Ice Cream Sundae Sunday Lunch

That's just what we had here today.... an Ice Cream Sundae Sunday Lunch. We invited six of our neighbors and told them we would be serving cold ice cream, hot waffles, and fresh whipped cream. We asked that each of them bring their favorite ice cream toppings. We told them our reason for the party was that we needed to do our part to take care of global warming. In truth, I thought this house has been too quiet for too long-- we just needed some good noise, and some good company. Plus, I had everything I needed for this ice cream party... tucked away in the closet for the past two summers now... we just never got around to having a summer party the last couple of years.

After all the rain we had here this past week, and a nearly-midnight thundershower last night, today's weather was broiling hot and blindingly sunny--- perfect ice cream weather.

We drove downtown to Hank's Ice Cream yesterday to buy Mr. Hank's most delicious flavors. Actually, all his flavors are delicious, so we just picked the ones we thought would be good for the party. We had to get chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, of course.... then we picked Sweet Cream, Rum, and Butter Pecan. I talked my husband into getting two pints of the chocolate, and he got two pints of the Sweet Cream, and then just one pint of the other flavors. Which gave us four quarts of ice cream. Much too much-- my husband was right..... but I wanted to make sure we had more than enough, rather than who wants the last scoop of chocolate?

I found thick Belgium waffles in Kroger, so I toasted them up just before our friends got here, then kept them warm in the oven. I also had two kinds of ice cream cones (the ones that taste like sugar wafers, and the thicker waffle-design cones), plus little bowls made out of the waffle cone batter--- again, way too much. Only one of the waffle bowls was eaten, and none of the cones.

Everyone either had their ice cream on top of the warm waffles, or they made sundaes with different flavors and a mixture of the toppings. Some of the toppings were--- blueberries, tiny chunks of pineapple, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, homemade "Rocky Road" with chocolate sauce and tiny marshmallows and nuts, butterscotch syrup, maple syrup, pineapple syrup, hot fudge syrup, M&Ms, chocolate-covered raisins, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, chocolate sprinkles, sliced bananas, and sweet red cherries (the bright red ones with their stems on that are sold in jars brimming with cherry juice). To go with all of that sugar, I made Chock Full of Nuts coffee (not decaf).

I set up the ice cream, waffles, and toppings buffet on a table in the living room, and everyone fixed their own calorie-free (not) concoction. I misjudged everyone appetite... so we have a lot of ice cream left over. I really thought our friends would try a couple of different flavors on the small cones, but everyone seemed to stick with their favorite standard flavors, and just took a tiny taste of the newer ones, like the Rum and the Sweet Cream. Me included.... my flavor of choice is and always has been chocolate.... but I sprinkled mine with fresh blueberries, pineapple chunks and crushed cashews. And my one small scoop of chocolate on top of that thick waffle was more than enough.

I had found everything for this party by accident... ice cream books, ice cream parlor invitations, ice cream cone ornaments, colored plastic tiny-taste spoons, napkins with ice cream designs, large colorful ceramic ice cream soda glasses-- whenever I came across something that would go with this kind of party, I kept putting them on a shelf in the party closet and before I knew it, everything was there and waiting. All we really had to buy was the ice cream and a few toppings. It took me less than a week to get everyone and everything together for this afternoon. We limited the number of friends to the number of party accessories and favors that I had, but with all the glassware (ice cream dishes) that I have, we could have invited everyone in the Charades group.

I told my husband that we have enough ice cream and toppings left over to have another party. But it's nearly 6:30 as I'm typing... the kitchen and dining room are cleaned up and back in order, so I don't think there will be another party right away.

For place cards, I used blown-glass ornaments in the shape of ice cream-filled cones-- one of those for each of the ladies. For the favors, everyone got to pick either a book about ice cream (either trivia or recipes), or large ice cream soda glasses with colorful swirling straws. My husband made up a word "Jumble" for everyone to figure out, similar to the Jumbles that are in the newspaper every day--- Why did the ice cream truck get a flat? ---Too much "Rocky Road."

We all had a nice time.... it was a good, cool way to spend a few hours on a hot Sunday afternoon. Everyone who was here was asking about our annual Halloween party--- Are we having it? What should they wear? What should they bring?

We told them all to start thinking about their costumes... Halloween is just a heartbeat away. And of course we're having our Halloween party. Boo!