While several of my colleagues here at the Kitchn have been escaping to Provence or Alaska (in their minds, at least), fueled by food memories, I've been sitting on my couch with a spoon in my hand and a container of ice cream in my lap. Sometimes it's before noon. No bowl, no serving size, no time limit.
My Edible Escape: Ice Cream Straight from the Carton
I admire people who ration ice cream into ramekins. It's just adorable, how they put appropriately size portions into small bowls and manage to keep a half-gallon container of ice cream around for more than a week. Mine usually last three to four days. A pint? A pint is a single-evening activity (if my husband helps, although I'll admit I'm fully capable of cleaning one out on my own).
When I was in college, I'd eat ice cream for dinner. I know, I know, cue the finger wagging now. I'm much more mature these days. I eat balanced meals most of the time. But scooping ice cream into a bowl has never become part of the routine.
I like the feeling of the carton in my lap. I like skimming around the edges to get rid of the softest parts, then evening out the middle. I like trying to figure out how many servings I've had ("If there are 16 in the carton, and each spoonful looks like a tablespoon, and I've been eating for 20 minutes...") and then giving up.
This is freedom, I think. Freedom to keep going, even when I know that if I stop, there will be enough for tomorrow night. Freedom to pour some chocolate sauce directly IN to the carton (why dirty up dishes?). Freedom to eat it in bed.
Of course, it's even better when the ice cream is homemade, like the one above. That's chocolate with peanut butter swirled in, and the best part is there's no label telling me how many calories are in it. I just finished off the last bit. And you know what? I only have to wash one container.
Related: Recipe: The Best Chocolate Ice Cream
(Image: Elizabeth Passarella)
Comments (12)
Weekly Email
Top Posts
Top Recipes
- Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Nutloaf! And Leftover Nutloaf!
- Two Cocktails for Thanksgiving
- Appetizer Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Potato Bites with Spicy Sour Cream Dipping Sauce
- Recipe: Ginger Pumpkin Pie with Graham Cracker Crust
- Recipe: Hearty & Healthy Apple Muffins
Top Tours
- Before & After: Kelly Moseley's Calming Austin Kitchen
- Joe and Kristin's Warm and Cozy Craftsman Kitchen
- Rachel's Busy Single Girl's Kitchen
- Karen's White and Green Urban Cottage Kitchen
- Kitchen Gallery: White, Bright, and Clean
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well done.
view manjar's profile
its like we are the same person.
view raddlesnack's profile
This is wonderful. You've really put into words what it's like to eat ice cream out of a carton. I have a Ben & Jerry's coupon eating a hole in my pocket that I might have to use this weekend.
view eneriyma's profile
I have to say, though, I am not a fan of the carton. Love the ice cream inside, but the cardboard cartons are structurally unsound for proper digging and scooping. Perhaps, you have an overzealous freezer, as I do, that enjoys freezing everything into leathal weapons, including the soft goodness of ice cream. Well, one brand did not succumb to the freezer's ways. Talenti Gelato and Sorbeto (links below) uses a wonderful plastic contatiner that miraculously keeps the ice cream/gelato malleable, AND leaves you with a new contatiner to perhaps fill with homemade ice cream. Check them out! They have original flavors that when frozen will not break your spoon.
http://www.talentigelato.com/
http://www.icecreamsource.com/Talenti_c_243-1.html
view sassifrassi's profile
yes yes!! a bowl is so limiting!
view smorris5's profile
this sounds so perfect right now. just me. ice cream and a spoon. digging away!
view Sprouted Kitchen's profile
view Cheryl's profile
Yes! As my girlfriend always says, "I'm a grown up, and I get to decide what that means."
view AMLitt's profile
I have no problem with the occasional bout of ice cream for dinner. I will usually do little bowls or more usually pretty goblets of ice cream but every so often, I want the whole thing, dangit.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
I am 31 years old and have never been particularly obsessed with ice cream... until recently. Now I seriously think about it often, especially in summertime. If I indulged every time I wanted to it would be daily and the idea of keeping it in the house -- madness!! This post is not helping the new addict.
view AnnebelleSF's profile
Beautiful description. I can feel the joy!
- Amelia of Gradually Greener
view GreenCayennes's profile
This post makes me so happy. Well done!
view aesargent's profile