Summer and Ice Cream

Summer is here. Yes, I know it's only May, but here in the central valley we're up into the 80's and will hit the 90's this weekend. It's only the beginning of another long hot summer. I don't know if I'll ever get used to it after living so long on the coast where summer temps were hardly ever above 75.

Another sign of summer here are the little shaved ice huts that go up in grocery store parking lots everywhere. They're a little bigger than a phone booth-oh, wait, I forgot that phone booths no longer exist and young people HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT- and I always wonder about the shaved ice employee stuck inside these little booths. I'm assuming they are air conditioned or the worker just covers themselves in shaved ice all day, can you imagine how hot a little phone booth hut would get sitting in an asphalt parking lot all day when it's 100 degrees outside? I also wonder if there is a little porta-potty inside the huts, I do think about things like that-where do you go to the bathroom? Remember the drive in photo booths they used to have before everyone went digital? And the little key making huts that were always in the Sears parking lots?

For many, summer means ice cream. Not that I don't crave it all year long. I love ice cream, preferably some sort of chocolate flavor, but I can't eat it because of all the sugar. I'm sorry, but the 'no sugar added' ice creams are tasty, but just not the same as the full sugar, full milk fat varieties. And they only come in like three flavors, vanilla (boring) butter pecan, and something that is supposed to be chocolate. Ben and Jerry's really really needs to start making some no sugar added ice cream, and I'd like it best if they made it in the chubby hubby or s'mores flavors. Mmm...chubby hubby with the chocolate covered pretzels and marshmallow ribbon in it, or chocolatey s'mores with graham and marshmallow swirls. Oh, yeah. Nothing better than a tub of Ben and Jerry's ALL TO YOURSELF!