Re: the frozen ice bowl - I have put cut up vegetables, melons, and even used it for serving shrimp. One August it was 105 here, and the bowl was just a thin shell at the end of the party, lasting about about 4 hours. Other times, such as Christmas, I have been able to re-wrap the bowl in foil, put it back in the freezer and use it again. I usually place it on a round platter, with leaf lettuce underneath and around the bottom of the bowl. I have tried putting various fruit inside the frozen wall as Contessa suggested, but they usually go down to the bottom part, and they also make the bowl defrost faster. The tray holding the ice bowl does have to be dumped of water every several hours or so if it is used outside in very hot weather.

I think I got this out of a Sunset Magazine about 20 years ago.