Marash Girl Remembers A Novel She Once Read When She Was 10 Years Old

Marash Girl remembers a novel she once read when she was 10 years old.  Marash Girl doesn't remember the title of the novel, but  she remembers very well the main thrust of the novel.  A little girl had recently moved with her family to Arizona and it was winter, but winter in Arizona is warm!  Every year, for as long as she could remember,  her parents would make ice cream for her birthday using the snow and ice that used to accumulate outside of their New England home to freeze up the cream and sugar in their ice cream maker.  But this particular year, there was no such hope.  She was so sad when her birthday came . . . until . . . a hailstorm fell on that very day and made it possible for her family to make  ice cream for the little girl's birthday using the hail stones to freeze up the cream in the ice cream maker.  The little girl had experienced a miracle, indeed!

Watertown Marashtsis And "The Ice-a Crrim"!

Marash Girl's dad Peter used to share the following memory. When he was a little boy and had first come to this country, he and his family would attend the gatherings of Marashtsis (Armenian immigrants from Marash, Ottoman Empire), meetings held once a month on Sunday afternoons in Watertown, Massachusetts. The announcer would often try to quiet the gathering, folks who were so pleased to be together once again, folks catching up on what had happened in the family since their last meeting . . . The announcer, in preparation for the featured speaker of the day, would shout above the din,"Quviet, plees! Quviet, plees; prritty soon, by and by, ve gonna  hava de  ice-a crreem!" (Translation: Quiet, please! Quiet, please! Pretty soon, we're going to have ice cream!)


(It should be noted here that throughout Turkey, Marash--now known as Kahraman Marash-- is famous for it's ice cream ... or should I say, ice-a crrim!) Marash Girl's dad Peter (Bedros) reports that while sitting in that audience with his fellow Armenian immigrants, he would think to his 9 year old self, " . . .I wonder if I'll ever be able to speak English that well!" By the time Marash Girl knew her dad Peter, he was speaking perfect, unaccented English. Having graduated from Watertown High School with honors, he had been accepted to M.I.T. with a full scholarship!!! N.B. For more on Peter and M.I.T., see MarashGirl.blogspot.com, Aug 14, 2020.

Summers and the Ice Cream Truck!

And speaking of ice cream . . . When Marash Girl and her sister, her brother, her cousins, and her neighbors, were kids on Lowell Avenue, the ice cream truck would slowly drive along Lowell Avenue, the driver ringing his cheery bell . . . most probably on a Sunday afternoon, as Marash Girl recalls. None of us kids had any "spare change", as we were all still very young . . . and yet we loved ice cream so much. We would shout to the driver to stop, and then run and hide as the driver of the truck paused and looked around for his next customers . . . Sorry, ice cream truck driver! We didn't understand how disappointed you would be to find no customers when you pulled your truck over to the side of the road. We were just kids!

Marash Dondurmasī

Growing up, Marash Girl often heard her father  talk about "Marash Dondurmasī" (the ice cream  for which Marash is famous throughout the Near East!)

Visiting Istanbul in the 1960's, Marash Girl was regaled with stories about the famous ice cream of Marash.  She wanted to travel to Marash to taste the real thing, but that year, in the mountains of Marash, there had been a murder of a honeymooning German couple.  Thus her Turkish friend, Memet Fuat Bengu, did not feel it was safe for her, a very young American Armenian woman, to journey to Marash alone.  

And so it was that Marash Girl never tasted the famous ice cream of Marash.  

To this day, Marash is famous for its ice-cream, and Marash Girl once again read reference to the ice-cream on the Facebook page of K. Marash. 

Apparently, snow brought down from the Ahir mountain is stored year round; a "molasses" (which is actually cooked down grape juice or fruit juice) is added to the snow for year round ice cream.  

If any of you in Marash are reading this, please tell Marash Girl if the ice cream makers of Marash add cream or milk to the mix before making the ice cream!

1950's Ice Cream Parlor, Villa Roma, Callicoon, New York

ICE CREAM, LITTLE LULU, AND HER DOG

Writing about Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, my father, and Baby Kerrigan this past Friday reminded Marash Girl of a Little Lulu comic strip she read many years ago. 

Little Lulu was standing in front of an ice cream store with her cute little dog, longing for an ice cream cone, when a wealthy woman approached them and started admiring Little Lulu's dog.  Little Lulu responded, "My dog Rover just loves ice cream cones!"  "Oh, really?" said the elegant woman.  'Well, little girl, here's a nickel -- go and buy Rover some ice cream!" With a grin, Little Lulu ran into the store with the nickel and came out licking an ice cream cone.  "Oh!" said the elegant woman, affronted.  "I thought you said your dog loves ice cream cones!  That's why I gave you the nickel!"  "Yes,"  answered Little Lulu.  "My dog loves the cones; I love the ice cream!"

N.B.  "Ha Baby Kerrigan, Ha Little Lulu." (For you Marashtis out there!) Or we in the United States might say, "Like Baby Kerrigan, so Little Lulu."

5 Cent Ice Cream Cones, Ben & Jerry's, Baby Kerrigan & the Death Penalty

This photo from the Ben & Jerry historical collection reminded Marash Girl of a tale that her father often told of his childhood.  He was living in Brighton, Massachusetts, living on the fourth floor of a four floor walk-up, laid up with a broken leg. (A hit and run driver left him in the street with a broken leg soon after he had arrived in the US -- was he 10 years old?)  One hot summer's day, before his mother Yepros left for work at the silk mills, she gave him a nickel for an ice cream cone. (The ice cream store was down the street.)  As it happened, his friend, Baby Kerrigan, was visiting and said he'd be glad to walk to the corner store to purchase the ice cream for Peter, as Peter was as yet unable to manage the 3 flights of stairs.  Peter was so excited as he gave his only nickel to Baby Kerrigan and watched at the window as Baby ran to the corner store, anxiously awaiting Baby's return.  And Peter watched as Baby  ambled slowly down the street toward the Four Castles on Lincoln  Street,  licking the ice cream as it melted.  When Baby finally arrived at the third floor walkup, he handed Peter the cone, but there was no ice cream left in it.  "Why did you eat all the ice cream, Baby?"  "Well, the ice cream was melting, and I didn't want it to go to waste," answered Baby!

This story was one of the first of many stories that Peter told to Marash Boy when Marash Boy first came courting Marash Girl.  Marash Boy could not believe his ears.  Was Marash Girl's family really connected to the famous murderer, last to be executed in Massachusetts in the electric chair?  The possibility gave him pause.  And he asked Peter, was the Baby Kerrigan of his story The Baby Kerrigan of Cop Killer fame, the last to be killed in the electric chair in Massachusetts?

Yes, Peter answered; one and the same!  But his brothers and sisters were all good kids. He just got in with the wrong gang.

From the internet:

John Joseph Kerrigan had been sentenced to death September 24, 1961 for the fatal shooting of Cambridge patrolman Lawrence W. Gorman. According to testimony at trial, Kerrigan and an accomplice, Edgar Cook, were trying to break into a Kendall Square restaurant in the early morning of September 3, 1960, when Officer Gorman surprised them. As they ran from the scene, Kerrigan fired three shots, one of which struck Gorman in the back. After deliberating just eighty minutes, a jury found Kerrigan guilty of murder in the first degree. Judge Fairhurst sentenced Kerrigan to die in the electric chair, but stayed the sentence pending appeal. When the clerk asked Kerrigan if he had anything to say, he stood silent for a moment and then said, “I wasn’t on Kendall Square that day.”

Read more about Kerrigan in Alan Rogers' book,  MURDER AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN MASSACHUSETTS, U Mass. Press, 2008

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Stowe, Vermont & Marash Dondurmasu

 Even rain can't dim the joy of the graphics used by 
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!  Or so it seemed.

The fun was in the colorful imagery that greeted us and there it ended.

 

 The tour began with two rather "tasteless" cow jokes:
1)Why does a milking stool have only 3 legs? 

The cow has the udder!  

2)What do you call a cow who has just had a baby calf? Decaffeinated! 

 

Of the most interest was the pre-tour exhibit in the foyer containing photos and objects related to the history of ice cream making, and the history of Ben and Jerry's efforts (pictured above & below).

 The history of ice cream making, however, was limited to ice cream making in the United States.

We were continually reminded that we should be eagerly awaiting free samples of the new ice cream flavor Americone Dream. . . as if that would keep us focused on the speaker, who regularly referred to his favorite flavor (Chubby Hubby) and the fact that his wife didn't want him walking into the house with yet another free pint of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!

The view of the actual mechanical assembly line (where we were not allowed to take photos), watching ice cream mass produced in albeit sterile stainless steel, left me cold, as it were. But worse was watching the flushing of the system into overflowing barrels with sticky ice cream infused water ending up all over the floor washing into big drains. Marash Girl left the facility never wanting to purchase another pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. Or any prepackaged ice cream, for that matter. . . And the promised sample of Americone Dream? We could eat as much as we wanted, that is, if we wanted . . . .

It was no wonder that Marash Girl left Ben & Jerry's wanting to purchase an ice cream maker (rather than Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream) in order to make Marash Girl's very own ice cream. [Or frozen yogurt from Marash Girl's very own home made madzoon (yogurt)!]

And why not?  After all, ice cream from Marash (Maraş dondurması) is the most famous in all of the Middle East!

Does anyone have the recipe?