How odd that less than a week ago the heat kept coming on in our house. And now, for the past three days, we have had a complete surge in temperatures. It's disgustingly hot outside -- and I love it. Yesterday after we got home from church (Emilia was a nightmare, by the way. And the nice lady we always talk to, whose name I really should learn, managed to blame it on the heat. She was right, too. It was hot as hades in there...) we all sat outside in the backyard and had popsicles. Actually we had homemade paletas, more like. And hands down, it was the best popsicle I've ever had.
For some reason or another I've been thinking about our old cabin in California these days. I always do when it warms up a bit here, because the instant you walk out the front door and wander up to our mailbox, the smell of summers in California wafts right into your face. It is the smell of warm pine needles and fir needles cooking in the sunshine, and, oh my goodness, I have always loved that smell. Funny how it always takes me back to our cabin, too.
Summers there as a child were idyllic. We would drive (and drive and drive) the long distance from our house in Wyoming and then we would stay for a month or so. My mom would be the one behind the wheel of the family station wagon, going ninety mph, blasting Ann Murray, and we'd all be eating store-bought danishes -- until we would inevitably break down somewhere. A day or so later, after the car was fixed and loaded up with a few more supplies from Carson City, Nevada, we would eventually roll in to the little town of Arnold.
Anyway, rather than run the risk of becoming horribly maudlin about it, I'll skip the rest of the details. Well, all except this, anyway: passing the swim-test, going on paddle boats, getting so sun-burned your skin would come off in revolting sheets, going to the Cameo for ice cream, going to The Peppermint Stick in Murphys for more ice cream and jawbreakers (that we would lick and lick and lick until our tongues bled), playing board games with everyone late into the night, my sisters' friends sneaking over in the middle of the night to write 'Red Rum' all over the rocks outside (which they claimed to find horrifying, for some ridiculous reason), strawberry bubble bath, mega-spiders, spinning on the stools at the bar in the kitchen until you'd fall right off, swimming across the lake, sticky sap all over your feet from the deck, and Otter Pops, to name a few of my memories.
I haven't actually seen Otter Pops in ages, although I'm certain they can be found quite easily. (I wonder if they still taste as good as I remember.) But Emilia and I did find molds to make our own popsicles when we were walking through Whole Foods a few months ago, which I immediately put away until it got warm enough to use them. And then a week or so ago Saveur Magazine came in the mail with a whole spread on homemade paletas -- Mexican popsicles. Recipes for Mango & Chile, Strawberries & Cream, Rice Pudding, Tamarind, and Pineapple. Mmmm, yummy!
And so, Saturday afternoon, we stood in the kitchen and made mango popsicles. The recipe calls for ancho chile powder, but I only put it in half of them. While ancho is not terribly spicy, it may not be a flavor that a two year old relishes. Anyway, we poured the mixture carefully into the molds, put them in the freezer, and then we waited. And we waited. And we waited.
The next day we all sat outside in the backyard, with our popsicles in hand, and we smiled. And we smiled. And we smiled.
makes 8 paletas
1 cup store-bought juice or nectar (preferably Looza, if you can find it)
¼ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ancho powder
1 large mango, peeled, and cut into small cubes
In a saucepan, combine the mango juice, sugar, lemon juice and ½ cup water. Heat over medium-high, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and put in the fridge until completely cold. Stir in the chile and mango and pour into 8 popsicle molds. Insert a stick into each mold and freeze for 3 hours. (Although my popsicle box says not to even think about touching them for 4 hours, which I thought was a good call. After 3 hours I pulled out a stick and no popsicle -- which is why we ended up waiting until Sunday.) To release the ice pops from their molds, run the bottom under cold water for a second or so. (Recipe from: Mauricio Velázquez de León, Saveur Magazine, August/September 2010 issue.)
Do you take orders? And would you possibly be willing to ship these to California via a frozen food courier service? I'll have a Mango and Chile, plus, some Rice Pudding flavored popsicles. It's a good thing to keep on hand in case of an emergency or just to eat when you are feeling hot and sticky!
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