As I see it in present day, I have a problem. I love Ice Cream, I have GICED. Never in my adult life have I ever refused a serving of ice cream. I could be just finishing 6 or 7 tacos and still ask my daughter ”do you want to go to Dairy Queen?” Off we go and I polish off a medium blizzard without a problem. I can only assume, like any adult with a problem, affliction or addiction, I can trace this back to my childhood and my parents. Yup, I blame them. They are responsible for my Genetic Ice Cream Eating Disorder. I dare tell you why.
My father, Hank also loves his ice cream. It is now out; the Longstreth gene pool is responsible. He would eat a bowl of ice cream on a regular basis. I know what you are thinking, but hear me out, I wasn’t really that spoiled. My dad would come up with some of the weirdest concoctions with ice cream that I ever saw. Root beer floats with Pepsi. I was 4 or 5 years old & I didn't really understand, but man were they good. No root beer or Pepsi? No problem, just use the Hi-C grape; there is always some of that in the fridge. Vanilla scoops, with chocolate syrup topped with Spanish peanuts, aka The Tin Roof, a father and son personal favorite. There is something to be said about the sweet and salty goodness with that ice cream sundae. Although I was never allowed to stir my bowl of ice cream, somehow the very bottom of the bowl always was mixed to a smooth texture. The local ice cream place was somewhere I dreamed about. I fondly remember Hank introducing me to the wicked, gooey, warm goodness of hot fudge. He introduced me to the Fudgesicle and the Drumstick. Baskin Robbins was always a treat and I saved my fruity side of the palate for the BR Orange Sherbet in a cup. My pet peeve; the pronunciation of the word SHER BET, for those of you who believe your ears and not your eyes there is only ONE R in the word SHER BET. That’s enough of the English class. My next memory was the chocolate malt. I can drink a chocolate malt in about 45 seconds, therefore I now keep some malted milk in my pantry for the after dinner dessert malt. My current addiction to this frozen confection has been perpetually fueled throughout my child hood. My need for ice cream with toppings is beyond compare. Oh, I forgot to mention we only had vanilla, thus the need for toppings or added flavors to choke it down. Are you very confused yet? Here’s the deal breaker. Marie didn’t buy ice cream. Frozen yogurt hadn’t been invented yet and we didn’t have an ice cream soft serve in the kitchen. Nope, Marie proudly purchased ICE MILK! That’s right, I said ICE MILK, it wasn’t even ice cream. Now it all makes sense, the need for additional flavors and my addiction to the real thing. I know every Cold Stone location in my area, Dairy Queens and local mom and pop frozen confections. I love Ben and Jerry’s, Dreyers, fudgesicles, Klondike bars, drum sticks, chocolate, neopolitan, malt cups, and for my favorite combination Wendy’s fries dipped in the chocolate frosty, life could not get better than that. I think the ice cream gene has been passed to my daughter. She shares the same passion as I for this frozen delicacy. There is one small difference, she knows when to stop. Hopefully she will pass this genetic trait to her offspring. If you happen to find ICE MILK in your local grocery, pick up a half gallon and bring it home proudly. Don’t forget to get something to put on top because you won’t be able to eat it otherwise.
1 comment:
oh man, i think i also have this GICED affliction. your story could easily just as well be mine, from pepsi floats, to fudgsicles, to ice milk. cept we didnt load up the toppings. sure we had the occasional hershey's syrup. but we ate our ice milk in chocolate chip flavor, which always seemed watery in comparison to the thick velvety texture of ice cream. definitely not fun. my college era twice daily addiction: pepsi shake (thicker than a float, same ingredients)with danish cookie crumbled up and mixed in (the pretzel shaped ones with sugar crystals were the best for crunch and taste), all poured into an ice cream cup, the crisp weightless type that has a flat bottom and tic tac toe bottom. i'd have 2-3 cones of the stuff in one sitting. if you were lucky, the tick tack toe grid would capture some butter cookie crumbles, so you'd have a nice satisfying finish.
remember the ice cream cups sold in plastic cups with a pull tab paper lid, that you ate with a wooden spoon? it made every bite taste like wood... mmmmm. but really, that was a good intro to ice cream for a little kid. good rich tasting vanilla.
speaking of cold stone creamery, i was telling my wife that whenever she dragged me there, i didnt get it. but then she introduced me to sweet cream ice cream. that was it for me. nothing else compares. it tastes like homemade, so rich and creamy and fresh.
kevin
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