When and where you least expect it

This is not an ice cream or frozen custard story. Please read to discover what happened here this weekend that made me bow my head.

Ted Drewes has been an icon in St. Louis. MO for 90 years. Ted is a famous tennis pro who traveled to Florida with The Royal American Circus one summer, where he sold ice cream. He returned to St. Louis and opened his own frozen custard shops. 

This is the most frequented location, on Old Route 66  also known as Chippewa Street. This old building has about a dozen walk up windows. The frozen custard is delicious; the secret ingredient is honey. They make concretes (you can hold the filled cup of custard upside down and it won't spill) and the varieties are endless. My favorites: Hot fudge sundae, The Punmpkin Crete (with a piece of pumpkin pie mixed in) or The Big Apple (slice of apple crumb pie mixed in) but  there are so many choices!  

 This is how popular Ted Drewes is. And this is a nightly occurence on any summer night. They need police presence to direct traffic.

 

 Even in winter, people stop in to buy what locals refer to as "Ted Drewes", although I'm sure the old man is not really for sale. His granddaughter and her husband now own the business. See the heated area?

It is not uncommon to see wedding parties here, the bride in her gown, and all the attendants devouring custard. People bring their dogs for a cold treat, too. You never know what to expect. To think, when I was young I never went there, fearing frozen custard was like the custard pie my parents made me eat. LOL

This Monday we went to Ted Drewes with my daughter and her husband. The woman in front of us had her head poked into the open window and was begging the young attendant for more dry ice. The manager came to the window and told her he could only sell her 30 pounds. "I promise I talked to  a man here who told me I could purchase the entire 45 pounds." 

Customers often ask to have their custard orders packed in dry ice for travel. People in line asked in amazement how much custard they were transporting. Her husband said, "None."

The wife said, "It's for my chemo treatments. I have four helmets that have to be packed in dry ice and roatated every twenty minutes so I don't lose my hair when I receive chemo on Tuesday. With this being a holiday, I couldn't get my supply from my provider, a welding company, because they're closed."

At a place where people go for comfort food, to cheat on diets, to meet and mingle, to people watch, I bowed my head and said a prayer for this woman. The manager, called to her as she wrangled the box out the window, "Wait! We will sell you the other 15 pounds."

Sweet!