Egg Cream

Growing up in NY, every Saturday night my parents would make my brother and I an egg creams. The first time I had it, I was scared, fearing a drink that was made purely of egg and ice cream. Suffice to say, I quickly learned how wrong I truly was. The egg cream, a blend of chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer, was astoundingly delicious. Saturday nights were then deemed special because of the concoction. Admittedly, sometimes I ditched the seltzer, preferring a nice cup of chocolate milk, but whatever the final drink was, it always made me happy.

After we moved to Florida, we never really made egg creams. It was as if the recipe was left in our old house, entertaining the new family living there. The next time I really thought of the drink was one summer during college. In my refrigerator I had milk, chocolate syrup (I loved making chocolate milk to go with an egg sandwich every Saturday morning), and tonic water from the vodka and tonics I sometimes made. Unsure of myself, and my memory, I decided against trying it.

Last night, out of nowhere, while watching a Friends re-run, I craved the egg cream. In the kitchen, using the same mixer I used when I was ten, I made the drink. Although I wanted to stop after the milk and just make a normal chocolate milk, I kept going. All these years later, it was just as I remembered.