Do you make ice?

[FairyChatMom]

I visited my sister and her husband in their new home this past week. I don't drink beer and I wasn't in the mood for a soft drink - I just wanted ice water.

They didn't have ice. They don't use ice. They drink their sodas out of the cans straight from the fridge.

No ice. None. Weird.

Or is it? Do you make ice? Or do you maybe buy it by the bag (like another of my sisters)? Or do you not consider it a necessity?

As for me - we have an ice maker that dispenses whole or crushed ice, plus cold water. But even if I had to fill my own ice trays, I'd have ice readily available.

[SuperNova]

Ice trays. Ice readily available. Ice good.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

I got ice. Every winter. Regular as clockwork. ;) :D

[hajario]

No ice here. I only drink Sprite, right out of the can.

Mrs. H drinks room temp bottled water and expensive wine.

Haj

[Geek Mecha]

It's been too warm lately to not have ice ready.

I see nothing odd about drinking refrigerated soda without ice. After all, it's cold from being in the fridge. Putting ice in it seems redundant, and makes your soda watery if you don't drink it all soon.

If it's unrefrigerated soda, then yeah, ice is good.

[Ripple]

I try to let my freezer make my ice for me. ;)

I don't use ice myself, but I keep it on hand for the benefit of guests who might like it. Kinda like coffee or sweet n' low.

[Sue Duhnym]

Ice is good, can't have iced tea without it. My refrigerator makes mine for me but whenever I'm at my Mom's, I fill trays.

[kanicbird]

I have 2 trays going but take directly from the trays so sometimes there can be just 2 cubes (one per tray).

In the winter I have a sprinkler spray water to make a big mound of ice (just for personal enjoyment ;) ) which is what I thought the OP was but it's really not all that exciting afterall.

[El Elvis Rojo]

I typically drink my drinks straight from the fridge. Ice in soft drinks always just gets in the way. When I have a "drink" drink, though, I often like a little ice in it. No more than two cubes. So, personally, I don't find drinking drinks without ice odd (I even ask for no ice in my drinks when I grab fast food. It takes up space, waters down my drink, and besides...the machines are refrigerated, so it's already cold).

But the best bet is to get a refridgerator with an ice maker. From there, ice trays are the best. For the past year, my lazy roomate and lazy self never got around to buying ice trays, so I got in the habit of grabbing these little plastic containers from the local grocery store, making ice in those, and whenever I needed some, wrapping the container in a rag and pounding it with a mallet. Very theraputic.

[Kat]

I have an ice maker in my freezer. Since I drink my pop right from the fridge (sometimes straight from the can, sometimes poured into a glass) and my juice the same way, I don't use ice for that, but I like to have a couple of cubes in my water (even coming from the water dispenser in the fridge) and my roommates and guests use it, too.

[dwc1970]

I keep my ice trays full at all times, even in the winter (I still have my drinks with ice in them then). One of my biggest "little" peeves is finding an empty ice tray in the freezer.

[LurkMeister]

When I'm at home I always put ice in my glass, and replace it as it melts. Of course, since I don't keep my soft drinks in the fridge, that's the only way I get a drink at anything other than room temperature.
At restaurants I tend to order drinks without ice, since otherwise I often get a glass of ice with about two ounces of liquid in it, and since they usually serve beverages cold anyway I don't need the ice.

[DarkWriter]

I must have ice. I need it for my drinks and for my Iced Tea Pot.

My hubby has incurred my wrath enough times now and doesn't leave an empty tray in the freezer. The worst was when he'd hide an empty tray under a tray that only had a couple cubes left. :mad:

Sheri

[p@cific@812]

The icemaker in the fridge (a 1980 special) here got all fustigated about two years ago. It was "fixed", but became prone to producing hollow ice cubes and other such anomalies. In the interim before convening the Household Appliance Purchasing Committee the ice cube trays were brought out of storage and put into use. The committtee never met. The trays are still in use. The one who empties a tray and does not refill it is damned.

[AbbySthrnAccent]

Ice maker in the frig at home and in the RV.

[betenoir]

No ice!?

What do you do if somethings too hot and you want to drink it now? What do you do for 1st degree burns? What do you do if you're having sex and need something to slide provocativly down someone's spinal column?

There's a million good reasons to have ice.

[kniz]

I also must have ice. Life is not worth living without knowing that there is plenty of ice in the frig.

:( Then we went to England, Italy and France. There is more ice in my frig right now than I saw in all three countries!

[amarinth]

I don't like ice in my drinks, it ends up just watering it down which does not taste good, and generally the drink is cold enough already.

I used to attempt to use ice trays, but more often than not, they'd just sit there until eventually all the ice had evaporated, at which point I'd need to clean and refill them. Which seemed like too much work, so I stopped filling them in the first place. The only time I regret it is when I'm making frozen drinks, and then I'll often just add water and stick the blender in the freezer (which is nicer to my blender anyway.)

[sezyou]

I detest filling up ice trays. I'm a klutz by nature and end up spilling at least half of it before I make the long trip from the faucet to the freezer. My wife and I actually began buying bagged ice from the local quick store and keeping it in the freezer and using that, replacing it with a new one when it would run out. We recently got a new fridge with a built in icemaker. Oh my! What freedom, what luxury. I gotta have ice. My wife eats it all day long, yes she literally eats ice as a substitute for drinking water.

[Tansu]

I have two ice trays. I have ice in coke, G&T, amaretto and blended whisky. My SO has ice in coke and in milk.

[Booker57]

<hijack>

To those of you with icemakers, check out the water feed lines for leaks. I speak from experiance.
</hijack>

[FairyChatMom]

Those of you who don't put ice in beverages - are you able to drink them down before they start warming up? Dilution isn't a big issue for me since I mainly drink water, but even if I get it from the ice water dispenser, it needs ice, and I continue to add ice till I'm done drinking.

And if you hurt yourself, how do you make an ice pack?

[Tamerlane]

Originally posted by FairyChatMom
Those of you who don't put ice in beverages - are you able to drink them down before they start warming up?

Warm up? Why would that be a problem :)? Soda was meant to be drank at room temperture, don't ya know ;).

- Tamerlane

[nightshadea]

I dont even need to refridigerate my soda let alone put ice in it

My teeth hurt when things are too cold and I just got used to it... I dont even like ice in or cold mixed drinks

How ever my mon used to use 20 pounds in 2 days so we bought a ice maker after she got one of the firsst automatic ice tea makers

[Zebra]

I make ice to use in my ice tea maker.

Also Ice Cubes in bed can be fun.

[BooBoo316]

We used to have ice trays, but we were far too lazy to keep filling them all the time. We bought ice by the bag for years until we got a fridge with a ice maker. Best damn gadget in the house.

[DeadlyAccurate]

Soft drinks must be refrigerated completely. Then, I fill a cup with ice and pour the very cold drink in. It's the ONLY way to drink a soft drink. I detest warm sodas. I have an icemaker in my freezer, but when I lived in an apartment, the complex had a big icemaker that residents were free to use. We bought a large plastic bowl and filled it up once a week (about the equivalent of an 8lb. bag of ice). At the apartment before that, we bought bagged ice. Must always have ice.

[Barbarian]

if you don't have ice, how the hell can you stir a martini?

[p@cific@812]

Hey now, if you bruise that gin I may have to report you to the proper authorities.

[cmkeller]

I'm fanatical about ice. I love soda, water, iced tea (but not juices) poured into a full cup of ice.

Getting a refrigerator with an automatic icemaker was a great labor-saver for me.

[YEP]

i rarely use ice, but we have trays. atleast twice a week i empty four trays of ice into a bowl in the freezer. when i do want ice my wife has used up the bowl and left all but one or to cubes in the four trays. should i be concerned? is this an ice-aholic? i think i'll call ia and start a twelve step program.

[MachV]

How cool. I always thought I was the only freak who drinks stuff with no ice. I even get funny looks from people. "What, no ice??" It's already cold, fer crissakes! At 7-11, when I get the 32 oz. cup, I get 32 ounces of drink, by golly!

That said, I have an ice maker in the freezer. Vodka may not freeze, but it's much more pimp to shake!

[amarinth]

Originally posted by FairyChatMom
Those of you who don't put ice in beverages - are you able to drink them down before they start warming up? Dilution isn't a big issue for me since I mainly drink water, but even if I get it from the ice water dispenser, it needs ice, and I continue to add ice till I'm done drinking.
Anything at or below room temperature is (to me) "cold enough" So, yes, if I get the drink out of the refrigerator, it will still be more than cold enough by the time I'm done drinking it.


And if you hurt yourself, how do you make an ice pack? Actually, a while ago, I went out and bought reusable ice cubes, stuffed them in plastic bags and I use those for ice packs (and for cooling down the rivets of jeans right out of the dryer). Before that, I'd just pull something out of the freezer and use it. Or suffer.

[widdershins]

I usually keep about three trays in the freezer. I only use ice for tea and mixed drinks; or if I just bought a coke and don't want to wait for it to chill in the fridge.

The rest of the ice gets used by guests.

[FairyChatMom]

I use a bunch of ice every morning in my little cooler - to keep my water and yogurt and lunch cold. I quit using the office fridge because everyone leaves it a mess.

Plus my doggies like to crunch ice - for this reason alone, I need to have it on hand! No, really!

[Linus Van Pelt]

Beware of the ice crunching, FairyChatMom. According to what my dentist said many years ago, it's bad for teeth. Of course, that doesn't stop me from doing it sometimes.

I'm still waiting for the day we can hook up the automatic ice maker to the RO filter. We have an inline filter on the ice machine so it isn't bad, but RO water is so much better.

[screech-owl]

I am the "Magic Ice Cube Fairy" both at home and at work. I make sure the ice trays are refilled. And if there is just one or two left in the tray, I dump them into the plants so I can make fresh ones (I really hate when the ice cubes shrink as they get older).

I like ice.

[Rue DeDay]

I need ice in my drinks. Ice, ice, ice. I've been known to take my own ice to other people's house because they didn't have any. (That wasn't the real reason, but it sounds funnier that way.)

With two small boys weathering gravity storms, we need ice for boo-boos and stuff.


-Rue. (in charge of the 4 ice trays)

[galen ubal]

I keep ice in the freezer for friends, but I don't use it myself.

Why water down a perfectly good A&W?

Ice packs for injuries? I don't injure myself (at least that way)

Ice for burns? Bad bad bad - use tap water, straight out of the cold tap.

Ice for games with the SO? No SO.

[TroubleAgain]

Yes. Must have ice. Keep 9 trays going, since our water is really hard and would damage an icemaker.

[Lissla Lissar]

We make ice with trays. I don't understand buying it if you can make it for (nearly) free. What I really want is a good ice shaver and a few bottles of different syrups so I can do shaved ice cones. Vanilla, cherry, orange, and lime ought to be enough to start. Can anyone recommend a good ice shaver?

[kitarak]

I use ice bags - those neat little plastic bags which you fill with water, freeze, and then you can tear the ice cubes out of them. I don't use ice that often, but it's awful to want some and not have any to hand.

[CalMeacham]

We love ice, both i water and in other drinks It's a rule around here that the person who empties the ice container has to refill it (and the ice cube trays).

This sentiment is not universal. When I visited Ireland and Scotland I got no ice uness I specifically requested it, and then it was learly a bother to the hotel or the bar. Hotels don't have ice machines. Convenince stores don't sell ice in bulk as they do here (They do sell peat, but that's another story). The only place I got ice inb my drink was at a Subway's -- an American chain fast-food joint. (And the drink was the only reason we stopped in there).

Nor is it universal in this country. I picked up a cookbook in the Wilds of Utah which had a section railing against the modern use of ice in water, and the drinking of cold beverages. (I note that this is not the typical Utah attitude -- I think there's a 7-11 on every other block in SLC, and you can get all the ice you want in your Big Gulp.)

[ITR champion]

I make ice in the freezer, but I don't use it for soft drinks, only for ice water.

[WV_Woman]

I make ice and use it for everything that, well, calls for ice.

[anya marie]

I make ice and drink everything as cold as possible.

[QueenAl]

Ice in everything is an American thing. I like ice sometimes, but the trays take up too much room in my small freezer. When American friends have visited though, they've been aghast at the unavailability of ice - but they were also amazed that so few people over here have trash compacters in their sinks.

[pulykamell]

Yes, ice is extremely American. I've gotten weaned off it since living abroad, but I didn't drink it much to begin with. I always ordered drinks without ice in the States. What the hell was the point? The drinks were freezing anyway, and there ain't no way in hell I'm going to be drinking anything more than a half liter (16 oz) so it doesn't get cold. I drink very quickly. Besides, if they're too cold, it covers up the flavor too much. I love the taste of a chilled Coke, but I can barely taste an iced-over Coke.

But I've finally succumbed. With the recent heat wave of 35-40 degree temps I've bought an ice cube tray. Woo hoo! But I only use ice for drinks I've just bought which are at room temp. Otherwise, they get watered down too much and freeze my throat.

[rocking chair]

ice good. sometimes the ice melts before the beverage is finished. then more ice must be added.

i have 4 tupperware ice cube trays. they have cool little covers with little lids in them. that way you can fill the tray without taking off the cover. no mess going to the freezer either. no icky "freezer taste" in the cubes.

tupperware good, ice good.

[Arden Ranger]

Must have ice. Preferably run through the ice crusher. Sometimes I splurge and go get my ice chest filled up with shaved ice.

Fruit juice over shaved ice. Mmmm...

[OpalCat]

I don't like ice in drinks, usually, because it bumps against my lips and teeth when I drink. However, I find enough other uses for ice that I always have it (like making kool aid.... when you don't want to wait for it to cool down, ice is good... annoying, but good.)

[Mudshark]

My parents alwaus have several trays of ice in the freezer. I don't know who uses it, but someone does.

[TelcontarStorm]

Ice Yes. (it's over 90 out there fer chrissake)
We must have 10 trays in the freezer right now. 2 of us are big water drinkers, so the waterdown factor dosn't come into play there. I'm an iced tea drinker. So I remember to brew the stuff strong and meebe a bit bitter so when it does get over the ice, it dosn't lose it's flavor.
Sometimes I run up to the Clark station at the corner. They have ice that is so wonderfully crunchy I have to have it. I know it sounds silly but the texture is so much different than the ones in the freezer,I can crunch my way through a glass of ice quicker than I can drink the DR.P poured into it. It's said that we ice chompers are either deficient in iron, or horney.

AARRGGHH! to all of you who leave that LAST cube in the tray. Refill it ya lazy bastards. Tray only half full? well refill it anyhow! No I don't care that it isn't empty yet. I want a full tray for this BIG glass of tea. And I really am SICK up and FED with being the only one to fill these things!AARRGGHH!