I have to admit it: I love ice cream! Just now, I had a mid-afternoon snack of two scoops of vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips sprinkled on top (for Biotin intake- good for the brain) and chopped walnuts (healthy fiber). To that, I added some whipped cream (because I deserve it). Now, keep in mind that I try to limit ice cream indulgences to once a week, on Sunday. However, I’ve never passed up the chance to have apple pie “a la mode.”

While I was sitting there doing nothing else, memories of ice cream events were churning in my mind. I recalled the many trips my Dad, Mom and I took to Derry, New Hampshire to see their best friends who happened to live in the same town as a famous astronaut, and who happened to live near an ice cream stand. My mother would have dressed me up in a frilly party dress with a skirt that flounced out, as that was the style of the mid-1950s. I always got to choose what flavor I would like, and inevitably, that choice would be chocolate, and I’d request a sugar cone.

Before long, I would decide to see what would happen if I bit the end off the sugar cone. Inevitably, the same thing happened every time. The melting ice cream would drip onto my dress. My mother must have thought me incorrigible, a trait I still possess, I believe! There would be threats to never buy me a cone again. They fell on deaf ears. I enjoyed trying to beat the chances of dripping or not dripping on the dress.

We did not have ice cream at home, very often, usually just for birthdays. The refrigerator had a small “ice box,” hardly large enough to put anything besides ice cube trays. Of course, these were the days before mass-produced frozen goods.

My Dad loved ice cream every bit as much as I did. To his delight and ours, when we moved to Deerfield, an ice cream shop that made all of their own ice cream, had just started up. The place is still there and is still called Johnson’s Dairy Bar. Today, the restaurant in Northwood, NH is no longer owned by the Johnson family and the menu has expanded to a major pastry section and full service menu. Their delicious food draws crowds and the parking lot is often full to overflowing.

If milk is the perfect food, then ice cream is the perfect treat. These days, it is somewhat maligned and consumers are urged to buy “ice milk” or “frozen yogurt.” The latter choice has just as many calories as regular ice cream, but is a refreshing substitute. The flavor menu has expanded considerably. “In my day,” the choice was vanilla, strawberry or chocolate. Today, my favorites are “Mint Chocolate Chip,” “Pistachio,” and “Peanut Butter” ice cream (which I didn’t think I’d probably like at all!).

Ice cream has lots of calcium and calcium is a major help in deterring osteoporosis, a painful kind of bone dysfunction. Oh, I can think of many reasons to eat ice cream, not the least of which is swirling it around in my dish to make “soup” out of it. The result is a smooth concoction. When I did that as a kid, I was scolded. It drove my mother crazy, so that alone was worth it!

Pat

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