
Saint Patrick's Day at my brother Patrick's &
Joce's in Chester NH


Little Jack (age 21 months) with his Great Grandmother Doris (age 96).

While we were sitting round the dining room table my sister Sheila out of the blue started telling us how she had been watching The View & Barbara Walter's had described a chocolate cake she use to make out of cookies & whipped cream. The other ladies on The View had never heard of it so we
thought it must be a regional dessert as Barbara was from Boston and we all had grown
up with the dessert. It had been so long since any of us had made it and we all went on at
great lengths describing how it was put together and how delicious it was. I
said you can add raspberries or
bananas and
everyone vehemently disagreed, "NO, NO, you can't stray from the original
recipe, it's just wrong"! My mother use to make it for Saint
Patrick's Day and color the whipped cream g
reen, that's the most it could be changed. We all lamented over why
didn't anyone think to make it
. I spied my brother wispering to Joce at the end of the table and I thought they must be talking about how ridiculous it was for us to go on & on over a cake. The meal was done, the dishes cleared away, coffee was made, then to our mutual shock Joce walked into the dining with infamous Ice Box Cake in tow. None of us had the slightest clue that
she had made the cake , including my sister who first started talking about it.