Whenever it snows, it always reminds me of growing up as a kid in NJ. One of the best memories I have is getting together with all the neighborhood kids and sledding all day long. My neighborhood was full of kids, all age groups, but we all hung out and got along. And when they declared a snow day, everyone would bundle up and meet up at someone’s house, preferably a house on a hill, and begin a day of sledding. There were really only two good hills in the neighborhood, ours and the Davis’, and by the end of the day we had sled jumps built, snowmen, sometimes forts, and we were soaking wet. Since we’d end up at the Davis’ hill, we’d end up in Mrs. Davis’ laundry room, stripping down and throwing our wet gear in the dryer. We’d have some hot chocolate, rest up, and get back out there when our clothes were dry. We never really felt the cold.
If we were lucky, and it snowed on the weekend, my dad would take us to Round Valley Reservoir to sled the big hill. I swear, you could probably ski down this hill it was so big, a quick ride, but you could. We’d trek up the hill dragging our snow tubes to the very top. I seem to remember a danger/caution sign somewhere up there but that was ignored. The ride down was quick and if you were lucky you’d spin around a couple times in your tube. Then the long trek back up the hill again that seemed to take forever. I loved it.
This past Wednesday and Thursday we were graced with three feet of snow in addition to the six inches that were already on the ground. Ya, we got a lot. And it wouldn’t have been so bad if the power didn’t go out too Thursday night. We made the best of it, lit the fireplace, had dinner and breakfast with our neighbors by candlelight, but the 55 degree temp in the house was not really comfortable. But the power did come back on last night and we were so happy, clean dishes, clean clothes, and clean people.
With this big snowfall, it reminded me of this snow ice cream one of the neighborhood moms made for us when we were kids. I can remember thinking I was eating acid rain but it tasted pretty good so what did I care. I think she may have used eggs too which may have not been very smart either but I still ate it. I was a kid, what did I know about salmonella poisoning. But I found a version of the recipe that incorporates three ingredients, none of which is eggs. And with three feet plus of snow surrounding my house, I was pretty sure I could find some clean white stuff. By the way, this recipe is less like ice cream and more like flavored shave ice but I like the idea of snow ice cream better.
Ingredients
Big bowl of clean snow (about 8 cups)
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients together till combined. Spoon into bowls and consume, slowly, you don’t want a brain freeze, reminisce.
