A Peppermint Tradition

Sunday night was our work Christmas party and I finally feel like I am in the holiday mood.  I know I work in a retail environment, so we have been decorated and ready for nearly a month, but personally it has felt like Christmas is far far away.  Now suddenly it is a week out and I am finding myself enjoying every bit of it.  While frantically trying to make sure I have everyone's gifts lined up at the absolute last minute, of course.

Like many people, I have certain personal traditions that I only allow myself at Christmas time.  One is listening to Christmas in the Stars, which I may have convinced Chris to make our new family tree decorating album (I labor under the delusion that he will even allow me to mention it again next year).  The other is peppermint fudge ice cream.  No, not store bought made to taste like peppermint, but a very basic and inexpensive yet somehow decadent treat.

All you need is some vanilla ice cream (I usually get whatever is on sale), ice cream fudge sauce, and peppermints.  I recommend Sweet Stripe peppermints.  They have a hard shell, but are soft on the inside, which makes it much easier to accomplish the one step of actual prep for this dessert -- smashing the peppermints!

My crushing utensil of choice is The Anatomy of Communist Takeovers, but if you are a little short on Cold War era texts, any heavy book or breadboard will work fine.  I think one year I even used a wine bottle.

Then, just warm up the sauce and serve!  I usually eat this out of a coffee mug rather than a bowl so that I can pretend I'm in front of a fire place.  It is the prefect treat for weather like this.

While reading by the light of this.

Sandy Treats

Today summer officially ended.  Yes, I know the official first day of fall was last week, and it's still 90 something degrees outside, but today's the day.  Because today the local donut shop, Britts, closed up for the season.

You all know that I live by the beach, so the idea that our critically acclaimed food is donuts might come as a bit of a surprise.  I know, the concept of eating a hot donut and sipping whole milk while standing in the sand on a hot summer morning does not sound all that appealing.  But trust me.  It is.  People come from all over to have these donuts.  They're seriously like nothing you've ever tasted before.  They only make one kind, glazed.  But they literally melt in your mouth and the sweetness is just short of overwhelming.  I can only buy a half dozen at a time because I've been known to eat more than 4 in a day.  They're just that good.  And only about 15 minutes down the road (Yes, I live about 15 minutes from the beach and I never go.  I'm a bad person and will try to work on that).

Three generations enjoying a donut over Easter

So, as a last hurrah I broke my 6 donut rule and bought a dozen yesterday.  I still have 6 left as I sit here typing, but I'm not so sure how long that will last.  They're just so good!