2026, Family, Food, Kids, Uncategorized

Summer Treats

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On Friday we brought our grandson back to Brookings. The first thing he said to his dad when he got home was to describe the wonderful frozen yogurt bars he had at our house and he hoped his dad would get some right away. He also was happy that we sent a box of Effie’s Oatcakes home with him. He had never eaten those before and loved them.

I love frozen treats, especially Popsicles. I would devour them by the bag or box when I wasa child. My dentist was quite unhappy with me since I was also a random tooth brusher and had lots of sugary liquid in my mouth during the summers. I had lots of cavities as a result.

It is my understanding that frozen yogurt bars are all the rage these days. I still prefer icy treats, and I was excited to find mangonadas in the Hispanic grocery store on Luverne’s Main Street. They are enormous and icy with sweet and sour and spicy flavoring. You can see them in the header photo. They had no paletas, though, which are also wonderful Mexican frozen treats. They are my absolute favorite.

We are in Brookings this week, taking care of grandson until school starts. The Walmart store here has paletas, and if they have the yogurt bars grandson likes we will get those, too. It is still summer and it is still hot.

What were your favorite treats when you were a child? How about now? Any memorable childhood dentist experiences?

24 thoughts on “Summer Treats”

  1. Treats?
    “Great green globs of greasy, grimy gopher guts. Monkey kidneys fried.
    Two big eyes swimming in a pool of blood. Where’d I leave my spoon?”
    For some reason this childhood playground chant popped into my brain about an hour before 6 AM Eastern time.
    Lots of fillings. Spitting. Pain. Smell of ground tooth.

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    1. Ha! Our version went:
      Great green globs of greasy, grimy gopher guts.
      French fried monkey meat, squishy squashy parakeet,
      Great green globs of greasy, grimy gopher guts.
      And I forgot my spoon – but I’ve got a straw!

      (Sorry about the parakeet line, Wes)

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  2. I remember popsicles and fudgesicles (which were probably my favorite). But my favorite has always been real ice cream. And out in the Trailer Park, the folks in the next trailer over had a hand-crank ice cream maker… we’d all take turns cranking. That is the best..

    I remember making fruit juice pops when Joel was little, but I still favor ice cream – cones or a bowl – for my frozen treat.

    My first dentist (in Storm Lake IA) – no vivid memories, but his name was Dr. Bridge…

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  3. If the brand of Yoghurt bars is “Yasso”, they might have been made and packaged in Holland, MI, where I live at the Hudsonville Ice Cream factory (which is not in nearby Hudsonville.) Yasso bars hold a special place in our hearts, because in Taiwanese (our second language), “Ia-so” is the way to say Jesus, and we were church workers in Taiwan for 35+ years. Now, Oh-so-far-away, we still get a kick over having a Jesus bar as a treat.

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  4. My first dentist was rather scandalous for having seduced a nun and luring out of her convent. They married eventually. He left town to practice somewhere else. His brother was my second dentist. He was very strict with his two boys and insisted that they chew all their food with their front teeth and not their molars. l

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  5. We were so poor we had to make our own popsicles!
    Out of Kool-Aid!
    In the Tupperware popsicle maker!
    That was cracked!

    And you’d suck all the flavor out of them and end up with a cube of ice.
    And dad only liked green kool-aid. We still bring it to family gatherings.
    This summer I haven’t even made any kool-aid. I thought about that the other day. Weird. Daughter made pink lemonaide a few times.

    My childhood dentist, Dr. Olson, I’m sure long since dead, was terrible in my eyes. Up that flight of dim stairs, the walls hospital green, smelling like rubbing alcohol, and his office to the right, with the old magazines and old toys, and behind the reception desk, and the one receptionist, were rows and rows of false teeth molds. His one chair – and the spit sink- at least had a window and I could look out at the bricks of the building across the street while his old, belt driven drill howled and he told me stories of soldiers in WWII having to pedal the drill…. Yes, I have dental phobia.
    Since about 1984 I’ve had a much better dentist who is so nice and has helped so much. He retired a few years ago, and now his son is in the office. Course it’s assembly line dentistry, with three women behind the desk, and a dozen dental assistants, Or maybe hygienists?? I think there’s a difference, and I can’t remember any one in particular except the older lady (well, older than the rest) who would ‘tsk tsk’ while cleaning and make passive aggressive comments about flossing. I asked not to see her anymore. Lots of cavities for me too. Not from too many sweets, but simply from lack of brushing. I still have to force myself to brush and floss.

    Those ice cream drumsticks were my favorite, but we didn’t have them at home. Could only get them during the fair. Otherwise it was plain vanilla ice cream at home.

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  6. My favorite frozen treats were Fudgsicles and Popsicles. Something has changed with today’s Popsicles – they just don’t taste the same. And I haven’t see a double one in years. For ice cream, I have always been a vanilla girl. Another more recent favorite is Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. Unfortunately, my taste buds aren’t fully recovered from my illness and the ice cream doesn’t taste nearly as good.

    My childhood dentist filled anything that remotely looked like a cavity. He also didn’t believe in Novocaine unless filling a front tooth. Thinking about that low speed drill still gives me shivers. Thankfully I found a dental office that I love. Over the years there have been three wonderful dentists working there. Each of them did excellent work (and were generous with Novocaine). I actually look forward to my twice a year cleanings/check ups – including tomorrow.

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        2. Bill – I do’t remember a specific device. I think we just broke them against a counter or table edge.

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  7. I think I mentioned that my uncle was my dentist growing up. No good memories.

    Ben-Kool Aid was the popsicle ingredient when I was growing up as well but my mom made them in the ice cube tray with a toothpick. And she had a little bowl on the counter in which you deposited the toothpick afterwards. Yes, you’re guessing correctly-she rinsed then thoroughly and re-used them!

    As an adult … heath dilly bars, fun-pops, moose tracks ice cream, fudge bars!

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  9. We were allowed orange push-ups or Orange Crush. No other treats. Mom made koolaid ice cubes at home, which we enjoyed in water or koolaid.

    In the summer we rode our bikes halfway around the lake to Grandma Ackman’s little country store. It was one of those cool old places that only exists in memory now. I’d give anything to see it again. It was a tiny place. There were those old glass countertops filled with candy and ice cream. There was a cooler with pop in it. There were other food and necessities too, but I only remember the candy and pop. We’d get our orange push-ups and walk over to where a tunnel passed underneath highway 60. A stream flowed through it, and we’d catch frogs and look at the trails the snails made on the stones. We’d finish our push-ups and ride back home.

    My favorite treat has always been vanilla ice cream.

    My dad was my dentist until I was in my 30s. All the people who came to Dad’s funeral said how much they loved him, and how kind he was to them when he worked on them. My brothers and I looked at each other, thinking, “Who are they talking about?” He was a very firm father. He did not display any affection. I was scolded and told to HOLD STILL in the chair. I rarely had cavities, but I had/have irregularly shaped teeth. Some needed dental work. I think he filed some spots down. It hurt, and he was rough with me – but that was how he was at home too. My brothers and I didn’t know the kind dentist others described.

    His office was in Owatonna, 108 West Vine, in the Parrot building. There was a law office connected to his via a little hallway in the middle of the building.

    He had a hygienist, Jody, who was cheerful and fun. He also had an assistant, Rose, who was/is so kind. Dad left Rose money in his will to go to dental hygiene school (I refused hygiene school, thank you), and she became one of the top hygienists in the state. She was the president of a national dental hygienist association, and went all over the country keeping other hygienists up to date on skills and procedures. She has continued to be my hygienist up to July, when she retired at nearly 75. The end of a life-long era for me.

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  10. i was a dreamsicle guy or pushups. frozen stuff on a stick guy. i found out my ice cream choice was called a tin roof sunday vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and peanuts. 3 scoops every day after school.
    my dentist loved me. 6 calories twice a year.
    butter rum lifesavers are still available on amazon in 24 packs. still love em. i get them for my birthday.

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  11. Oooh, I just remembered: Dairy Queen had/has the Buster Bar – vanilla ice cream, chocolate fudge, peanuts – all dipped in chocolate, on a stick. Those of us who worked at Marshalltown Manufacturing the summer before Senior Year (H.S.) would jump in someone’s car at quitting time and head down 3rd Ave . to the Dairy Queen – that’s what I always got…

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    1. I am attracted to the Peanut Buster Parfait… but it’s so big! I think I’ve only had one once.
      The buster Bar is good too. I recall it being frozen so hard it was hard to eat. But then it starts to melt and fall off the stick.

      Reese’s Peanut Butter cup Blizzards are my favorite these days.

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