Milkshake Recipes & My Two Cents

Yet, again, we were both in bed, and neither of us had turned out the overhead light. In the almost two years we’ve been married, I’ve run out of fingers and toes to count the number of times we both assume the other will turn out the overhead light and end up cozied under the covers with the light still on.

By now, you’d think we would have some kind of system for making sure such things are handled, but no, we both manage some kind of mild amnesia right when it’s time to hit the sack. What startles me is that I haven’t started always remembering, just to save myself the agony of possibly having to venture back into the cold of the room after having tasted the glorious warmth of the space beneath the covers. Even more surprising is that my husband hasn’t clicked into his energy-saving gear and dispatched with the overhead light altogether, since the bedside lamp does a fine job for just getting ready for bed or in-bed reading. This is one time I would have absolutely no hesitation or objection whatsoever, delighted with the savings and the removal of all possibility of having to dart back out of bed, trying to get across the room, turn off the light, and get back under the covers before my nerves registered the cold.

Another surprise to me is that my gadget-happy electrician husband hasn’t installed some kind of remote control for the light. Our split-system air conditioner has a remote control, which he explained to me would be great for fiddling with the system after we’d crawled into bed. In other parts of the house, we have motion sensors for lights, too, although that wouldn’t quite work in the bedroom. With all the gadgets he sees in the course of a week, working in commercial and residential facilities, I’m astounded that he hasn’t landed on something perfect for compensating for our forgetfulness.

It’s not just the bedroom light, either. Often, we’ll be cocooned under the covers, finally starting to unwind after a long day, slowly releasing the tension from thoroughly-stressed muscles, and one of us will notice that there’s just a little too much of a glow leaking into the bedroom from the kitchen…some random light got missed in the bedtime light-killing ritual. This is even worse, since you have to leave the relative warmth of the carpet and venture across a cold-leaking wood floor to get to the usual culprits. Less painful is the bathroom light, since there’s a fuzzy rug on that floor, but the return vent in their has a nasty habit of sending up just enough cold air, on the coldest nights, to make you confident you’ll never again forget those bothersome lights.

Maybe we should up our levels of ginko biloba, to boost our powers of memory, or maybe we should just get more sleep, so we’re generally more alert…or maybe I should try to convince my husband that we need a whole-house remote control system for the lights.

Ok, I’ll readily admit it.  I’m a milkshake lover. And I’ve tried almost every restaurant’s strawberry milkshake across the planet.  (Ok, not quite every, and not quite across the planet).  But, I do love strawberry milkshakes.

Looking at my favorite fast food shakes, I’m going to touch on each one and not even do it in the “top 10″ order like I originally planned.  It’s hard to really make that decision, and since I’m sometimes a rather indecisive person, I’ll just give you a list of my favorites and let you decide how you’d rank them.

We’ll start off with good old McDonalds.  I’ll have to say that several years ago (how long’s it been - 8 years?) when they went through a drastic change of their shakes to the thick, creamy with strawberry lumps one they have now, it was a good change.  I still remember living in Greenville, SC and heading out for a McDonalds shake knowing that if I went to the McDonalds closest to where I lived, I’d get the old McD’s shake style but if I went out for a longer drive to one farther away, they’d have the new creamy one.  McDonald’s strawberry shakes are still probably my favorite, though I do like my variety. They’re thick, lumpy with strawberries (which my kids don’t like), and creamy-so-creamy.

Then you’ve got Burger King and their good ol’ standbye strawberry milkshake. You can definitely taste the syrup and it’s nothing like McDonalds, but I grew up probably with more Burger King shakes than McD’s, and I still enjoy a good large size shake at the king of the burgers. I’m almost thinking that they also changed their recipe several years back?  Well, not a major, major change but still a definite reworking of the old standard. Correct me if I’m wrong.

We currently live in a small town, and Burger King is a decent half hour drive away.  McDonalds is close by, but, as a family, we just don’t go there too much (long story - let’s just say my son likes real onions and not the rehydrated onion bits McD’s likes to place on their burgers; I also spent too many hot & greasy days emptying wire baskets full of fries at a McDs). We do have Wendys.  Now, I’ve never been a Wendy’s fan (square burgers? c’mon!), but I’ll concede that living where we are right now has forced me to actually like Wendy’s food -  most of it, that is. Their fries are still a mile lacking. Wendys recently came out with milkshakes - even strawberry - and their shakes are pretty good, too.  I’ve only had one strawberry shake so I can’t write too much about it. What we typically do is just get large Frosties, bring them back home, remove a couple spoonfuls of ice cream (that’s all Frosties are - just soft icecream in a cup instead of a cone) and add a little bit of milk and strawberry syrup. That’s pretty much my weekly strawberry shake right now. Part Wendys, part me.  It’s not too bad, either.  Definitely cheaper during these penny pinching times. But then our Wendys just upped their prices on many items. Guess for them the worldwide recession means it’s time to make a bigger profit or something.

Chick Fil A (practically impossible to spell their name right the first time) has strawberry shakes, and I’ve had several of them.  The first one may have had some spoiled milk in it or something?  They’re malty like but the first one I had (in a mall in North Canton, OH) was nasty.  Since then, I’ve had several more, and I’ve grown accustomed to the malty taste (still not my favorite), and they’re doable. Definitely a different taste than McDs or Burger King.  Wendy’s almost has a little bit of a malty taste to it, but not nearly as strong as Chick Fil A.

Guess I’ve run out of the top fast food shakes. Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and the other pizza places are behind the times and only dream about soda. I’ve heard rumors that Hardees sells milkshakes (truth, anyone?) but I hate Hardees so I’ve never been brave enough to swing through their drive thru just to order a strawberry shake.  Of course, if I did, they’d probably only offer chocolate (like Wendy’s used to only offer chocolate frosties for all too long … brrrr!).  Friendly’s strawberry shakes are pretty good, but they’re out of the realm of fast food, plus their shakes are too small and cost too much.

One of my all time favorite strawberry shakes was from a small ice cream store up near the Quebec/New York border. I used to spend part of my summers during my teen years up at some camps thataway, and that soft ice cream stand had shakes to die for.  I can still taste it on my mouth.  Something about using real strawberries to make a shake. Can’t remember the ice cream store’s name right now.  Dairy Haus is another one of my favorite ice cream stands. But I’ll pass on the strawberry milkshake there anytime (even throw it into a wire trash basket) in favor of their raspberry custard swirl soft ice cream cones.  Mmmm …