paint cut paste

okay, so we don’t have any snow here in the SF bay area, but most of my east coast friends and family have been enduring the white stuff for weeks. i’ve gotten several requests for my family’s snow ice cream recipe, so i thought i’d share the ritual here that i’ve been enjoying since the 70s. it’s the yummiest snow activity i can think of! (hot cocoa is amazing, sure, but this is such a treat!) we made snow ice cream last march when we were living in virginia, so i’ll put those photos here for nostalgia’s sake.

first put a big bowl (about a gallon sized bowl) on your deck or porch to catch the freshly fallen flakes when it’s about to snow.

then bring it inside and stir one can of sweetened condensed milk into the snow. then add a one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

if you don’t have a can of sweetened condensed milk and can’t get to the store, you can always use vanilla pudding (my mom’s recommended substitute) or a cup of sugar and a cup of cream or milk… but NOTHING beats some good ol’ sweetened condensed milk, so stock up for the winter!

eat it immediately. if you don’t finish it, you can freeze some, but let it get soupy before eating it again. you can also add crushed pineapple (my mom’s fav) or other fruit, but i like mine straight up!

enjoy… and don’t you eat that yellow snow! now i’m counting down the days until my family can make snow ice cream in tahoe… sooon…

i guess we couldn’t wait until halloween… or perhaps we just got really into the summer spirit since watermelon festivals are popping up in cities across the U.S. right now. maybe we were just hungry for fruit salad. but for whatever reason, today we carved a jack-o-melon!

no, not that jacko... a jack-o-melon!

i saw this idea in family fun magazine and thought it would be a cool way to spend a summery afternoon with novi. it’s super simple (and much softer to carve than a pumpkin!) first we made a thin slice from the bottom of our round watermelon so it can sit on a stable base. then we cut the top off for the lid, much like carving a pumpkin, and scooped out the flesh with a melon baller.

novi got busy drawing her ideas for faces to put on the watermelon while my husband did the carving. (i was the creative supervisor?) i drew one of the faces onto the melon with a ball-point pen and then we cut out the features and snacked on melon balls.

dreaming up melon faces

scooping the melon balls

let's face it... this is cute!

soon our jack-o-melon was finished and brought to light with a candle inside. we put it out on the porch for the neighbors to see… though we can’t leave it out there too long. watermelon season is also ant season, and this would be an ant feast!

proud on the porch

a jack-o-melon would also be a really cute centerpiece for a summer luncheon, shower, or picnic! you and your kids could make a whole jack-o-melon family… and i bet this would work well with cantaloupe and honeydew melons, too. so, the next time you want to make a fruit salad, have a little creative fun with it! happy summer!