The one thing I really miss since we moved to the NorthShore is sno-balls. We were regulars at Sal's. There are no decent sno-balls to be found on the NorthShore within a reasonable distance of me that has hours or expertise that suit me. There was a stand on my way home that made fairly decent but expensive ones but it was totally dependant on a flighty teenager to open and serve. One night, it was open. The next, it wasn’t. Couldn’t depend on them. It’s now gone. Go figure.
My favorite. A spearmint with condensed milk. What spearmint and bubble gum sno-balls do to our digestive systems won’t be mentioned here in this family journal.
As I was eating my spearmint sno-ball with condensed milk in their parking lot, a guy pulled up to me, rolled down the window, and asked, " What's the best way to get to the zoo? ". If you know where this stand is in relation to the zoo, you can understand how difficult it might be to direct someone that was this far off. It requires a pretty long set of directions ( Did the best I could ) but I doubt that guy made it there without stopping again.
Spearmint and Bubblegum are Patrick's favorites. Bunk will try different things. When we were there last week, he got Sour Watermelon with an extra shot of sour sauce in it. The rest in my family like chocolate sno-balls. I get cravings for them on hot days!
My favorite is ice cream with condensed milk, though spearmint will do. I had to finish off Jacob's spearmint with condensed milk this week after I ate mine and it was pretty good.
I do spearmint, bubble gum, cherry and wild cherry, ice cream, and strawberry. If I'm stopping for a sno-ball, I want a sure thing.
The boss bought us sno-balls Thursday from a stand near work. Not very good but the price to me was fine.
I don't like chocolate or nectar at all. Sal's charges extra for those two.
Do you know I've never had a snowball? Never wanted one and still don't. I'm willing to stop at the stand on Roosevelt and wait in the long line to buy Jacob and Jackson a snowball, but it doesn't enter my mind to get one for myself. I don't usually carry that kind of money around anyway. Didn't they used to cost a lot less? I was a trifle chagrined that my $5 was reduced by so much the other day when I stopped to reward their excellent behavior, so I'm guessing it won't happen too often. I'll give them a hug and kiss if they behave well while we're running errands.
That spearmint one I bought yesterday was $2.18. Another point of interest for some: Sue nursed her baby (Probably David) while sitting on one of Sal's tree stumps. I remember that because I had never seen anyone do that in public and I had never seen anyone in our family do it. It's been a quite common occurrence since.
OK, I have to ask---what exactly is a sno-ball??? We have sno-cones here(shaved ice with fruit flavor syrup topping) and we have ice cream cones,shakes and malts. The picture posted looked like partially melted ice cream. And what's the deal with condensed milk? Obviously a north/south discrepancy.
A sno-ball machine shaves a block of ice, giving it an extremely fine texture. Then, people add a flavored syrup to the sno-ball (served in a round cup) Add a straw and a spoon and you have a sno-ball. Papa Sam's sno-ball stand is pretty good. I love cotton candy, watermelon, or speriment. Ice cream sno-balls at Six Flags are pretty good, too. Also, condensed milk adds an extra taste to any sno-ball. I hope that answers your question about sno-balls, you Minnesotains!
Rob -- Your choice of words. Really. I can't think what else it could be but a little-known fact, Sue's nursing David sitting on a tree stump at Sal's. I smiled when I read that and I'm supposing Sue smiled as well. And now we have Angela and Samuel. You'll have to get them over to Sal's soon or all the stumps will be taken.
Nancy, it was good to hear from you. The snowball stands are closed in winter, spring and fall. You'll have to come in the summer if you want one, Memorial Day to Labor Day is it for most of them.
Sal's opens on the St Patrick's Day Parade and closes in August or thereabouts. When I was looking into opening one, a permit ran for five consecutive months. Most of them operate on permits rather than commercial licenses. Sal's opens earlier and closes earlier than most. You're right on the other thing. Very poor choice of words. Fixed it.
I didn't mean for you to change it. It was fine the way it was, just a little known fact.
Ahhhh, but since we can...........
So, does the condensed milk and flavoring get poured on top of the shaved ice? What about Christina's statement that she likes ice cream with condensed milk?? Anyway, sounds mostly like our sno-cones "up here".
Condensed milk gets poured on top or in the center. Ice cream in a sno-ball is sacrilege so I don't know where that goes. You'll have to ask Christina. Sno-balls are the same thing as sno-cones but the machines here shave the ice in such a way that it never reverts back to hard ice like sno-cones elsewhere do. They retain their powdery texture.
Silly me, Nancy. Ice Cream is the flavor of sno-ball. Ice cream is a yellow sno-ball.
I have four favorite flavors that I get regularly-spearmint, bubblegum, nectar, and ice-cream (all with condensed milk). Joey and I walk to our sno-ball stand frequently on summer nights. We have a really good one- Costanza's on West Napolean. It's open in mid-March all the way through about the end of September. Daddy loved spearmint and would indulge every now and then at the one on Roosevelt where "Brutus" works. Brutus makes an ultimate strawberry flavor that is made with real strawberry juice that is delicious! I'll get that when I go there.
"Brutus" owns the building across the street where I used to work for Grandpa. His sno-balls are very good and he's been doing that for a living his whole life.
Joe had his first sno-ball of the year at his fair last weekend(not this past weekend). Polina go cotton candy. Well, she decided that she didn't want cotton candy anymore and cried for a sno-ball all the way to the car. She settled down once we were in the car. I think she may have been working on her diabolical plan to separate Joe from his sno-ball. Once the car stopped in the garage, she flew out of her car seat and made a grab for Joe's sno-ball. He, of course, dropped it onto my car's carpet and seat. Joe cried. Scott yelled. Polina got punished. I cleaned the car. Since then Mary Catherine and Joe has begged for sno-balls. I have even suggested that it might be fun to go get them. Scott still has not recovered from the sno-ball incident of the week before.
Really, he and I like them but almost never crave them. I would NEVER eat one with condensed milk. I used to be offended when I brought my neices and nephews and nieghbor kids who needed condensed milk--costs like 40 or 50 cents more!! Joe and I favor rainbow flavor. I think Jim always get spearmint. I don't know when my poor, underprivelged children will ever get another one. My biggest reason for not getting one is because we have to drive to the location and then wait FOREVER in line!
I used to pick them up for my work colleagues, Elizabeth. I'd get an appropriate-sized box, stick them in there, and they'd eat them when I brought them in. They were like kids, too. If I gave them too much time to make up their minds, they couldn't decide or they'd change their minds several times. Getting them sno-balls without actually taking them to the stand might be something to consider. It also puts all of your sno-balls in one place rather than in several different hands.
A sno-ball is definitely a treat for us out-of-towners. And I am really disappointed that I was not able to get one when I was in town a few weeks ago. But my personal favorite is chocolate with condensed milk. There is no mistake that the condensed milk makes the sno-ball! I rarely venture out to try other flavors, except maybe strawberry every once in a while.
I tried to post, but it gave me a "server" problem, so if this repeats itself, sorry.
I couldn't help but put my two cents in on sno-balls!
Here in Springfield, we have "stuffed" sno-balls. It comes with ice cream in the middle. Cory gets this with his favorite flavor, Tiger's blood. Its a very strong strawberry/cherry mix thats a deep red in color.
My favorite is coconut, bubblegum, or blueberry, with condensed milk on top!
We have so many sno-ball stands in a five mile area, there's hardly ever a long line.
Came through fine, Donna. I'm not sure what causes those errors. Just click your back button and do it again. I'll handle the duplicates if there are any.
Okay, my turn. I had a Nectar snowball yesterday; my fifth one so far this year. When Patrick was here, we got them. I regret not getting him the largest size. He inhaled his "small" before we got home. We cheapies bring our condensed milk to the stand and pour it on when we get out of their sight. I will break down and get if for Julia if I don't bring it along, but nectar (my favorite) or ice cream flavored (Aaron's favorite) doesn't need the extra sweet calories. If it is one of those wild hair days, then it's bubblegum for me. My favorite Northshore stand, Yummies, has three colors of that flavor; pink, white, and blue. It is always blue for me - never mind what it does in my intestines.
Okay, I can't resist. My favorite flavor is ice cream and of course I have to have condensed milk. I don't get them often, but when I do I always read over the flavors intent on trying something new, but the minute I'm asked what flavor, ice cream comes out of my mouth! I like ice cream stuffed snowballs too. It reminds me of Mrs. Rosemary Manning. When I was a kid and I happened to be playing with Debbie she would buy us snowballs when the truck came around and she would take our snowballs and but them in the blender with vanilla ice cream. De-lish!
Rejoice. There is a sno-ball stand on the NorthShore that rivals Sal's. It's a stand at Claiborne Hill around the corner from where I work. They're not open at lunch time (Hopefully, they will be when school lets out for summer) but I can stop on my way home if I'm so inclined. So far, I've had their ice cream and bubblegum and Patsy has had their grape. ALL excellent.