Spongebob on a stick, patriotic colored popsicles, hood cups, creamsicles, peanut butter swirl and pistachio. Flavors of my life. My childhood experience was immersed in food and ice cream was no exception! Around here there are so many places to get ice cream and people judge your character based on your favorite place to get ice cream. Needless to say New Hampshire natives take ice cream seriously and are certainly passionate about every aspect of the delicious stuff.

My favorite place for ice cream wasn’t those fancy parlors, or the local hot spots. It was the town pool snack bar. The air always hummed with the sounds of summer as my family walked to the pool behind the elementary pool. We’d bounce down the steep hill covered in clovers delighted for a couple hours to paddle in the cold water. Built into the building was a room with freezers and a cash register that some high school kid would run as his summer job. A magical room.

The anticipation would build and halfway through our swim time was that glorious snack break. I’d line up with the rest of the kids to decide if I wanted a Flintstones push up, or mickey mouse with crunchy chocolate. No matter what I chose it always seemed to taste like the best and first ice cream I’ve ever had. It was always worth the ½ hr wait to go back in the pool, but I’d always ask mom for another one before we left. She’d deter me by mentioning a wonderful sounding dinner and the hours spent in the water would kick up my appetite to be okay with skipping the ice cream #2.

To this day I’d say most ice cream is just average and just good since most of the time it comes from the freezer aisle. However nothing could compare to a fudge pop or hood cup. The tastes of my childhood.