Bobbie’s Dairy Dip is open again. It closes every November and the owners used to put up a sign that said, “Closed for the season. Reason? Freezin’!” Maybe they stopped because they didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that they were closed, but I liked that sign. There was something bittersweet about it, knowing that, like migratory birds or hibernating animals, the ice cream stand was gone but would return with warmer weather. Well, it’s still not exactly warm. They reopened on a very chilly March 1st and when I passed by I didn’t feel like waiting in the very long line for a caramel milkshake, or even their special black bean and avocado burgers, though one of those would have been a nice way to warm up.
When I was a kid we didn’t eat ice cream in the winter. I don’t think it was ever explicitly stated, and there was no specific reason for it other than no one in my family seemed inclined to combine frozen weather with frozen food. There wasn’t even a specific time period; my mother just stopped buying ice cream once the cold weather settled in. I was aware of it but didn’t really think about why until I was visiting an aunt one January and she scooped up a couple of bowls of mint chocolate chip.
“We’re having ice cream in winter?” I asked. I wasn’t objecting—quite the opposite, really. It was just a very minor part of my worldview being, well, not shaken, but slightly altered. The aunt laughed and said, “Any time is time for ice cream.”
She was, and still is, right, of course, but there’s also something special about a place like Bobbie’s Dairy Dip only being there part of the year. The anticipation makes their ice cream so much sweeter.
Now I wish I had stopped and gotten a caramel milkshake. And I’m going to the next time I go by there. I won’t even wait for the weather to warm up.
Bobbie’s is one of the holdouts from when I first moved to Nashville. I remember going there after an unsuccessful attempt at donating blood just up the street and pouting my way through a burger and a shake. It’s not fancy, but man, it’s good!!!
And I agree with both your Aunt – Ice Cream Season is eternal, but the anticipation makes it sweeter. Go get that shake!!!
Thanks for the sweetness and warmth of this post, cool Chris.
It was always a sure sign of spring here when the local Dairy Queen reopened!
mydangblog recently posted…Squirrel!!