Notable Ice Cream

Our leadership team was on a planning retreat in North Carolina. We had been working on Lifeshape’s strategic initiatives and developing the budget to implement those plans. After knocking heads for a couple days we had planned a team building outing—we went shooting.

When we chose the venue for shooting clays, little did we know how long it would take us to get there. On the map it looked like an hour trip. But the venue was not only up in a valley tucked between two mountains, the road was as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.

After about three hours walking the courses and shooting, we were exhausted from the walking on the mountainside and from getting wet in the rain, plus we were hungry. After driving for an hour and a half without seeing an eating place, we finally drove up to a Mom-and-Pop café. We noticed that there were no other cars in the parking lot, which is usually a bad sign. When we walked into the door a young lady behind the counter said, “Sorry we are closed.”

That was awful news, but after a few minutes of sharing how hungry we were the cook came out of the kitchen and said that he would feed us. That was music to our ears. I don’t know if it was our hunger or what, but that was some tasty hamburger, fries and onion rings. We finished off this 4,000-calorie meal with shakes and malts. It is not often that I see malts on the menu, so I had to order a malt. It was a chocolate malt to remember—hand-dipped with extra chocolate and extra malt.

Over the years I have had many such memorable experiences that involved ice cream which are too numerous to list, but I would like to share a few.

In the small town in Mississippi where I grew up, we did not have but one soft serve ice cream place called Dairy Freeze, and there was only one soda fountain called Seale-Lily Ice Cream. By the way, for your younger reader that soda fountain is not like the ones in every convenience store today. It was an ice cream place, and a soda was ice cream mixed with carbonated water and a flavor (strawberry was my favorite because Cheryl and I would often share one while we were dating. 😊   

I cannot talk about favorite ice creams without including homemade ice cream in Sanwabo, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). It wasn’t that it was the best tasting ever ice cream, it was just the fact that we were able to have ANY ice cream with the extreme conditions. We were in the Sahel, the buffer zone between the savannah and the Sahara Desert. Our only refrigeration was a kerosene-operated refrigerator and freezer. When the fridge was operating properly it took two days just to make a couple trays of ice, so we had to save ice for weeks to have enough to make homemade ice cream. In case you are wondering, yes, we could buy blocks of ice in the capital city—four hours away. With temperatures in our unairconditioned vehicle staying around 100 degrees, it was not practical to transport ice. So, it was rare to have ice cream in Sanwabo, and that made it even more special.

During the mid-1990s we lived in Kandern, Germany. It was a quaint and gorgeous village set in the southern most part of the Black Forest near Basel, Switzerland. Just off the town square was an Italian gelato shop. Everything was made there in the shop, and they had the very best gelato. One of their creations was spaghetti ice. Ice cream was run through a grinder to produce the spaghetti. The kids loved this dish, but I favored the mango and pistachio.

Mango sherbet, gelato or ice cream is my favorite, and I have tried it in many countries through the years. The best? From a tiny ice cream shop in Acree, Brazil, right on the border with Peru.

So where do I eat ice cream now? Chick-fil-A has a good milk shake (I am still a company guy). I like peach best.  Steak and Shake has a good chocolate shake. Jack’s has hand-dipped milk shakes that are tasty. Freddy’s custard is a new favorite, but they don’t make good shakes and don’t have malts. I also like other premium custards at Culver’s or Braum’s. With a name like Shake Shack you would think it would be the best. It was ok, but not notable especially at that price!

I have tried all the fast-food shakes. The only other one notable is Burger King with the distinction of being the worst shake that I have purchased.

Presently, my favorite ice cream is Sam’s Club premium vanilla. It is creamy as custard and as smooth as butter. Plus it tastes as good as any other premium ice cream that I have tried and costs less too.

My all -time favorite ice cream treat is still a chocolate malt. They are increasing hard to find as millennials (who are the largest population segment) never developed a taste for malted milk. I give most of my chocolate malt business to Cookout. I love the gritty powdered malted that they use.

The best chocolate malted milk? I make it and load it with Nestle/Carnation powdered malted milk. Come to see me and I will make a believer out of you!