A Good Way to Start the Summer
Saturday, 30 May 2009 -- 7:00 pm
Back in the States, I never really lived in a place where single-packaged ice cream snacks were all that popular. We had them in the cafeteria in middle school, and I often treated myself to a Strawberry Shortcake bar for dessert, but the idea of grabbing an ice cream sandwich or an ice cream bar as a snack while I was out shopping, etc was generally uncommon. I’ve been told that in other parts of the country and among other people, this is much more common, but it wasn’t something I’m used to.
When we moved to China, we quickly learned that ice cream snacks and popsicles were the staple sweet snack among the locals. A few times at Silk Market, we even heard the bargaining technique of “Just 10 kuai more? Then I can buy an ice cream!” And we often ended lunch by grabbing an ice lolly from the shop in our building before heading back up to the office. No matter the season, it was always a time for ice cream, even if it was freezing cold out!
Here in Norway, the mentality is similar, and every corner shop has a freezer of ice cream bars. The fruity popsicle variety is less popular than actual ice cream, and I’m not surprised given that the most popular ice cream brand Diplom-Is is a child of milk giant Tine. Although ice cream bars are eaten year-round as in China, the variety does expand once the summer weather begins to creep in. On warm sunny days, our afternoon trips to the store for soda and snacks often end with everyone finishing off ice cream bars as we walk back to the office.
I always enjoy trying all the different varieties, but the traditional ice cream sandwich is still my favorite. Well… it was my favorite. The other day was one of the sunny pleasant early-summer days and I decided to grab an ice cream bar to eat on my way home from the supermarket. Our local Meny stocks the Norwegian ice cream brand Hennig-Olsen as well as Diplom-Is, and I discovered a wonderful creation! Like so many ice cream companies, Hennig-Olsen makes ice cream sandwiches, but they make a few different varieties. I’d seen their strawberry variant before, but this was the first time I’d ever seen the greatest ice cream creation ever: The pistachio ice cream sandwich! Pistachio is one of my favorite ice cream flavors, so to have a combination of pistachio ice cream and ice cream sandwich? I’m in heaven!
So as the weather warms up (the forecast is 28°C tomorrow), I’m looking forward to a great summer of grilling in the park, swimming in the fjord, and pistachio ice cream sandwiches!