James L. C. Kafka - Fiction is My Reality

Thursday, November 20, 2025

World Greatest Malted Milk Shake Recipe


My Uncle Phil lived in Chicago (southside-1964), and when we went to visit him, he would make us malted milk shakes.

Today, I am going to share with you my secret Uncle Phil recipe. 

Yippee!

 

Basic Ingredients:

You need a regular size blender

Gallon of ice cream – Vanilla, Chocolate, etc. etc.

2 tbsp. Malted Powder or 1 box of Malted chocolate balls

2 egg whites – or if you’re lazy, throw it all in.

½ tbsp. Vanilla extract or Almond extract

1 cup of cream – optional if you use whole milk.

½ Gallon of milk – whole milk is preferred

 

Any malted powder will do. This is what I use.


Before you get started, put your serving glasses in the freezer.

(Milk shakes are more better when served in an ice-cold glass.)

 

Step 1: place in blender, 2 tbsp. Malted Powder – or 1 box of Chocolate Malted Balls,      2 egg whites, ½ tbsp. Vanilla extract, 1 cup of cream, and 1 cup of milk.

Step2: Mix ingredients for 10-20 seconds. Don’t over do it. You just want the ingredients mixed up really well before you start adding Ice Cream and more milk.

Step 3: Add a couple scopes of ice cream and a splash of milk – then blend. Continue until you get the desired thickness for you. Add- blend, add blend. (I add a lot more Ice Cream than milk)

I like really, thick shakes – thick enough for the spoon to stand on its own.

And there you have it –A Good Milk Shake.

 

Blue Blue - The G.O.A.T. of Ice Creams.



World’s Greatest Milk Shake

If’n you want to step up your game and make the W. G. M. S., well, you’re gonna need BLUE BELL Ice Cream, for sure! Pick the flavor you like and go for it.

I like cookies and cream and use whole milk. I typically make 4 full glasses. Eat one, freeze the others. Frozen Milk Shake is gooooood.

 

When the grandkids come over, I get a Gallon of Vanilla, 

add 2 tbsp. of Malt Powder and all the other ingredients, but then 

I let them add any flavor they want – chocolate cookies or 

strawberries; basically, whatever their weird little minds think of – they like to throw in a couple of their favorite candy bars.

The Grandkids also like it when I put whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

It’s a great dessert for any occasion – reading a book, watching a movie, or just cuz.

 

Wishing you all a World’s Greatest Milk Shake Thanksgiving!

 

j/k



Thursday, November 13, 2025

Reviews - Yes or No?


Full disclosure: I barely passed High School, got bad grades in English classes, and therefore it disqualifies me to legitimately critique anybody’s book.

 

I have, however, read a lot books – when I was a young lad, I read a couple of Jules Verne books and sports books (football- baseball); classics and D&D books in my 30’s; pirate and adventure books in my 40’s; I started writing a trilogy in my 50’s and only read specific styles of writing; and currently piles of indie books.

 

If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be doing it wrong.


Reviews:

Everybody wants a review – electricians, plumbers, car repair people, stores, and writers. A review for a waiter/ waitress is determined by the size of the tip you leave them.

Are they important?  Depends. 

If an electrician did their job in a timely manner and everything works, I write a review, so other people know that the person can be trusted or not. I believe that's important.

I have written 100’s of reviews for people who have provided a service and I am a super generous tipper.


On the other hand, I believe my current number for writing an indie book review is three. I do rate all the ones I have read, 1-5 stars.


Why?

Indie writers are an extremely delicate class of people. One wrong word and there is a strong possibility they may never write again or worse. But there are some who can handle constructive criticism.

The are 3 main points I focus on when reading a book – pace, readability, and imagination. Readability is grammar and punctuation, and I fully expect there to be errors, but if there is an excessive amount, I might stop reading the book. Thus far I have never not finished a book. I’ve come close.

The biggest difference, I have noticed, between an indie book and a traditionally published book is pace. Indie writers are generally horrible at pace. I think the reason is because they try to hard and over think the basics.

Recently, (last night) I was reading an indie book, and I was literally screaming in my head, . . . JUST TALK TO ME! If it’s not important, why did you write it. Page filler? If you feel compelled to write page filler material, please make it interesting.


I give up, today, but tomorrow is another day.

Writers are their own worst critic – me included.


I have officially completed six books, published three, and working on a seventh. I cringe when I reread parts of my books and pat myself on the back when I think a particular passage is good.

Of course, writers are trying their best to write a readable book.

Sadly, there are some books that are truly awesome, but will never get the notice they deserve.

 

In the beginning, I intentionally skipped what I was doing in my 20’s. I’ll spare you the details – we have four children.

 

To the people who write reviews – Thank You!  Don’t stop.

 

Have a great day reading and writing fellow book people.

 

j/k