Do You Want Ice Cream? Pass the Knife

Day 19 of 31

My grandfather worked as a carpenter for many years prior to The Great Depression. He once told me that no one was buying furniture during that time but he figured people would always buy milk and he needed to support his family, so he bought a cow and a truck and began the JC Allen Dairy business. As a result, my father knew a lot about milk, yogurt, ice cream and any other dairy product you can name.

JC ALLEN DAIRY

Location: Manasquan, NJ

My father worked in the dairy business most of his adult life until he retired and became a real estate agent in Maryland. He and I both loved ice cream and he always kept a supply in his freezer for a post dinner snack. It wasn’t really dessert since we would wait to eat it until closer to bed time. He would say that it was a special treat because I was there but I am fairly sure, based on the ice cream variety and freshness, that he ate ice cream pretty often.

I was visiting him one summer night and he offered me ice cream. Now, it didn’t really matter that it was summer. He ate ice cream all year long and I currently do the same. We headed into the kitchen and he opened the freezer and took out the still unopened half gallon of Turkey Hill ice cream. I told him how much I love Turkey Hill and he shared that people love that brand because it has a high fat content. That was not really a fact I wanted or needed to know, but it did explain my love of Turkey Hill Mint Chip, a love which still exists today.

Once we committed to having ice cream he took out some bowls and some small spoons for eating, turned to me and said, “Carol, pass me a knife.”

I didn’t know why he was asking me for a knife, so I reached for the ice cream scooper handed it to him and replied, “Dad, you mean a scooper, right?”

Again he said, “Nope. I mean a knife. There is one in the drawer.”

So, I opened the drawer, located a knife and handed it to my father. As I watched him, confused and wondering what the heck he was going to do with the knife, he plunged the knife into the center of the ice cream container. He then used the knife to cut pieces and then scooped those pieces into the smaller bowls. I had never seen him do this before but apparently, from his dairy days, he knew that using an ice cream scoop is not as effective as using a butter knife to scoop ice cream. Huh! My father created an ice cream scooping hack way before there were such things as hacks.

My father died last year and I miss him so much, but whenever I have a bowl of ice cream, often Turkey Hill Mint Chip, and often too close to bed time, I get out my bowl, a small spoon and I smile as I open the kitchen drawer and pick up a butter knife.

My dad with my family on his boat in Maryland