Ice cream and sorbet can be the perfect red white and blue dessert. Image from Flickr.

Fourth of July recipes can be a challenge. A good fourth of July recipe should be easy to make, incredibly tasty and have an element of fun. If it can be made red, white and blue, that’s even better. So what could be better for the Fourth of July than ice cream and sorbet?

The basics of frozen desserts

Frozen desserts, ice cream and sorbet alike, can be practically perfect Fourth of July barbecue desserts. To make a frozen dessert, you need to take a basic mixture of ingredients and freeze it while agitating it. Mixing the ingredients with air while you freeze it keeps the dessert light and edible. There are several ways to freeze ice cream. First, you can do the picnic-friendly double can method – take a small coffee can, fill it with the dessert mixture, and tape it closed. Put the small can inside a larger can filled with ice and rock salt, tape the whole thing closed, and kick it around until the ice is very close to melted. There are also hand-crank, soccer-ball shaped and electric ice cream makers.

Red: Fourth of July strawberry sorbet

Strawberry sorbet may sound like the simplest dessert, but you can make it much more fancy. Blend in a blender or food processor:
1 pound of cut and hulled strawberries
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 sprigs fresh basil or mint
Then freeze and enjoy!

White: Fourth of July ice cream

A basic vanilla, mint, or even almond ice cream can be an amazing white dessert for the Fourth of July. Combine:
2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flavor extract – vanilla bean, mint or almond.
Combine, freeze and enjoy!

Blue: Fourth of July blueberry sorbet

If you love berries, then Fourth of July is the perfect time to try out a blue sorbet. In a blender or food processor, combine:
2 pints blueberries
1 pint blackberries or huckleberries
1/2 cup agave nectar or 1 cup simple syrup
Then freeze, scoop, and enjoy!

These recipes, of course, are just suggestions. You can combine, blend and love just about any kind of fruit, sugar, and flavoring to create fun kinds of desserts. No matter what, remember to enjoy the Fourth of July!

Image from Flickr.

I had never heard of ReserveAmerica before today, but I can think of a few trips that would have gone a lot more smoothly if I had used it. ReserveAmerica is a web site that allows you to reserve campsites, RV sites, cabins and other outdoorsy lodging. Where I live, it’s far too cold to consider camping. However, if you want to go camping over Memorial Day, the Fourth of July or another popular camping holiday, it’s a really good idea to reserve a spot now.

I suppose some people in warmer climates could use ReserveAmerica to reserve a camping spot for President’s Day, but don’t forget that weekend is also Valentine’s Day, so make sure that roughing it is the romantic getaway your partner is looking for. A nice retreat in a cabin or a yurt might be just the right formula for romance.

ReserveAmerica features

If you need cash to get that perfect gift for Valentine’s Day, remember you can get the best payday loans online. At ReserveAmerica you can choose just the right outdoor getaway, whether that’s an RV site, a group camping site, sites that allow horses or sites that have spots for boats or trailers. You can specify whether you want water or sewer hookups or sites that allow pets.

If you want to reserve a camping spot at a specific park you can, or you can just choose a general area. You can also choose activities such as boating, biking, golfing and fishing. There’s also a “winter activities” category. I guess that one is for people who are not as wussy as I am when it comes to the cold. You can also find out about getting hunting and fishing licenses through ReserveAmerica. I may seem early to be reserving spots for Memorial Day, Fourth of July or Labor Day, but ReserveAmerica makes it easy, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Your local post office will likely close at noon. Hurry!

Ah, what to do when a federal holiday falls on the weekend. It always causes confusion. Of course, even when federal holidays fall on regularly scheduled Mondays it causes confusion. Which holidays count? Which ones don’t? I can assure you, though, that you can still get fast payday loans through Personal Money Market today.

Well, the federal government has come to the conclusion that if I have to work the Friday before the Fourth of July, so do the postal workers. However, many of them will get to leave early.

July 3 and July 4 details

The Seattle Times reports that mail delivery today will not be affected. However, most post offices will close for retail purposes at noon. So, if you need to use the post office, hurry up!

On the Fourth of July there will not be mail delivery and post offices will be closed. Only holiday express mail will be delivered Saturday. Mail delivery and post office hours will be back to normal Monday.

Are banks open today?

The short answer is yes, banks are open today. Of course, it depends on the bank. There’s no law that says they can’t close early or not open at all today … is there?

It appears to me that the Saturday bank schedule will also be basically normal: Most banks will be closed but a few grocery store branches might have limited hours.

Sounds like a regular Saturday to me. However, if you use a standalone branch of your bank that usually is open on Saturdays, it will probably be closed tomorrow.

A few more tidbits

People have a lot of questions about what’s open and what’s not today and tomorrow. This is going to vary widely by region, but I have found some answers that apply to the area where I live that might be able to be applied nationwide, at least in general.

The DMV will be closed today and tomorrow. In general, regarding the DMV, it’s always safe to err on the side of “closed.” Columbus Day? Closed. MLK Day? Closed. Pioneer Day in Utah? White House dog’s birthday? Yeah, the DMV will pretty much shut down if it has any sort of excuse at all. Like 3 p.m. on a Wednesday.

Get to the good stuff

Whether the liquor store is open on the Fourth of July or not might depend on whatever the local liquor control board says, as usual. However, as long as the state you live in doesn’t mandate that liquor stores be closed, you can safely assume they’ll be open for usual business hours for today and tomorrow.

I mean, what liquor store owner would voluntarily shut down the store on the Fourth of July? That’s just bad business sense.

Government and garbage

In general, city and county government offices will be closed today and tomorrow. These offices generally operate like the DMV and close down whenever they can. After all, they make the rules, right?

Luckily, garbage collection for the most part will proceed as usual.  Thank goodness. Garbage collection is one of those things you don’t shut down unless you have a really, really good reason. Like a massive hurricane.

If you are still asking yourself “Is the post office open today?” or “Are banks open today?” you might want to just call the specific locantion you’re thinking of and ask. Of course, it’ll probably be busy, so if it’s not too far, you might just want to head down there and take a look-see.