How i remember summer....

It's all about the food, of course, with me it always is. Most specifically summer was about the "treats." Fudgesicles were right up there on my list of favorites, and chocolate covered ice milk bars. That's what they called it in the old days, "ice milk."

And of course, Drumsticks. Oh my, weren't they wonderful. All those great peanuts, and that big dollop of chocolate in the bottom of the cone. Eating them, giggling and letting the sticky ice cream run down your arm.

I was always a huge fan of Dreamsicles. They were probably my favorite of all. Mother also made a great homemade Dreamsicle Sherbet in the crank ice cream freezer. It was so easy, and so good, you could do it this summer, except now you can make it in an electric freezer.

Here's how it's made. We always used Nehi Orange Soda, today you would use Sunkist Orange to make it. No diet soda, please, use the sugar version for this. All you do is stir together a can of Eagle Brand Condensed Milk (condensed, not evaporated) a large can of crushed pineapple, including the juice (crushed pineapple canned in syrup, not it's own juice if you can find it), pour these into your quart ice cream freezer bowl and finish filling the bowl with Orange Soda. That's it, turn on the freezer, and in twenty minutes you have sherbet. It couldn't be easier and it is wonderfully refreshing. If you age it for an hour or so in the freezer it firms up really well. It would be a great July 4th dessert for you to make this year. This recipe is fifty years old, and it's still the best. I made it a couple of years ago, we loved it.

We also had the local Dairy Queen, and the Queens Grill, which served cheeseburger baskets, my very fave, and in the 50's you could actually go to the Dairy Queen without having to take out a bank loan, unlike today, when a couple of banana split costs $10. I adored banana splits, but I was a huge fan of English Toffee Sundaes. You can't buy them anymore, but they were just amazing. Warm, gooey caramel toffee and ice cream, they were just the best! Hooterville loved the Hot Caramel Sundaes, she still talks about how good they were, and she liked the Jack and Jill Sundae with hot fudge sauce and marshmallows. On Saturday night the Dairy Queen was the place to be, you could barely park your car in the lot and had to wait in line, but oh, it was so worth it...

We had a local Dog 'n Suds, we would go there on the weekend for those great coney dogs and mugs of frosty root beer. You would tip the carhop a dime, she was happy, you were happy. Can you imagine doing that now?

They also had a great burger, it was called a Texas Burger, and it was made using two burger patties, 1 1/2 buns (One top, one middle, and one bottom), a slice of cheese on the top burger, lettuce and the Dog N Suds secret sauce on the middle bun, and coney sauce on the bottom bun. .We would sit in the car, under the canopy, honking at our friends, watching the boys peel out onto the highway and squeal their tires, and we thought we were so grown-up.

Wouldn't it be fun to go back, just for a Saturday night...

Veronica's memories in Michigan were of Burger Chef. She worked there, wore the little uniform, had a very short career running the register, she could tell you all about that. Burger Chef still tugs at her heartstrings, and she still tries to find Burger Chef memorabilia on eBay...

Nice thoughts to fill your head on a lazy summer afternoon. I'm thinking I should head down to Wally World, after stopping at the gas station and paying $4.09 a gallon for gas, and pick up boxes of sugar free Dreamsicles and sugar free Fudgesicles. Come to think of it, I believe they even have sugar free Drumsticks...

Nothing stays the same, does it, including our weight!!! Oh those were the days...

And if reading this is making you nostalgic, Hooterville sent me a great link for 60's music this morning. You can access it by CLICKING HERE.

~ jan