Ice Cream on the Brain

Normally, I don't keep gallon-sized tubs of the stuff in my freezer, but as you can see from recent desserts I've made, it would be criminal not to pair these butter and fruit cakes with some ice cream. As a child, I was not often allowed to eat ice cream--and it was rarely kept at home--so I'm always surprised to see it in my (grown-up) freezer. Meant for birthdays or vacations, or an outing with our grandparents, my sister and I didn't eat it nightly as some of our friends did. So perhaps it's through my grandparents, or more specifically, from my maternal grandfather, that I developed a fondness for the frozen dessert in a cardboard container.

We made fun of him all those years, but he was a man who knew what he liked--there was always a carton of ice cream in the freezer. When he tried to eat healthier foods, ice cream briefly disappeared in favor of the less creamy sherbet (1-2% milkfat). My sister and I tolerated the "rainbow" variety, but noone in my family came close to touching the mango sherbet that my grandfather grew to love. (Such a peculiar taste in the pre-foodie '80s!) Briefly we saw the appearance of ice milk varieties in their house (less than 10% milkfat), and sherbets yet again, but even in his final years, I recall seeing some full-fat ice cream flavors in the freezer. It was an addiction of sane proportions, compared to everything else out there.

So now, here I am, alone with an almost-empty carton of Double Rainbow's all-natural Vanilla. And I have to admit that in spite of my ice-cream-is-bad-for-you-upbringing, I have no shame, and rather enjoy a few spoonfuls (ok, maybe a cup-ful) of the creamy and delicately flavored dairy dessert. It makes a nice, simple end to a spicy dinner, or a long day. Maybe I'm taking after my grandfather's habit after all. Nothing wrong with that, though.