Ice Cream: Comfort Food Then & Now

by Kristin Holt

I love ice cream. My #1 Comfort Food. Doesn't matter if it's snowing or 40 below. I never met an ice cream I didn't like (well, perhaps one flavor).

Ice cream may be produced in factories today, but it was originally a back-porch homemade treat.

"In 1843, New England housewife Nancy Johnson invented the hand-cranked ice cream churn. She patented her invention but lacked the resources to make and market it herself. Johnson sold the patent for $200 to a Philadelphia kitchen wholesaler who, by 1847, made enough ice cream makers to satisfy the high demand. From 1847 to 1877, more than 70 improvements to ice cream makers were patented." [source]

This bit of Americana history made it easy to slip cherry ice cream into The Menace Takes a Bride.

Excerpt: (California, 1895)

LUKE STOOD inside the kitchen, watching Garth and Mitzi through the screen door. They sat side by side on the porch swing. Garth moved the swing to and fro with a gentle push of his feet.

Luke couldn’t see Mitzi’s face from his vantage point, but he knew she enjoyed the ice cream immensely. He’d tasted the treat delivered by the creamery. Plump, fresh cherries, frozen in sweet cream with plenty of sugar. Mitzi had been delighted.

Satisfaction swelled in his old heart.

By Jupiter, it felt good to give the dear girl a bit of happiness.

Garth, idiot that he was, may have ordered Luke to cease and desist with the presents. Luke had thought about it, for all of about five minutes.

He’d believed that eventually Garth would do his duty and court his own wife. Until then, somebody had to do it for him.

‘You can’t teach an old man to suck eggs,’ Luke had wanted to say. Who was Garth to question his father’s experience? Did he think he could tell his dad something he didn’t already know?

Luke had lived through two wars and survived a gold rush. More importantly, he’d been a husband for twenty-two glorious years. A pang of loneliness tightened about his heart. He’d been around plenty long enough to understand how a courtship ought to progress.

Garth may have ordered him to stop giving presents, to stop meddling, but Luke knew better. Besides, ice cream didn’t count. It was food, not a bauble and certainly not meddling.

On the porch, he heard Mitzi’s moans of pleasure. Luke grinned at her little-girl delight. Until tonight, the poor thing hadn’t ever tasted ice cream.

Imagine that. Ice cream. He shook his head, amazed at the simple life she’d lived.

Silhouetted against the setting sun, Luke watched with pleasure as Mitzi rested her head on Garth’s shoulder. From this distance, he couldn’t quite hear what they talked about, but they were talking. That was good enough to ease an old man’s concerns.

Cora stepped up to his side, her tread light on the kitchen floor. She folded her arms and watched the young couple for a minute, perhaps two. “You did a good thing, Luke. A very good thing.”

Yes, he had. The more he saw of Mitzi and Garth together, the more he knew he’d done the right thing.

They looked like a husband and wife, and the image made Luke grin.

A husband. He’d made his boy a husband.

He wanted to jump up and down, hoot and holler with the thrill of victory—but that would interrupt the most domestic, tender thing he’d ever seen going on out on the porch swing.

An idea came to mind, a most exciting thought. It wasn’t a gift, he rationalized. Merely her due. Mitzi was a Wakefield, not a nun. She deserved more than a plain gold wedding band. If Garth had found Mitzi on his own, he would’ve wooed her with a diamond the size of a quail egg.

If Garth knew how to court properly, he would’ve bought Mitzi a diamond already. The boy would appreciate a little help getting the shopping done.

“I need a woman’s opinion,” he said to Cora.

“Oh?”

“Tomorrow morning, you and I are visiting the jeweler.”

 Copyright © 2013 Kristin Holt, LC

OLD FASHIONED ICE CREAM [credit]

1 c. whipping cream 1 c. milk 1/2 c. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 2 children (or more) 1 lb. coffee can 3 lb. coffee can Ice 3/4 c. salt (rock or kosher works best) Put all ingredients in a 1 pound coffee can with a tight fitting plastic lid. Place this can inside a 3 pound coffee can with a tight-fitting plastic lid. Pack space between cans with crushed ice. Add 3/4 cup of salt over the ice. Place the lid on the 3 pounds can and roll back and forth on the cement or floor (that won't scratch) for about 10 minutes.Open the big can and remove the smaller can; wipe the outside of the can and lid and open to scrape down the sides and stir ice cream. Put the lid back on and put it back into the salt and ice and continue rolling for another 5 to 10 minutes. Open and enjoy. Serves 2 to 4.

 

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The life of a Steampunk author

Writing has effected my life since I was old enough to scribble in the dirt with a stick. My childhood was spent rewriting every story I came across and a dream someday of being an author. I can't remeber when writing wasn't a part of my daily life but since setting myself down to writing as a career I've come up against many issues that a non-writer wouldn't think of.

As a wife and mother I have certain duties expected of me and as a writer have duties others expect from me. To find a balancing act is difficult, but can be found. I'm lucky to have a supportive family who allow and encourage my erratic, scatter-brained days. Some days I can spend hours upon hours at the computer, talk to myself endlessly, and even act out fight scenes.

I dress as one of my heroines to get the feel of how her clothing would effect her movement and I spend a lot of time reading and learning about history and inventions. I spend most days submerged in Prince Albert's world of 1880 where the British empire has expanded to cover most of the world. I get to bring to life inventions or take an invention created in our world and transport it a century in the past. And I get to play matchmaker with my characters.

What inventions from our modern world would you like to see put to use in the 1880's? How do you thinnk that invention would have been used?