“There is no season such delight can bring, As summer, autumn, winter, and the spring.”
A day in winter with bright sun, no wind and temperatures hovering around 40˚is a beautiful day. Miss Gracie is further proof. She is my barometer: the longer she stays out, the nicer the day. She hasn’t barked or checked in with me for a long time so I’ll take a peek just to make sure everything is okay. It is.
Saturday was the busiest day of the week when I was a kid. My father always went uptown to leave and pick up his white shirts at the Chinaman’s and get a trim at the barber’s. I never thought about the word Chinaman back then. It was just a place to me, a dry cleaner’s, owned and run by a man from China, a Chinaman. I think everyone in town called it the Chinaman’s and nobody meant anything by it. It was purely a description.
Al the Saturday activities were seasonal. In winter I went to the matinee or ice skated at the town rink, a fenced in area built at the start of every winter and taken down when the warmth of spring got too much for the ice. It was the only season my father and all the other fathers in the neighborhood were not outside working in the yards, but come spring there they were. Saturday was yard day.
My father was never really exact at some things. When he fertilized his lawn, he threw out the fertilizer by hand instead of evenly distributing it with a spreader. When the grass grew, I could always see the pattern of my father’s tosses by the condition of the grass. As soon as the lawn got taller, the whole neighborhood was filled with clipping sound of hand mowers. Every spring my father planted his flowers in the front garden though calling it a garden elevates it as the space was a small one between bushes across the front of the house.
In summer, my father continued to mow the grass every week. He also watered the grass from a sprinkler connected to the hose. My sisters used to love to run through the sprinkler, but my father was never a fan. He said it ruined his grass. He did have nice grass.
Fall was time to rake the leaves, a communal activity in my neighborhood every Saturday. After being gathered, the newly raked leaves were piled by the curb on the side of the street. Tradition dictated that the piles be burned. I watched as closely as my father would let me. I can still picture the flame coming from the middle of the pile and the smoke rising above it. I remember the smell of those burning leaves, one of my favorite smells.
Last year I burned a few leaves just for the memories. The smell, the aroma, was so familiar I could have been ten again and standing with my father.
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Tags: bright sun, Chinaman, fertilizer, flowers, ice skating, movie, mowing the grass, no wind, pretty day, Saturday, spring lawns, winter activities
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
January 30, 2016 at 2:00 pm
White Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream
PRINT
PREP TIME
30 mins
COOK TIME
30 mins
TOTAL TIME
1 hour
YIELD: 1 and ½ quarts
INGREDIENTS
• 12 oz. (about 2 heaping cups) fresh blackberries
• 1 and ⅓ cup sugar, divided
• 1.5 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups milk (I used skim)
• 8 egg yolks
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 oz. white chocolate, chopped or in the form of chips
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a small saucepan, combine blackberries and ⅓ cup of the sugar over medium heat. Cook, stirring every few minutes, until you have a nice thick syrup – about 20 minutes.
2. Strain blackberry syrup into a small bowl through a mesh colander and set aside. Discard any leftover blackberry bits or pulp.
3. In a large saucepan, combine half-and-half and milk over medium heat. Whisk occasionally and bring to a simmer.
4. While milk mixture is heating up, combine remaining sugar (1 cup), vanilla extract, and egg yolks. Whisk by hand (or, if you’re lazy like me, use an electric hand mixer!) until eggs have lightened in color.
5. When milk mixture has reached a simmer, it’s time to temper the eggs! Add a few tablespoons of hot liquid at a time to the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until you’ve incorporated about half of the hot milk mixture into the eggs. At this point, you can pour the the egg mixture back into the saucepan, whisking to incorporate. Return saucepan to the stove over low heat.
6. Add blackberry mixture to milk/egg mixture in the saucepan and whisk to combine. Stir frequently until the custard has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes (see this post for some step-by-step pictures!)
7. Place white chocolate in a large bowl. When ice cream has thickened, remove it from the heat and pour it over the white chocolate. Stir the mixture until chocolate has melted into the ice cream base.
8. Let the custard cool on the counter for 15-20 minutes, then place it in the fridge uncovered for 30 minutes to an hour.
9. After an hour, cover the mixture with an airtight lid or some plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least eight hours or overnight.
10. You’re ready to churn the ice cream (YAY!) Pour the ice cream base into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer instructions. Eat it right away soft-serve style or pop it in an airtight container and freeze it for an hour or two before digging in.
January 30, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Mortify,
I think I might try this with blueberries. I do like blackberries, but I’d be uneasy making it to serve as a dinner dessert. I figure more people like blueberries.
This has a lot of pre-churn steps, but it sounds worth the effort. Homemade ice cream is always an impressive dessert.
January 30, 2016 at 2:13 pm
Saturday was also a busy day at our house when I was a kid. My father did the yard work in the morning and in the afternoon he would have the car serviced. In those days he changed the oil more frequently and rotated and replaced the tires often. Of course we had the blue laws back then which kept most businesses closed on Sunday. Today Sunday is just as busy as Saturday at my house.
I’m at the Toronto airport getting ready to go home. It’s cloudy and cool here with the temperature about 40 degrees. In Dallas will be sunny with highs in the 70s. El Niño I suppose is responsible for the warm winter.
January 30, 2016 at 6:24 pm
Bob,
We also had the Blue Laws so Sunday was always a quiet day. There was church then the family dinner.
I haven’t any memories of my father and his car except when I was really young and he had to put on tire chains when it snowed. That was fun to watch.
Our winter has been really warm so far with December’s temperature average 10˚ above normal. It was in the 40’s today but will hit 60˚ sometime this week.
I’m happy this winter no matter who or what is responsible.
January 30, 2016 at 9:17 pm
My dad was a traveling salesman and put a lot of miles on the car traveling Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas. Maybe not every Saturday afternoon. He would have to keep in top shape.
January 30, 2016 at 9:26 pm
My dad was also a salesman, but he had a list of stores in the area around Boston which were his clients so he came home every night.
He was quite the salesman!!
January 30, 2016 at 4:09 pm
We’re very far from spring tonight, I have to admit that I got a bit surprised when I opened the door for the dogs and saw that the world had turned white again. It isn’t much and it will be gone tomorrow when we’ll get rain and temperatures above 32 again. Looks pretty when I know it won’t stay 🙂
Today has been a good tv day, first I watched the second episode of Grimm and after that I watched the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. A really charming and fun British movie with some of their best actors. The two hours just flew by and now I want to see the sequal!
Have a great day!
Christer.
January 30, 2016 at 6:35 pm
Christer,
You are so right. The snow looks pretty when it isn’t going to last too long. Most of my snow is gone as well due to a bit of rain and warmer than expected days. It may even reach 60˚ later this week.
I love both Marigold movies. Today I watched The Hundred-Foot Journey. It was wonderful. I recommend it to you.
Enjoy the weekend!!