Red, White......and Blue

Taking a little break from the "what ifs".

Ice creams of years past

I'm a little bummed out this holiday weekend. Normally the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays.
When my sister started hosting it four years ago she began what came to be known as the annual 4th of July Ice Cream Contest. Anyone who wanted to participate would bring a homemade ice cream (or two!), give it a creative name, and then everyone would taste test and we would all vote on a winner. Over the years we have had such memorable favorites as:

• Oink! (vanilla with chocolate covered bacon bits)
• Upside-down Apple Pie a la mode
• Murky Dismal - my prize-winner!!! (and if you've ever watched Rainbow Brite you'd understand why a grey ice cream would be called this)
• Labor-inducing Lemon (the jury is still out on whether this really induces labor, my sister ate it on the 4th and gave birth on the 7th, but she wasn't due until the 13th so who knows)

Then once everyone had their fill of ice cream the fireworks would be lit and we would sit back and enjoy the show.

Only this year there won't be an ice cream contest, or a huge party. There won't even be fireworks.
My sister's eldest son is busy with baseball all day tomorrow and since the 4th has fallen on a Monday my sister has elected not to have a party this year.
My parents are having a small barbeque but they live within the city limits so no fireworks are allowed at their house. We'll just have to watch everyone else's fireworks.

So, I'm a bit bummed out.

Then to top it all off I was making a batch of Murky Dismal so we could at least have some ice cream for the 4th and I didn't notice the blender part that holds the blade was cracked. The hot cream and milk mixture leaked out all over the counter, down the dishwasher, and puddled in a sticky mess on the floor. So, it was back to the store for more ingredients and a new blender part. Hopefully the new batch of Murky Dismal will freeze in time for tomorrow night.