Hot Enough For Ya?

[Low-N-Slow]

The oppressive heat of late got me thinking of all the cool and cold summer treats we consumed as kids. I don't mean sno-balls or parlor ice cream, but rather the stuff bought at the grocery and kept on hand, like Popsicles, or those long, skinny ice pops I don't remember the name of, lemonade mix from a pouch, Fizzies (I date myself), and Kool-Aid.

My favorite Kool-Aid flavor was the rarely-seen Lemon-Grape. Back in those days, Kool-Aid mixed flavors were named simply-- like crayons. Although, with Crayolas, you had to know that the second color named in the blend was the predominant. I see that good old Lemon-Grape at some point returned, but bowed to the whims of marketing genius and dubbed "PurpleSaurus Rex". I see that Crayolas, too, have followed suit, and, where Orange and Red-Orange once sufficed, there are now a half dozen or more shades of orange available, all with catchy names ("Mango Tango", for one). But I digress.

I remember, too, a neighbor whose many children required constantly available batches of homemade popsicles in those sets of Tupperware molds. Although grape (made with double-strength Kool-Aid) was a favorite, it was much too dangerous for a household with light-colored wall-to-wall carpeting, so orange juice was quite often the only choice. Remember how you could kind of suck the flavor right out of those, leaving just ice behind?

So, as a child, what was your favorite at-home summer heat-beating treat?

[buzd]

those long, skinny ice pops I don't remember the name of

Although there are a lot of cheap, generic knock offs on the market nowadays, there were always really just 2 brands: otter pops and my personal favorite, Fla-Vor-Ice.

[wish I never left]

Hot as it is over there, it is even hotter over here in Houston. We are coming to New Orleans next weekend just to cool off!

Growing up in the midwest, where it gets just as hot and humid only not for as long, frozen Snickers bars were a frequent treat to try and cool down.

[Isabella Maja]

We often had orange juice or pineapple juice pops that were homemade.
Banana fudgesicles were my mama's fav, so sometimes we had those.
And the occasional regular popsicle but not very often.

Thanks for the reminder. I'm going to make pineapple juice pops right now!

[yum]

Dreamsicles from the ice cream man.
Frozen Zero and Three Muskateers bars.

[Mrs. Fury]

Tupperware molds? We didn't have that kinda money. We used ice cube trays and popsicle sticks. I liked any Kool-Aid flavor but tropical punch was my favorite.

[Gourmondo]

Back when I was a kid in BR in the '60's, I remember several summer treats, both at home and away from the house. There was a pool club in the neighborhood. We didn't belong, but a neighbor of ours did and after being first in the pool on a summer morning, we'd get a Dr. Nut at the snack bar. Good stuff. Never saw it anywhere else in BR. There was a snowball stand nearby in the summer too - I used to get something called a Blue Eagle, which was basically a bubble-gum flavor. Another pool snack bar had fabulous ice cream sundaes. We also used to get ice cream at the Creamery (now called the Dairy Store) at LSU and sometimes would go to the Hopper's by LSU for lime sherbert. We also had a milkman who delivered the milk at our house. During the summer, they always had ice cream for the kids. We made lemonade, too (from scratch, of course).

The best place though was Dearman's drug store on Jeff. Hwy., which had a classic lunch counter/soda fountain. They had great shakes there. The burgers and fries were really good, too. My brother worked behind the counter there for a few years so we were regulars. A very good friend of my brother bought it several years ago and tried to bring some of glory days back. I tried it when I was exiled there after Katrina and it was pretty decent, but you can never go home again...

[Suzy Wong]

I liked the blue otter pops the best....

My maternal grandmother bought the hawaiian punch syrup in the glass bottle and mixed it with h2o and put it in ice cube trays than when they were ready would wrap them in a paper towel....

[Low-N-Slow]

I had all but forgotten about going to the swim club (we always managed to get in as members' guests), and the frozen candy bars. This particular poolside concession would put popsicle sticks in them, right through the wrappers, before freezing. There was some rodent hair scandal way-back-when that all but put one of the brands out of business, IIRC. We'd also order up our fountain drinks as a mixture of all the different flavors-- cola, orange, root beer, 7-Up, etc-- and call it a "suicide". I would use my swim mask to submerge to the bottom of the diving well and retrieve lost change to extend my snacking budget.

[Mrs. Fury]

I would use my swim mask to submerge to the bottom of the diving well and retrieve lost change to extend my snacking budget.

My friend and I would crawl under the local catholic church and gather the change that fell through the vent grates during the passing of the basket. Ok I guess that was wrong, but I was a kid.