Weekend Cooking: World Ice Cream Day

Tomorrow, the third Sunday in July, is World Ice Cream Day. Whilst that makes sense in the Northern Hemisphere, it isn't exactly ice cream weather here! We also don't eat a lot of ice cream in my house any more. We always have emergency cream, but not ice cream!


A couple of years ago I started reading Viola Shipman. He writes such lovely books, all set around Lake Michigan. I love his voice, whether he be talking about food, flowers or the 80s! He also has a new book out called Edge of Summer and I am sure that I am going to love it! Today, I am sharing quotes from The Summer Cottage, which was the second book I read by him. I read it last year and have been saving the quotes for just the right occasion!

I look through the shiny glass at the endless options. My mouth waters as my eyes scan cappuccino, chocolate chunk, cotton candy confetti, Mickinac Island Fudge, country blackberry, Milky Way, snickerdoodle and Superman. But my eyes lock on the container filled with Smurf-blue ice cream. "Double in a waffle," I say.

"You're a true Michigander," Teresa says with a laugh.

"But I'm from Illinois," I say.

"Not if you order this," she says with a wink.

There is a phenomenon in the Great Lakes known as Blue Moon ice cream. The ice cream is iridescent blue, marshmallowy sweet and has an elusive taste that many describe as a combination of lemon and fruit. I think it tastes like the leftover milk from a bowl of Froot Loops. It's addictive, and the recipe is largely kept secret by the different dairies, ice cream makers and shops in Michigan and Wisconsin. Blue Moon ice cream turns your tongue blue, and it is a favorite of children.

And mine, I think.

Teresa turns on the waffle machine, which sits on a table between the long rows of ice cream. When it is hot, she opens it and pours in some homemade batter and shuts the lid. After a few seconds, she pops the lid open and removes a razor thin waffle with tongs, immediately and expertly twisting it into a tight, rolled cone. She plops in two huge scoops of ice cream, which begin melting and trickling down the side. Teresa slips it into a wrapper and hands it to me along with a fistful of napkins.

I take a bit and shut my eyes. I am immediately transported back in time. I can feel myself standing in this shop between my parents, all of us licking giant cones. When I open my eyes, Teresa is smiling at me.

"It's nice to feel like a kid again, isn't it? she asks. "Even if it is just for a second."

~~~~

And later the same day.

~~

But my grandmother firmly believed - after witnessing the eating habits of men for decades - that the ice cream a man ate showed who he truly was.
Vanilla? Plain but steadfast.
Chocolate meant an all-American type of guy at heart, but one who never yearned for excitement or adventure.
Men who ate strawberry were as sweet as the fruit, but forever little boys.
Scooter leans into the case, his breath fogging the window. His eyes scan the tubs and then the labels on the case. He looks at Teresa, who is waiting patiently, holding her ice cream scoop in the air. I turn again to Scooter. He opens his mouth, and I hold my breath.
"Rocky road," he says. "Two scoops in a waffle cone, please."
He's a keeper, Adie Lou, I can hear my grandmother say. Adventurous, curious. Has led an up-and-down life but is an optimist who wears his heart on his sleeve.
"Good choice!" I blurt.
Scooter turns, a laugh escaping when he sees my face. " You get excited about ice cream, I can see," he says.
I nod.
"Still a Blue Moon girl?" Teresa asks me. "In a waffle?"
I nod again.

I don't know what Adie Lou's grandmother would make of my husband who doesn't like ice cream at all!!

As for me, I love boysenberry ice cream. I also like boysenberry yoghurt, and recently I even tried and liked boysenberry ripple chocolate. And yet, I have never actually ever tried a boysenberry.

What is your favourite flavour, and what do you think it says about you?

Weekly meals

Saturday - Baked potatoes with bacon and mushroom sauce

Sunday - Roast beef rolls with gravy 

Monday - 

Tuesday - Takeaway

Wednesday - Spaghetti bolognaise

Thursday - Beef Pepper pie with mashed potato toppping

Friday - Out for dinner

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page