, there is definitely an art to not making a royal flippin' mess with them. Especially with a butterscotch dip-top cone.

Cassondra said...

Tour Maestra said:

I am Jeanne Adams' friend and she told me to post here Hi Diane! I've heard lots of cool stuff about you from Jeanne! Welcome to the blog!

Yeah, we're a little nutso around here. Don't worry. We're not usually dangerous.

OOOOO...I'm lovin' the sound of that Italian ice cream. I have not had gelato that I know of. Love the sound of the flavors too. I envy you your trips there!

And please do come back to visit. You never know what you'll find in the lair.

Cassondra said...

Marisa said:

My belief - ice cream should be eaten naked. Not me naked, the ice cream naked. Aw, shucks. You were going in a really awesome direction there for a while. You'll notice that we here in the lair are easy to lead in that direction, and will use any excuse. I KNOW I've read a book recently where the hero or heoine used ice cream...Oh, WAIT. That was Tawny's, wasn't it????

I know there were peaches involved. I'm almost certain there was ice cream too. And a bathtub.

Cassondra said...

Suz said:

Waffle?
Sugar?
Cake?
...

Yes.

Cassondra said...

I'm gonna be gone for a little bit y'all, but I'll be back a bit later in the evening. Keep rockin the ice cream.

Sven! We need more hot fudge over here!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Cassondra said:
Oh. My. Goodness.

Yummmmm. Okay we don't have this around here. I don't know any ice cream place that has warm peanut butter topping. Oh. My. said:

I feel your pain, girl! I've packed enough of that PB on both hips for the both of us! Be glad you can't touch the stuff!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Hi Chef Di! My buddy,so glad to see you here! OMGosh that Italian ice cream sounds divine. Love the pistachio flavor too...

Marisa, hop to, girlfriend. Spoon's'r waitin! Snicker. Now I have to sort of agree that pure-t, 100% ice cream is fabulous. It just is. But some of the ways to adulterate it? Yummmmmmmmm.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Suz said:

Waffle?
Sugar?
Cake?
...
And Cassondra answered:

Yes.

Uh-huh. What she said. Pretty much in that order, but yeah...any and all.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Ohhhhhh, Nancy! You are makin' me so HOMESICK!!! I want Gaffney, SC peaches, like RIGHT NOW. You can't come up that mountain road from Greenville to Asheville w/o stopping and buying. If you drive with the windows down through Traveller's Rest you can smell them...ahhhhhhhh.

And Tawny's latest involves peaches, ice cream and a bathtub? Lord love us, that woman can WRITE! :> Her two latest are my treat for meeting my deadline. they're calling meeeeeeeeeeee

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

okay, I like peanut butter, but...ice cream...sauces...*smacks lips, tasting imaginary ice cream* Not so sure about that, Sherrinda. (Welcome, BTW)

Still, you make it sound divine. :>

pjpuppymom said...

Oh man, I think I'm just going to skip dinner tonight and go straight to the ice cream! That brings back such great memories.

Growing up we had a DQ in the next town. We counted down the days until summer when it would open again after being closed over the winter. I was a Dilly Bar girl but I also loved a sundae they made with vanilla ice cream (soft-serve), hot fudge on one side, caramel topping on the other and topped with chopped walnuts. Loved it!

My aunt and uncle owned a Tastee-Freeze and kept us supplied with huge tubs of hot fudge. I remember spending two weeks with them one summer when I was a teen and working at the TF every day. I got pretty good at making those swirls. Got good at eating them too. lol!

The closest DQ to me these days is in the next town - about 8 miles from my house - which is probably a good thing. It's just an occasional treat.

I love soft serve cones but we don't have any ice cream shops in my town and the stuff you get at the fast food restaurants just isn't up to snuff.

My favorite store bought ice cream is Mayfield Dairy's Moose Tracks. I can eat a whole carton in one sitting. Seriously!

Summers here are great for fresh peach ice cream from Clemson University. The Ag. students produce the ice cream and sell it at the student union. It's all delicious but the peach is to die for.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

That's great, PJ! I have this visual of you in one of those little uniforms, pulling cones and making the swirl on top. Grins. Perfect!

I'm not sure I'd survive having an Aunt and Uncle who kept me supplied with hot fudge...

See? PJ knows about those SC peaches too....yummmmmmmmmmy!

pjpuppymom said...

Jeanne, that was back when I weighed about 108 and never stopped moving. Daily hot fudge wouldn't have made a smidgen of difference. Today? Well, that's a different story! lol

We have a local produce market that makes daily runs to Gaffney during peach season so I can indulge my love of freshly picked peaches without leaving town. :)

Unknown said...

Congrats Anna on nabbing that rooster!

Now your talking good stuff here, ice cream. I guess I like the soft serve the best and your normal banana split. Those Brownie Earthquakes from DQ are pretty great. Just a soft serve cone is good to if the soft serve has some flavor some of it doesn't have a good vanilla flavor.

PinkPeony said...

I used to be a big fan of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey. About ten years ago, we had three refrigerated containers of Ben and Jerry's (Vermont) to deliver to the local distributor in No.Calif. The reefer temps were at +3 above zero. B&J quality control folks said we couldn't deliver it because it was 3 degrees higher than they deemed "safe"...they sent men out in lab coats and stuck thermometers in some of the ice cream and decided that they didn't want to chance it. I was instructed to make arrangements to dump all three reefer loads...about 2400 cases of perfectly good ice cream. They said we could take home as much as we wanted but we could not sell it. I haven't had any B&J since!

Becke Davis said...

What? How did Anna beat Limecello?

Great post, but thanks for making my dinner look really, really boring. My son and his girlfriend introduced me to Cold Stone Creamery a few months ago. That place is currently my sin of choice (well, one of them). I love anything resembling rocky road, but pretty much all of those pictures could tempt me!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

108 PJ? I don't think I EVER weighed that...maybe at 12 or something...heehee.

Hi Virginia! You're so right on the soft serve. Some of it's okay, but some is just bland and there takin' up space. Ha!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Holy Crap, Pink! 24 HUNDRED? Yikes. But awesome quality control, I gotta say!

Anna Campbell said...

Pleeze, PLEEEEEEEEEZE say the blog tomorrow isn't about yummy stuff. I'm getting fat just by osmosis!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Hey Becke! Rocky Road, eh? Good stuff. I know Cassondra's keeping a tally. :>

I had to LOL abouut your Anna vs. Lime comment. Limecello must've slept in today. ha!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Snicker. I know what you mean, Anna. All this talk about ice cream has me sitting here in the Starbucks craving coffee ice cream. I got the next best thing - one of their Mocha Frappachinos.

jo robertson said...

Delightful blog today, Cassondra, just like the Dairy Queen!!

Sorry I'm late to the party today. Emma decided she wanted to go see her cousins and it's no small thing for a grandma to bundle up a 5-month old and drive her 25 miles and back to see her favorite aunts and cousins. I'm plum tuckered out!

Yummmmy, ice cream. I'm the plaid, dyed in the wool vanilla freak ice cream lover. And of course, I must mix it with my favorite PEPSI to make a delish float.

Congrats on the chook today, Anna.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

*groans* Urg, there's that PEPSI thing again, Jo. *Shakes head.* We need to get you to come back from the Dark Side.

On a fairer note, however, it sounds like you had a fun day with Emma! Does she like ice cream?

jo robertson said...

Donna, I'm not fond of those slab ice cream places either, although it is interesting to watch them make it!

My sis and I used to walk home from high school, about a two mile walk. In the late spring, it was pretty hot, but we always stopped at the Woolworth halfway home and indulged in a scoop of ice cream. I still remember the fun of sitting on those stools up at the counter. Everything tasted better from that spot!

«Oldest ‹Older   1 – 200 of 255   Newer› Newest»