Winter Woes

So, everyone warned us desert rats about how horrible this New Hampshire winter is.  I mean, today Matthias left work a half an hour early and got home 45 minutes late because of accidents and the slowness of traffic due to the horrible snow storm that's upon us right now.  It didn't really start snowing until around 1pm, but he brushed 6" off of the car at 5pm.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures today to show you, but here's an example from earlier in the winter:

Lots of snow.  A friend mentioned that it looks like Narnia and I love that description.  Isn't it beautiful?

Beautiful, but a little scary when driving in it.  Luckily the cities here are very well-equipped and the driving conditions are only bad until the storm is over, and then the next morning driving conditions are normal.

With the snowpocalypse hitting the east coast this winter, we sort of laughed because until today we could see grass outside.  Most of the snow was melted, and most of what remained were the mounds from the plows.  We hadn't really had snow in a month (probably since that January picture), and people were telling us how mild this winter has been.  We were a little disappointed because we had plans for the winter time, and December was just too busy with Matthias working like crazy so we could take a vacation!

Luckily, we were able to take advantage of the snow tonight!  Well, at least partially.

How to Make Snow Ice Cream

Go outside and get about a gallon of fresh snow.  Make sure it isn't yellow, and that it doesn't have any dirt or twigs in it.  I guess that's the definition of fresh.

Next, allow a really cute 6 month old to try out the snow.  He should start to like it after an initial shocked reaction.

Next, gather all of your ingredients.  You will need a can of evaporated milk, some sugar, and vanilla.  We didn't measure.

Because our snow was so light and fluffy, we needed to use a heaping amount to create a decent serving size.

Pour in some milk (just guess.  You can always add more.  Or you can add more snow.)

Next, add in sugar.  I added about 3 spoonfuls.

Add a few drops of vanilla and then begin stirring.

Pretty soon it becomes creamy frozen ice cream goodness.  Ok, so it's not super creamy, but it is super good!  Especially if you add peanut butter M&Ms.

Note:  Don't feed snow ice cream to really cute six month olds.  They will be interested, but resist the temptation.

How to Make Snow Cones

Gather snow cone syrups left over from hot summers in Arizona and fill your glass with snow until heaping.

Pour in snow cone syrup liberally.  I went for a Spider-Man snow cone.

After stirring down, you'll notice that you have about half the volume of snow that you started with.  That is no good, so add more snow.

Since I was liberal enough with the syrup, I didn't need to add more and I just mushed it all together until it was colorful all the way through.

 Because I used an up and down motion, I avoided spilling and kept the colors separated.  Snow cones made with real snow are literally melt in your mouth good!  No ice crunching, which is bad for your teeth (but oh so fun).  So smooth and good.

And finally, shiver, look at the outcome of your desserts, and decide not to further the stomach-ache by diving into the box of Valentine's candy we bought for half off.

And people told us that winter is miserable!  Next year we plan on doing this:

Did I mention that we love living in New Hampshire?