Summer Sweets

Pink Bubble Gum Ice Cream = HAPPINESS.
It's a seasonal summer flavor at Baskin Robbins and when I was a kid, my grandfather would purchase several quarts of it at a time so that it was always stocked up in the freezer. When Jeff and I visited my grandparents in Hawaii, he encouraged Jeff to give the kids ice cream every day. "It's good for kids!" he insisted. "It has sugar to give them energy and calcium to build their bones." Oh, by the way, we always washed our ice cream down with a can of coke. He bought those in cases! No wonder my diet is so poor as an adult.
Anyway, I read somewhere that licking ice cream cones always cheers people up because you feel like a kid and you can't help but smile when you're licking yummy goodness. I love giving the kids ice cream.

Jeff's favorite treat all year long, however, is chocolate chip cookies. I calculated that I make at least 96 cookies a month for my family--that's two batches of 4 dozen cookies each. Can you believe that? People have commented that we've both gained weight since getting married. When I stop to calculate the calorie count I know why.

But it's hard to turn down the kids when they beg to help make cookies. Max is a great baker. I forgot to ask him to wash his hands before helping last night and he asked, "You're letting me mix the butter with my germy fingers?"

Laney is a wonderful baker, too. She's an even better taste-tester. She exclaimed, "I don't like these cookies. I love them!" They were a great batch--crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Delish!