Ice cream ball

Hey kids!

Well, we're in the thick of summer and since we got home from vacation, I just haven't felt much like blogging. I have things to write about but the mere act of sitting down and writing them just seems so unappealing! Sorry to disappoint the 12 of you who actually read this!

I'll do one today for ya, though it's mainly photos. That's how lazy I am.

A couple years ago, my parents bought Logan an ice cream ball. Whenever I mention it, no one knows what I'm talking about. Follow this link to see what it's all about.

Anyway, we've only used it a couple times. It's an interesting concept and all, but frankly, it's kind of a pain in the butt.

You put ice and rock salt in one side of the ball



and ice cream ingredients in the other side (cream, sugar, vanilla, whatever. It comes with a book of recipes or you can get creative. This time we did basic vanilla with a splash of chocolate sauce.)



Then, you "play with" the ball for a while and it is supposed to make ice cream. After 10 minutes, you are supposed to open the ball, scrape the forming ice cream off the sides and mix it up, and empty out the melted water and add more ice and salt.

So, we mixed it up and set out to play with it.







The thing is, it's really hard to play with. It's not bouncy or anything. It's HARD and it's got a design on it that makes it hurt if it's rolled to you too quickly. Logan and I both hurt our hands on it. Plus, when it's full, it's heavy. Like seven pounds. You can't kick it. You can basically roll it or shake it. AND you have to keep it in motion or the ice cream won't form.

Logan put it down the slide a few times.





We opened it (made a huge mess when it splashed) and scraped it after about 10 minutes and then refilled the ice and salt and took it back outside. We were pretty much over it by then. The kids stopped paying attention so I was stuck shaking it.

The booklet said 5-10 minutes more would make ice cream. So, we gave it 10 minutes and opened it up. It was a thin shake consistency with really hard ice cream frozen to the sides.

I gave up, scraped and mixed as best as I could, and then put it in cups with straws for the boys and gave it to them as shakes.





Logan didn't like it. Jordan ended up drinking them both.

So, in my opinion, ice cream ball = FAIL. Sorry, Mom and Dad. It seems like a good idea but just doesn't work very well.

The funny thing is, I have seen places market these for CAMPING! I couldn't imagine taking all the ice and stuff necessary to a campground and then rolling the ball around in the nasty black campground dirt and then trying to figure out how to clean it sufficiently afterward. No way, Jose!

I don't know, maybe since it's heavy I should mix it up and then do some sort of a medicine ball-style workout with it and see if that makes ice cream!

Of course, using a workout to make ice cream just seems wrong, doesn't it?