A fellow blogger had a picture of gelato on her blog and it reminded me of the time we went to The Hill in St. Louis and had gelato. It seems that everyone, including a raleigh business lawyer, has had gelato except me!
Gelato is an Italian frozen dessert similar to ice cream. Well, I wasn’t impressed. Nothing can hold a candle to Atz’s Moose Tracks. For those of you who are interested in how gelato is made, I did find the following recipe from Allrecipes.com.
My friend, Linda, and I have visited the big craft festival at Amish Acres for nearly 18 years. We have only missed a few years and I’m sure that was only because of an emergency! We love to go down every aisle to see what the vendors have to show us.
This year, the amount of vendors seemed to be down in numbers compared to years past. There were a few vendors that we are used to seeing who were not even there this year. Beverly’s is a booth that sells the neatest clothing. Beverly’s wasn’t there. The wooden spoon lady, I never can remember the name of her booth but she makes spoons out of wood. There were no stained glass booths.
Do you think it was because of the economy? Do people have no expendable cash? Maybe it was the 90 degree temperatures we have had this month. I thought I might need the link to ROP life online after walking around in the heat. I don’t know why the vendor’s numbers were down. There seemed to be a smaller crowd of buyers too. Oh well, I did my share to help the economy.
Linda and I always meet after a few hours of shopping. This year we met at the ice cream barn. We look forward to eating the mint/chocolate swirl soft served ice cream. It makes us forget how sweaty and dirty we feel from traipsing around in the dirt laden aisles.
I believe in mental health days. That is when you do something just because it sounds like fun. It is even better when it turns out to be so much fun that you cannot wait to go back.
Yesterday, mom and I went with a group from church to Fair Oaks Farms. Fair Oaks Farms is located in a portion of Indiana that is well suited for cows because corn grows well there. In fact, the farm covers approximately 19,000 acres. Fair Oaks Farms is a commercial dairy operation that has opened parts of its process as exhibits so that people like me can understand how a dairy farm works. This dairy is so modernized with its computer generated milking machines that I would not have been surprised to see Asus labeling on its components. It was awesome.
I had just read the book Food, Inc. so it was nice to see that not every farm is like the ones described in that book. This farm is so clean that the cows even look happy. LOL
There are interactive exhibits where kids learn all about cows, including the fact that they have 4 stomachs. They can play on a giant air jumping pillow and climb a giant milk bottle to test their climbing skills.
Cheese is made right there at the farm. That was interesting. Of course we were able to buy cheese from their store and they also sold ice cream. It was delicious.
For me, the most interesting part of the experience was watching a live birth. Two mama cows were in the birthing barn when we arrived. One had just had her calf and the other was in the process of delivering. I just wanted to help her!
I was laughing so hard while reading Mrs. McCombers post about her job working at Chucky Cheese. She hated that job. It made me think back about jobs I have had.
I never had a job that I hated. I didn’t like a few of my jobs but that was mostly because they were so boring. I have to be doing something. I love it when the time flies by while I am working. I think that may have been why I liked driving an ice cream scooter. Yes, I was the ice cream lady or the Popsicle lady as I was sometimes called.
It took a bit of finesse to be able to drive the scooter and ring the bell that signaled I was coming. That scooter was a three speed on the column and I was very good at getting it in gear without it grinding. The only mishap I had with that scooter was when I parked it in my parent’s slanted driveway. I forgot to engage the emergency brake. The scooter scooted, backwards, down the driveway, landed in the neighbor’s yard across the street and left a scratch all the way down the side of my mom’s car. Ooops.
It was a nice job for a gal who worked on her tan. I was pretty bronze in those days. My boyfriend, now my husband of 34 years, tried to ride on the scooter with me. That was a hoot. That fair skinned, 200 lb boy just about tipped my scooter over when we rounded corners. It might have worked better had I not had the pedal to the metal. My lead foot was apparent even then.
I honestly don’t remember the kids chasing my scooter or if I had many kids buying my ice cream. My dad was my best customer. He’d buy a few bars every day when I’d stop at home to watch my soap opera. Did I mention that my route was in the housing addition where I lived? Another perk was being able to stick my head inside the truck’s freezer on really hot days. Oh, and the never ending supply of Drumsticks was pretty sweet.
My husband’s emails are forwarded to me because he rarely gets on the computer. Today he received his birthday gift from Cold Stone Creamery. He has a coupon to receive a free ice cream treat. We will be near a Cold Stone Creamery on Saturday so that will work out perfectly. I hope I get to get a treat too.
Cold Stone Creamery ice cream has a flavor that is unique. Their smooth and creamy ice cream is handcrafted fresh daily in each store, and then customized by combining a variety of mix-ins on a frozen granite stone. I know, from experience, to eat a bowl of Cold Stone Creamery slowly to avoid brain freeze.
While on the Cold Stone website, I saw that they have teamed with the Make-A-Wish Foundation in helping seriously ill kids realize a wish. Cold Stone Creamery has nearly 1,400 locations worldwide and has been a sponsor of the Make-A-Wish Foundation since 2001. Visit Cold Stone Creamery on September 25, from 5-8 pm, for a FREE 3 oz. Make-A-Wish Creation. Be part of the world’s largest ice cream social and indulge in a good cause. An estimated 85 percent of all donations in September will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For more information visit www.coldstonecreamery dot com.
A fellow blogger had a picture of gelato on her blog and it reminded me of the time we went to The Hill in St. Louis and had gelato. It seems that everyone, including a raleigh business lawyer, has had gelato except me! 
The wooden spoon lady, I never can remember the name of her booth but she makes spoons out of wood. There were no stained glass booths. 
