Something else my sister and I did quite regularly was taking any drink we could find, like iced tea or Kool-Aid and we made popsicles. Tupperware was pretty big during that time, and my mother bought those tupperware posicle-makers where you fill up the cup, place it in the tray, and then cover it with the plastic popsicle cap and stick. When you took the popsicle out of the freezer and removed the plastic cup, the popsicle was just primed for the licking. Now if we wanted to get really down-home, we would take a regular cup and fill it up with our beverage of choice and put it in the freezer. The fun part about that was taking it out and using a spoon to scrape across the top of the icee, and boy oh boy was that some kind of good!  It was so simple for kids to make and so satisfying and refreshing.

I visited my grandparents in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia area every summer from five years old to twelve and right before my 14th birthday, my family moved there.  When we moved to Virginia, I have to admit there was a drought as far as my cool summer treats. We made do with the occasional ice cream truck and the flavored-ice from the supermarket.  But before we moved, during those summers with my grandparetnts,  I always appreciated that grandma and grandpa went the extra mile for their grandkids.

In the summers, my grandfather would bring out the rock salt and the ice cream maker and make good old-fashioned homemade ice cream. I hate to confess this but I didn't love  the homemade ice cream. Why? Unfortunately, I was already spoiled by the taste of supermarket ice cream. That was the real thing to me, but I respectfully ate it because grandpa made it, and I loved grandpa! Besides, the ice cream wasn't bad at all, and as I grew older, I started to l ike it more and more.

So Baltimore, Maryland is the next stop on my memory lane of cool summer treats. I moved to Baltimore shortly after I graduated from college and I thought it wasn't going to get any better than my beloved Italian Icee. Guess what? It did! Okay, my fellow New York-natives, don't break out the Benedict Arnold t-shirt for me. This is my story, I get to have an opinion.  In Baltimore, I discovered the snowball and life and summers were never the same. The crushed ice topped with syrup like Tutti Frutti, Bubble Gum, watermelon, raspberry or orange is mmmh mmmh good, but that's not what gets me. What puts the snowball over the edge for me is my option to get marshmallow fluff on top! Anybody who knows me knows my obsession with marshmallows but you do have the option of topping it with egg custard as well.

Baltimore is not the only place that serves snowballs, but in the summer you will find snowball stands all over the city. It is a competitive thing because some stands are better known than others. So when visiting Baltimore, don't just get the crabs, don't just order a chicken box, let someone who knows a thing or two about Baltimore take you to their favorite snowball stand. Believe me, they have one.