Memories- Ice Cream

I married into a family that came over from Italy and opened an Ice Cream parlor in Gastonia many years ago. As I hear it, they were pretty famous for their Ice Cream. The ole truck sits in a museum now and we still hold a lot of the other memorabilia.

I was reading one of my blog friends post the other day and it brought back some of my own childhood memories of homemade ice cream. Thanks Rick.

It took be back to the day when daddy would pull out the ole wooden ice cream maker. You know, the old churn kind with the crank handle.

yep, that's "real" home made. I mean, there was a lot of labor put into that stuff. Luckily, we usually only made it at special times or when Mom wanted it.

It was no easy thing to do. Mom worked around in the kitchen gathering the stuff she needed for the mix. I can remember doing strawberry and peach. Dad would work on getting the churn ready by adding rock salt and ice. I used to like to sneak a piece of rock salt and eat it. I know its not good for you but I'm still alive. Then me and my siblings would all take turns cranking the handle. Once the ice cream started to thicken, we had to take turns sitting on the churn so it wouldn't scoot around while dad did the heavy cranking. My weight never really held it down and dad would get aggravated.....The last one sitting on it before it was ready would get up, turn around, look down and say "I made ice cream!"

It became a chore to make ice cream and I didn't want to wait and I despised sitting there. I was never really a fan of soupy ice cream. Most of the time after all that work, it never would really thicken up. But now, as I think back, I sure do miss those days and would love to have some of that home made ice cream again. 

Facts about me and ice cream:

• I prefer hard ice cream over soft serve.
• I chew ice cream.
• I like any kind of ice cream with bits in it like rocky road, butter pecan, moose tracks, etc.
• I hate to hear people talk while they eat ice cream.
• I prefer to eat ice cream out of a waffle cone. 
• My favorite flavor is butter pecan or chocolate chip mint.
• If someone tells me to hurry up and eat my ice cream, Ill just throw it away. 

Now days, we own an electric ice cream maker and it gets the job done quick. My husband also makes some awesome butter pecan ice cream. He actually cooks the nuts in sweeten condensed milk and creates a thick praline flavor to add to the mix. If it makes it out of the pan before we start spooning it into our mouths, it creates a stunning flavorful and thick ice cream.

hmmm now I think I need to go do some sweet talking