spt

the fifth element of summer: ice cream

i enjoy ice cream. if i get a craving for ice cream, i am usually just fine after a few bites, though. no waffle cones or double scoops for me. (don't worry, i make up for my amazing ice cream restraint with plenty of other vices!)

so i didn't at first think that i would be able to say anything remarkable about ice cream for this post. until i remembered some wonderful ice cream traditions:

* on friday nights in the town where i grew up, the community band would put on a concert in the bank parking lot. everyone would bring their folding chairs to enjoy the social evening. the local ice cream store was "razzles" and it was always busy during those concerts. my flavor of choice in those days was rainbow sherbet.

photo borrowed from "12th St David" on Flickr.

* there was a "magic fountain" where we would go after every single dance recital (four girls in one family = A LOT of dance recitals.) the ice cream was soft serve, and i always got the chocolate coating that hardened. (this texture cannot be recreated with "magic shell" topping. i know. i've tried!)



* carvel made the first ice cream cake i ever had, and none has ever compared! (there is something about the chocolate crumbs that makes them crunchier than other brands i've tried.) does anyone remember "cookie pus" or "fudgy the whale?" i was also a huge fan of the carvel flying saucer (chocolate was my favorite.)



* i was a camper, then a counselor, at Northeast Music Camp in massachusetts. as a camper, you only left camp for trips to Old Sturbridge Village or Tanglewood. but as a counselor, with a car, you had a little more freedom. after Taps, the counselors who were not on duty would make a run to the local Friendly's restaurant for sundae cups. i always got Reese's Pieces.

* matty has to work on sundays, and has for the past two years. jack and i have spent many a long sunday together. on one of these days, we were already at loggerheads about something. and it wasn't even lunch time yet! believe me, it can be hard to entertain each other sometimes, and on this day, there was a general crankiness in the air! i somehow managed to diffuse the situation by offering ice cream. in the middle of the morning!! it seems like a silly little thing now, but actually "ice cream for snack" sundays has turned into a wonderful tradition between the two of us. (and, for the record, my *grown up* flavor of choice is mint chocolate chip. the white kind.)

do you have any ice cream traditions? a favorite flavor??

okay, the five elements of summer have officially been documented! how is your chi? have you been able to find a sense of peace and renewed energy this month? come back later this week to retrieve your spt button!!

looking for a new challenge? tune in friday, when i reveal the theme for august!!