Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Shave Ice


Just because.

23 comments:

my2fish said...

while that may have been tasty, yellow would not be my first color choice. I'm just sayin....

bonnie said...

And what other color, pray tell, should a pineapple shave ice be?

:P

my2fish said...

well, pineapple wouldn't cross my mind as a possible flavor... they could've made it a bit more orange.

I'm thinking bright red - some kind of berry. and I never knew why, but blue is usually raspberry.

I'm just already depressed by the colder Michigan weather, and snow is on the mind.

I'm sure it was delicious.

Baydog said...

My2fish: I finally called for an oil delivery today. I've been putting it off for a while, but Friday we will have a full tank. I'm hoping it will last through the winter. We need to have a family meeting to discuss lower thermostat settings and the wearing of more sweaters while at home. I've also still got plenty of firewood.

bonnie said...

I was kidding! :D

I think what we have here is a demonstration of a fundamental difference in mainland-raised vs. tropical-island-raised minds.

Actually, given my 'druthers, it would have been multicolored, and the backdrop would've been Haleiwa, not Waikiki. But my Aoki's fix was sacrificed to make way for my turtle safari. So I made do with a stand by the Honolulu Aquarium, where they (!!!!) put barbecue sauce (!!!!) on kalua pig (!!!!) and your shave ice flavor choices were limited to strawberry, raspberry, and pineapple.

Now HERE is a PROPER shave ice menu.

bonnie said...

PS - and to Baydog's comment, I can only respond thusly:

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

bonnie said...

signs of the season...while I'm posting pictures of fruity frosty tropical treats, dinner was a bowl of my mom's number-one ultimate best rainy-weather-busy-week-one-pot-no-stress-meal recipe - green beans, potatos & ham hocks stuck in a pot of water & left on a low flame to simmer while you do your other household chores.

Best served with ketchup & rainy weather.

my2fish said...

baydog - our heat has been on for a few days. my wife is never warm, and with 3 small boys, I don't let it get too chilly in the house. I end up wearing shorts in the house in the winter, though!

sorry to derail your shaved ice topic, bonnie!

bonnie said...

Yo, fuggedaboudit!

O Docker said...

I remember something similar, growing up in Philly, but the origin was Italian, not Hawaiian. We called it 'Italian water ice', but, in Italian neighborhoods, it was just 'water ice'.

The ice was shaved finer than your photo shows - we would have called that a 'sno-cone' - but those were a less refined concoction than an authentic water ice.

I find a few places online claiming to be the home of 'original' water ice in Philly, but what they show is in garish, bright colors. The stuff I remember was in more subtle colors, and the signature, original flavor - lemon - had no color at all.

The flavor was in the ice itself, somehow, not poured over plain ice.

Simple pleasures.

Baydog said...

Simple pleasures. Where have I heard that phrase before?

Bonnie: Waddya mean Waaaaaaaah?

MTF: I wear shorts every day of the year when I'm home. But I may have a sweater and my dark work socks on at the same time, much to the chagrin of my fashion police daughters.

And yes, lemon water ice has no color. What exactly does "water ice" mean anyway? It's not self-explanatory like scrapple.

moonstruck said...

I experimented with something called "wood brick fuel" in my wood stove. It worked exactly as they claimed only better. www.woodbrickfuel.com

dennis g

bonnie said...

"waaaaahhhh" is "Here I'm trying to thing happy warm tropical thoughts on a dreary rainy day" -- (remember, this was yesterday, today is a gorgeous fall day & I wish it were a holiday so I could be out on the bay!)-- "& y'all are talking about sweaters and woodstoves and thermostats - WAAAAAAHHHH!"

Around here we just call 'em Italian ice. I guess Noo Yawkas figure most people already know what "ice" is made of! I had a particularly memorable lemon one in Broad Channel this summer - it was the day of the all-club invitational, when we saw the pelican. it was yet another beastly hot day, we'd split into a fast group & a slow group. I had the slow group; I was thinking of a lunch break under the Broad Channel Bridge, just for the shade, one of the group I was with was very hot - then suddenly there were voices calling from the shore; the fast group had found a friend's backyard in Broad Channel. Five minutes later we were sitting in an air-conditioned pizza parlor on the main drag. Yay. I got a lemon ice for dessert - yes, it was white (and I think part of why I picked lemon was because the colors of the other ones were scary), and I ate it standing out in front of the restaurant, and it was the best Italian ice I ever had.

Aaaah. Frozen desserts in the warm sunshine. That's the ticket!

bonnie said...

ps - mmm, scrapple. Also best served with ketchup.

Baydog said...

I love the fact that you like scrapple and spam, both of which tasting better when well-browned.

bonnie said...

Both better well-browned, and with ingredients left unconsidered!

:D

JP said...

Bit chilly for this time of year for me (see alternative posted)

moonstruck said...

WHOOH!!! Shaved ice is ice granules with sticky syrup poured over it. Italian Ice is made same way as ice cream, in an ice creame machine with real friut. On the boardwalk Rockaway 34 th st. was a vendor that made Italian from scratch. Big wood tubs with ice and salt packed around the "cooker" Long gone --- killed by urban renewal. Lemon, cherry, orange. On special days he made chocolate. Small 5 cents, large 10 cents.

Dennis g

O Docker said...

Now I see that this place is still around. I think they were there when I was a lad, although they were a little too far for me to ride my bike to.

They're another one of those institutions of Sout (no 'h') Philly. As Moonstruck says, the good stuff was flavored with real fruit (imagine that!), which probably explains why the colors were kinda muted.

I suspect what most places try to pass off as 'authentic' today is colored and flavored with the products of a few authentic chemical labs, nestled snuggly along the banks of the New Jersey Turnpike.

bonnie said...

Sounds GREAT.

JP's crumble looks pretty yummy too - and I'm afraid, yes, more seasonable as well.

I may have to do another dessert post tonight...

Pandabonium said...

I just planted 3 passion fruit vines (yes, they will survive our winters which only get down to freezing a few times). I'd like a passion fruit shave ice, but I'll settle for strawberry or pineapple. .

Baydog said...

Scrapple Ice. Can you imagine?

bonnie said...

Will you try it first & let us know how it is?

Or maybe the guys at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck could give it a test run, along with their Choinkwiches (ice-cream sandwiches with bacon).