Large Fierce Mammal

Sex sells, and no mistake! Click to enbiggen. (Mrs. LFM Photo)

As I write, we are in the midst of a predicted three day fall of light, drifting snow creating conditions ideal for living exclusively off the avails of Hearth and Home. Never one to regard an equine endowment in the dentition, the exquisite Mrs. LFM (a sweet diversion in her own right) looked out upon the expanse of fresh powder and saw the gift of a key ingredient.

But first, to set the mood.

Bradford Angier‘s excellent book How to Stay Alive in the Woods was the text book for the hands on, and on the ground teachings of the Mentors I was deemed Worthy to grow up among. Coming from a way of being in the woods as known and practiced around the time I was personally too busy being born to care much about the outdoors, the book has gone through several editions since then and is not surprisingly still in print.

Mr. Angier had a tendency to begin chapters with bits of Wisdom by way of quotations relevant to the point about to be made, a favourite of which came to mind as today’s lesson was gelling toward fruition:

“There is usually little object in traveling tough just for the sake of being tough.” ~ Hudson’s Bay Company

Another is …

“A party living off the country must know how to get full value from everything available especially in the way of food.” ~ Royal Canadian Mounted Police

In recognition of those iconic expressions of Northern Spirit we will today look at Mrs. LFM’s deft use of resources.

I must point out that this is not a recipe of Mrs. LFM’s own devising. The internet abounds with guidance for the crafting of this delight. After weighing the pros and cons of several, the one she used was 3-Ingredient Vanilla SNOW Ice Cream found on the Happy Hooligans website courtesy of Jackie Currie to whom we offer the sincerest of LFM thanks.

Mrs. LFM’s interpretation and personal recommendations follow. There is a lot of room for slightly different outcomes arising from the texture of the snow used, but she offers two absolute cautions beyond the usual one about yellow snow which by now should be superfluous:

1. The snow must be fresh; and
2. Not collected from any place on which toxic chemicals may be deposited such as immediately adjacent to well travelled roadways, industrial facilities and other sources of airborne contaminants, or in heavily populated areas (otherwise known as “cities”).

Ignore these at your peril lest mileage vary!

Ingredients:

The original recipe calls for:

• 8-12 cups of fresh, white, new-fallen snow (a cup here in North America is 8 oz.)
• 300 ml can of sweetened condensed milk (10 ounces)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Large bowl
• measuring cup
• wooden spoon
• freezer-proof container for storing your leftovers

I personally found that last one about “storing your leftovers” hilarious in the same way as I did the article someone once sent me titled A Hundred and One Things To Do With Leftover Wine.

We encourage anyone undertaking this wondrous thing to follow the original recipe, learn from the experience, and don’t be afraid to follow your own tastes from there. That’s the path Mrs. LFM has used forever in crafting what ultimately comes to roost within the pages of her personal Grimoire of Goodness.

Snow has been transferred from the collecting bowl (blue on left to the miking bowl (steel right) Click to enbiggen. (Mrs. LFM Photo)

Add HALF your can of sweetened condensed milk and vanilla to match your preference. In a departure from the original recipe, Mrs. LFM added a measured by eye ~2 teaspoons. Click to enbiggen. (Mrs. LFM Photo)

Mix so ingredients merge and volume decreases. Click to enbiggen. (Mrs. LFM Photo)

Add the rest of the sweetened condensed milk and keep mixing. Click to enbiggen. (Mrs. LFM Photo)

When room presents itself in the mixing bowl, add the rest of your snow and mix to visible doneness. Click to enbiggen. (Mrs. LFM Photo)

SERVE! Since you can’t taste it through the screen, click here for the next best thing. Click picture to enbiggen. (Mrs. LFM Photo)