Frosty Memories

When I was in high school my parents bought the local A&W drive in. Soon I was knee-deep in making root beer floats and freezes, milkshakes, soft-serve ice cream cones. I washed dozens of mugs a day as most of the root beer drinks were served in frozen, frosty mugs. We had no indoor seating, no air conditioning. We were closed in the winter. In the summer it would get so hot we'd open the freezer to stick our face in! We made the root beer in a big stainless steel vat, using concentrate from A&W and huge bags of sugar. Some of my girlfriends worked there, too. We worked hard but there were also a lot of fun times, especially flirting with cute guys who came to the order window! All in all, it was a great experience.

Every now and then I crave a root beer float or freeze. Recently I made a batch of vanilla ice cream and the root beer craving got stronger. Though it's not as good as the root beer we made, the bottled root beer still tastes pretty good. After swimming for a few hours on a 100 degree + day I introduced root beer freezes to my youngest granddaughter. I don't have a milkshake machine, so a blender had to do the mixing. No frosty, frozen mugs (a Disney Princess cup works!) We devoured them!  She loved her first freeze and, for a moment in time, I was transported back to my teenage days. Great memories and a great afternoon treat!