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Mack's Corner

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

This Week

Just close your eyes and push off….

I was going home one Sunday afternoon and there on the side of the road in one of the fields by the Agricenter people were ice skating. The field had been flooded and had frozen. It was a little winter wonderland. Some people had skates, some were just sliding around. One kid had Skates, a hockey stick and a puck and was skating around like he was in the NHL. A girl was doing spins .. It looked like Rockefeller center in the middle of a cotton field. Where did these people come from? People don't ice skate in Memphis.

When I was in college they would set up and ice rink at the fairgrounds for about 2 weeks in January and you could rent skates. For some reason girls kinda know how to ice skate, I don't know why, it's just something they seem to know how to do. Men don't, especially me. But that was the best part. It took at least 2 girls and sometimes 3 to keep me up. It would have been ok with me if it had taken 12 girls and my skates had never touched the ice. I loved ice skating. I was a Memphis style ice skater … But then there were these people who could really skate, who had their own skates, every winter at the fairgrounds. Where did they come from? Not Memphis ….

As I watched the people skating in the cotton field last Sunday, I was wondering how they knew the ice would be there. Did they plan it? Did they figure it was cold and they would just ride around until they found a big frozen place, thinking there had to be one somewhere.  Kinda like hunters do with deer in deer season. Or do they keep their skates in the trunk of their car, all the time hoping for someplace that looks like home, that looks like Michigan or Wisconsin or Vermont? I'm betting it was unplanned. There were people making split second turns and running to the ice, laughing and jumping … They couldn't wait to get on the ice and feel the freedom, and the speed and the cold wind in their face, to have the sense of gliding and the safety of home and the smell of youth …. Just close your eyes and push off….

God's like that: He stays with us no matter where we go, waiting for that moment when we'll see him, when we'll know that he is our home, our freedom, our wind in the face, our safety, the smell of eternity… Just close your eyes and push off ..

I wonder if the Rockettes know how to skate? I bet they could hold me up and I know they have ice.

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Cooking 220 - 2 pans, 2 burners, 20 minutes:

When I was a kid people made Snow-Cream whenever it snowed. I always wondered why we had to wait for it to snow, so I made my own that didn't need the snow. This is really old timey ice cream that is really easy, and really fun, and really cheap and will give you brain-freeze is about 10 seconds… If you eat it outside in the cold it won't melt as fast .. be sure to have some hot chocolate ready when you come in …

Mack's famous "123 Ice Cream" …Makes 1qt:
1 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
3 cups of milk.

Put everything in a pan and heat it ONLY till the sugar dissolves, the longer you heat it, the longer it takes to chill it. Pour it in a bowl and let it cool. If you have an Ice Cream maker pour it in and start turning. If you don't, put it in the freezer and leave it for 30 minutes, then whisk it, getting anything frozen on the side of the bowl. Wait 15 more minutes and whisk it again. Continue until it's all frozen. The more you whisk the fluffier it will be, less like an Ice cube. To serve sprinkle a little salt on top for the full effect (Our hand crank Ice cream maker used rock salt to help freeze the ice cream. Some salt always got in to the ice cream)… And you thought salted ice cream was a new thing??

Mack

 

Posted by Mack Oates at 8:03 AM