Telling Your Story
An entire month dedicated to ice cream. Does it get any better?
Thank you, President Ronald Reagan. In 1984, he proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of July as National Ice Cream Day.
By reminding you early of the big day, you now have plenty of time to plan your perfect ice cream buffet to cele-brate.
What is your favorite way to enjoy ice cream? From a cone, a bowl or maybe straight from the box? Do you prefer it as a side to another confection like pie or cake? Maybe even hollowing out the center of a melon and fill-ing it with ice cream?
Do you like plain flavors like vanilla or chocolate or do you crave the endless possibilities of add-in flavors? Are you an ice cream sundae kind of guy or gal, or simply undressed ice cream will do?
Crunchy toppings or creamy? Do you have an unusual preference for toppings like potato chips or french fries? (There are some people in this family who love to dip french fries in a chocolate shake. I am not one of those people.)
Next is the debate over hard versus soft ice cream. I like my soft ice cream super creamy and smooth, no trace of graininess. The old Dairy Store at Michigan State University was my staple for lunch many moons ago. Either a 25-cent yogurt, or a 50-cent ice cream cone. The ice cream was so perfectly smooth, sweet and creamy.
Do you have a favorite time of day to eat your ice cream? Is it a nightly snack? I know a lot of people who have a bowl of ice cream every night before bed. Those people know how to live, man.
Would you rather have it for dessert after a meal? Or maybe in the middle of a hot afternoon? The dead of winter? Personally, I have no favorite time to eat it, as any time will do for me. And I usually crave a hot fudge sundae from Fantasy Twirl in Burnips, Mich. (one more shout out today) about mid-February. They don't open until early April.
Here are my current ice cream stats (current, because sometimes they change):
• Favorite soft ice cream—Mooville. It reminds me of MSU's former glory days of soft ice cream;
• Favorite hard ice cream—Hudsonville's Triple Peanut Butter;
• Favorite topping—This is a hard one. Strawberries, raspberries, peaches, or hot fudge on vanilla are top shelf.
But the hot fudge must be right—hot, to start with, thick not runny, fudgy with no trace of butterscotch flavor although a hint of peanut butter flavor is fine.
I'm not all that interested in the whipped cream, and nuts need to be pecans, not peanuts, preferably toasted. The cherry ALWAYS gets passed on to Mr. Berens.
Reading this, it appears I am a bit of an ice cream sundae snob! Mixing raspberries or strawberries and hot fudge is divine. No caramel toppings. Ever. Mixing flavored ice creams with toppings is fun, too. A little mint chocolate chip with hot fudge is a fudgy-minty-ice-cream-over-the-top flavor infusion. Try it sometime.
What is your favorite ice cream, ice cream topping, or most unusual combination? Send me yours at uphillfarm494@yahoo.com by the end of July for a chance to win an ice cream prize!
Bev Berens is a mom to 4-H and FFA members in Michigan. Do you have a story to share? Email her at uphillfarm494@yahoo.com.