The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-07-30
GLIM PSES
T III E P A S T
Nv CAROI Avn
BY CAROLYN LLOYD

l have been reading that cook
book again, this time in search
of an easy dessert to serve at my
bridge club. / found the dessert
and some interesting informa-
ton. as well. Did you know that
Thomas Jefferson had the first
ice cream freezer in America? He
called it "a machine for making
cream" I had always thought
that Dolly Madison introduced
ice cream in America, but per-
haps she was just the first to
serve it in the White House.
Jefferson is also credited with
introducing maacroni and vanilla
in this country. A man of many
talents and flair for good liv-
ing, was Thomas.
That bit about the ice cream
sent me into a nostalgia reverie
about the days when / waited
impatiently for the dash to come
out of a freezer of home made
ice cream. That was the standard
reward to the children who pa
tiently turned the crank of the
old-fashioned hand freezer. Re-
frigerator ice cream and the
'store bought" variety are good,
It's true, but nothing can touch
the smooth, cold richness of ice
cream right off the dash.
About more important things
in my childhood my mind is a
complete blank, but l can see
plainly that freezer sitting on the
back porch on burlap bag, with
salty water running out of hole
in the side. One experience with
it is particularly vivid: my moth
er and a friend had made up
their favorite recipe, with the
richest of ingredients and had
planned to serve the ice-cream
at a party. The friends SON and 1
had been delegated to turn the
freezer. 1t was a hard job, but
the promise of licking the dash
was compensation enough. Then
the blow came-When the freeZ-
er was opened. the ice cream was
found to be heavily favored
with salt. The adults abandoned
the whole thing in disgust and
set about preparing other re-
freshments for the party. But not
my little friend and I, we had
worked too hard and the antici-
patton had been too great; so, left
to ourselves, we consumed al
most the entire freezer of ice
cream, salt and all. Need I add
that we were very, very sick?
A companion piece of the
freezer was the old-fashioned ice
box with the lid in the top that
also stood on the back porch. 1t
usually fell to my lot to crack
the ice for tea, and almost invari-
ably that lid cracked me on the
head before the job was done.
Either that, or l managed to stab
myself with the ice pick. Surely
no one wastes a sigh upon the
overlooking drip pan beneath
the old ice box, or the ice pick
that managed to be lost at the
crucial moment. Ice picks were
versatile object in the section of
the country where ! lived any
how-rarely a Saturday night
passed but that one of the mill.
hands used one to stab his lady
love. No, the modern refrigerator
is thing of beauty and a JOY
forever to me. Even so, my child
hood complex about the ice has
carried over so that, if anyone
else is around to get out the ice,
I'll be very busy doing something
else when the time comes. As a
matter of fact, I believe I'll just
go to the drug store and get some
ice cream; that is unless some
more ambitious soul wants to
make up freezer full, if so, I'm
always available when it's time
for the dash to come out.