When I was little, my mother would always tell me and my brothers how lucky we had it compared to her childhood. Usually it was to make us feel guilty about being lazy, ungrateful bastards.
My mother had eight siblings; they were crammed into a shack and food was often scarce. They ate what they raised, and they didn’t eat junk food like ice cream. They had ice cream only in the winter, when they made it out of snow.
Being lazy, ungrateful bastards, we ignored most of what she said, but we liked the ice-cream idea.
Last week’s snow got me remembering this treat again. We would go outside, shovel some questionable snow off the ground and bring in to be prepared. (I now realize how unsanitary that was.)
Try it next time it snows:
Put a bowl outside to catch fresh flakes as they fall: You’ll need about eight cups. (If you’re worried about pollutants, an NPR report last week suggested letting snow fall for an hour or two first to clear the air.)
In another bowl, whisk together a cup of milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla and a dash of salt. Add the snow, mix it in and you’re done. As we did occasionally, you can add chocolate sauce or assorted mix-ins.
I remember liking this recipe as a kid, but I haven’t had it in years. The spoiled little bastard in me now prefers it from the store.
