Take THAT, L.M. Montgomery!

Hey, do you remember the part of Anne of Green Gables about the ice cream social?

Of course you do — it’s the one where Anne is excited to make a “bosom friend,” but almost doesn’t go because Marilla Cuthbert thinks Anne has lost her treasured amethyst brooch?  DON’T YOU REMEMBER?!??

Well, anyway, as fabulous as that ice cream social was, it couldn’t possibly compare to THIS:

That’s right.  You’re looking at two-dozen kinds of ice cream.  HOMEMADE ice cream.  This is a tradition in my neighborhood.  It was particularly fabulous this year, even if it made me late for my children’s literature discussion group (AGAIN).

Brian and I take our ice cream making seriously.  In the past, we’ve contributed flavors like Almond Fudge Ripple, Ginger Spice, and Mango Jalapeno.

This year, Brian contributed one we’ve made many times, Kill the Mint Cookie:

We rip up the (very invasive) fresh mint from our garden and steep it in the cream for the flavor.  Then we add crumbled chocolate cookies to the finished product.

My flavor this year was Blueberry Cheesecake.  I think it’s one of the best I’ve ever made.

The recipe is from Ann Hodgman’s excellent cookbook Beat This! only quintupled (yes, this meant we separated 30 egg yolks).  When we poured the finished product into a plastic tub for storage, we mixed in chopped up chunks of frozen cheesecake.  This was done mainly because we didn’t think people would eat 5 quarts of plain blueberry ice cream, but would easily down anything cheesecake-oriented.  Turns out we were right.

I ate about 2,348,549 spoonfuls of many different flavors.  My favorite was the Lavender Honey.  Many good wishes upon the creator of that delight, O Universe.

And in case you don’t like ice cream, did I mention the cookie table?

Yes, yes.  Much with the evil carbohydrate consumption.

We’ve always had children’s activities as part of the social, but this year the neighborhood kicked it up a notch.  Yes, that’s a bouncy house.  Yes, Jeffrey spent 99% of his time there.

I’m not even sure he ate any ice cream.