A couple of days ago, Daughter No. 2 coerced me into taking her to Softies. Every small town has one--you know, the little huts that sell soft-serve ice cream through a slatted-window. You stand outside and give your order to a high school girl wearing a visor. She shuts the window, makes the dipped cone or strawberry sundae or whatever you crave, and then she opens the window, pops her gum, hands you the treat, takes your money, and calls "Next!"In my town, the Softies opens sometime in late April and closes sometime around Labor Day. In the winter, a tree farmer used to sell Christmas trees in the parking lot until he lost his gentleman's agreement with the shop owner.
Normally I would just provide transportation and skip the fat, but on this trip with my daughter, I opted for a lemon freeze. It's like a Slurpee for those familiar with 7/11. It's also like a Mister Misty for those familiar with Dairy Queen. When I was a kid, my town in Indiana had a Dairy Queen, and it sold Mister Mistys in all kinds of flavors--grape, cherry, lime, blueberry--the flavor of blueberry didn't resemble the actual fruit, but it did turn your tongue blue. Our Dairy Queen was six or seven blocks from my house, and in the summer, when the kids in my neighborhood lived like Charlie Brown characters with little or no distinguishable adult supervision, we would rifle through the couch cushions to find 12 cents, hop on our bikes, and peddle down town.
12 cents was all you needed for a Dilly Bar or a small Mister Misty. If you were lucky and found an extra quarter, you could possibly even afford a Mister Misty float. Either way, you got the sense of independence and the throat freeze that went with it. You could sit on the picnic table under the tree beside the parking lot, eat your 12 cents worth of summer, and hop back on your bike like you owned the town. If you were adventurous and had an extra dime, you could ride up the street to the Ben Franklin and buy a grape Sour Pop to last you the ride home.
Standing in front of the Softies with my daughter, sipping my $1.69 lemon freeze through a straw and getting nearly unbearable throat freeze, I remembered those days with my cutoff shorts, my ripped T-shirt, and my Dr. Scholl's sandals, and I smiled. It seems summer feels the same no matter what your age.
Comments
That's so evocative, Robyn, and your first paragraph paints such a brilliant picture.
By the way, I notice you haven't posted a brilliant picture of yourself back then in cutoff shorts, ripped T-shirt and Dr. Scholls … Hee hee.
I loved 99s - ice cream cones with flakes in, chocolate sundaes and those triangular funny shaped water ice things in sort of paper coverings. You snipped the corner off and sucked the life out of them. Mmm! Jubblies? Jumblies? Jumbles? Help me out here Dive. It was bound to be a British eccentricity.
Anyway, I love the soft serve chocolate and vanilla swirl nothing better than a good brain freeze on a warm summer day.
There's a great ice cream stand down the street from me. Perhaps I'll get me a cone this evening.
I saw a movie with Meryl Streep in it, playing the part of a woman dying of ovarian cancer; popsicles were used to ease the nausea from the chemo, so it would appear that 'throat-freeze' has more than one therapeutic use.
One of my favourite childhood "food" memories is of dashing to the bakery early on a summer's morning when we were on beach holidays, to buy yeast "finger buns" which had a line of icing covered with coconut flakes on top.
Rich, I am NOT in this picture. Jeez, how old do you think I am, anyway?
Prudence, we actually have a DQ here too, but it isn't nearly as fun as the little hut, and the service is so slow, I curse them on the few times I pay a visit.
Sassy, the first soft-serve of the season is a great phrase for it. It's like the first snow flake or the first ear of corn.
Gina, you're so good about asking question--what is a summer food you remember from childhoo, although you're young?
Jo, welcome.
Mme Benaut, there is something long-lasting about summer food memories, isn't there.
Now i'm craving a soft serve.