I DID IT!!! I didn’t drink for an entire month!! More than that, actually. I believe the last drink I had was on December 24th. Maybe for some people this would not be a feat worthy of all-caps and exclamation marks (plural). For me, it is. My sister and brother-in-law love to quote me for a time I was extremely inebriated in their presence and I famously, and very drunkenly, proclaimed “I don’t drink drugs or alcohol.” Well folks, I do, indeed drink alcohol. Quite a bit of it. Or I did, in my youth.
Do you remember 4lokos? There was a famous uproar in November 2010 about the incredibly toxic and delicious energy drink/alcoholic beverage, and the FDA literally banned the drink, then they reformulated it and rereleased it in January 2011. But what was going to happen to the old formula 4lokos? Well, my friends, I was not about to let it go to waste, I can tell you that much. I was in my first year of law school, so of course this energy drink/alcoholic beverage provided 2 things I needed BADLY: caffeine and severe inebriation to forget about my life choices. I went immediately to my neighborhood bodega, where everybody knew my name. Actually, he didn’t know my name, he called me “the hot chick from the law school.” I loved that guy. Anyway, I asked about the old 4lokos, which he told me they were required to take off the shelves. This piqued my interest. Off the shelves? But… not in the trash?? My main cashier buddy brought me to the back room where he showed me the two cases that were unfit for sale. To which I, of course, offered cold hard cash and told him I’d take it off of his hands. Needless to say, I was a very popular 1L for the rest of the school year.
Why did I tell you that longwinded story? Mostly to prove my alcoholism, but also to remind you how horrible law school is and that I needed illegal energy drinks to get through it. Anyway, I obviously digressed. But y’all, I never thought I’d be one to attempt Dry January. This year, however, I figured, why not. New year, new me, right? Also, Omicron made it so that I was staying in my apartment anyway, so it seemed like a good of a time as any.
I wish I could tell you that it was EXCRUCIATINGLY hard and that I am a super fun party animal and I missed out on so many things because I was choosing to forgo booze. But… that’s just not true. I think maybe I am super lame now in my old age. And boring. Or maybe all of my friends aren’t going out because of Covid plus it’s been very, very cold. I definitely would have had a drink on New Year’s Eve, but the one couple we were choosing to spend the evening with got Covid, so we ended up home alone watching Queer Eye. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing. I made pigs in a blanket and cried my eyes out to Jonathan Van Ness. But I didn’t need a drink. And that’s what kickstarted my semi-decision not to drink for the month.
There were three times I was tempted to imbibe.
I almost dropped the ball early, on January 5th and 6th. Chris and I went to Texas to surprise his brother-in-law on his 50th birthday. First, we were upgraded to first class on the plane on the way there. FREE BOOZE! Then, we stayed in the house on Friday night and ordered in food and danced around the living room. Booze central! Then, the next day, there was a huge surprise party with multiple margarita machines. But… there was also Covid. And I didn’t want to take off my mask anywhere. So, I just decided to keep my mask on and chug water every now and again. I definitely did not want to be nauseous or hungover and smelling alcohol on my breath the next day in my mask on the flight home. I think I made the right decision.
I was ALMOST tempted on January 15th when I went to brunch with my friend after an Orangetheory class. Not only did I sweat a LOT and felt like I “deserved” a drink, but it was VERY cold. I’m talking, “feels like 8 degrees” and we were sitting outside, #becausecovid. I really wanted a spiked hot apple cider. But I got a coffee instead. My only hot coffee of the month. I am #TeamYearroundIcedCoffee, but that’s a topic for another day.
Lastly, I was almost tempted to break my streak last Saturday, January 29th, when I stayed inside all day and read an entire book on the couch. I had a scented candle going, and snow falling outside my window, and I really felt like I needed a coffee with Baileys and Kahlua to top off the day. But it was SO CLOSE to February. Instead, I settled for a seasonal pump of sugar free pumpkin syrup in my iced coffee and looked forward to the end of the month.
Honestly, being tempted to drink 3 times in 1 month is a huge transformation from my former self! I am basically a teetotaler now! And there’s one thing I definitely did not miss: hangovers. Sometimes nowadays I feel crappy for 2 full days after drinking! I guess that’s old age. Anyway, it was amazing to get good sleep every weekend, no heart palpitations, no cotton mouth in the morning, and no headaches! I will admit, last week I got a headache and I was PISSED. As I took out the Advil, I thought to myself, “I didn’t even get a night of dancing on the bar to feel it was worth this!” But, I was also productive every weekend day of the month. Well, maybe not the blizzard reading day, but that was a conscious decision. People often say quitting drinking makes your skin look great, but considering my constant N95 masks, I cannot vouch for this result. I would almost continue this non-drinking streak, but I am shopping for my wedding gown this weekend, and if I find one, I feel like I’ll need a celebratory drink for sure. Have any of you ever tried Dry January? My next 10+ month dry streak is likely going to be pregnancy-imposed. I think that one will be much tougher!
It’s over! It’s really over!! 4 weeks down. 30 days of ice cream. Sometimes visiting 2 or 3 places/day. I have something new to add to my resume: NYC Ice Cream Connoisseur. Although I do consider myself to be a great success, and well on my way to Pre-Revenge-Body-Mama-June, I am sad to admit that there are still 8 places left on my map that I did not visit. Maybe I will give it a second go next year. But for now, no sweets, #SirachaAllDay. My ice cream posts are not finished here though, do not fret. I will be posting my final summary of my favorites and all-time winners in the 4 categories next week. I’ll also wait for that post to reveal how much money my mint.com is showing I spent on this endeavor. This post is reserved specifically for my Week 4 Ice Creams, all 13 of them.
TL;DR
This week was epic because I was behind. I knew I had to get to at least 10 ice creams within 7 days. Luckily, I had 2 days off work thanks to the cheesecake holiday (have you read about how I’m Jew-ISH and work for rabbis), so I started strong, visiting 3 places on the first day off, and 2 on the next. Then, I finally caved and bought a ticket to the Scooper Bowl (read about my experience here!), where I consumed unlimited ice cream for over 5 hours, and stuffed my face with 8 different brands of ice cream, 7 of which I had not tried yet during #30Years30IceCreams. I tried Häagen-Dazsduring Week 1, because of Free Cone Day, so I can’t count that one. As far as price goes, $20 for 5 hours of unlimited 8 brands comes pretty close to FREE, which is my favorite price, so I’d say this week was a great success. Also, it was for charity!
Week 4 included two of the prettiest, coolest-looking ice creams ever: super creamy soft serve in a waffle, fish-shaped cone at Taiyaki, AND cotton candy ice cream sitting on a literal cotton candy cloud at Wu Kong. I also got to watch some more rolled ice cream being made at I CE NY. Also, I had fried ice cream for the very first time at Sam’s Fried Ice Cream, AND I had alcohol-infused ice cream, in a flight of 4 different flavors, at the infamous, just-open, Tipsy Scoop. Then came unlimited ice cream. It was definitely a week for the books. Without further ado, Week 4 of #30Years30IceCreams!
Talk about an Instagrammable treat… this fish cone is ADORABLE and it is blowing up the internet! I love soft serve, and the cone is made of a super-secret recipe waffle-like batter, so it is soft, chewy, and amazing. Also, it is stuffed! You can choose either red bean paste or custard filling. We incorrectly chose red bean, but the rest of our choices were top notch. We got a swirl of flavors, matcha and black sesame, and topped it off with condensed milk, a stick of rainbow colored mochi, and sprinkles! My photo was so pretty, some random Instagrammer asked me if she could regram it! The best part: they add special features for different holidays: stars like Christmas Trees in December, Bunny Ears for Easter, and of course, Unicorns for this summer, the ultimate animal of the year. Unfortunately, I was 2 days early for a unicorn accessory (they were hand-painting them while I was there, see below), so I’ll have to go back!
gorgeous!
There’s a new fish in town.
#2 Taiyaki: Creamy Soft Serve with delicious Instagrammable Waffle Cone
Hand-painting the Unicorn Accessories. I have to go back!!
This was a hole in the wall that I found out about from a guy on an Art Run. People who work out always know the best, most fattening foods. Always ask them for recommendations. This was the cheapest ice cream of the week, at only $5.50. First you choose your flavor, then you choose your crust (bread crumbs, Oreos, or cornflakes), then you drizzle it with whatever drizzles and toppings you want. They pre-make the ice cream balls and make them EXTRA cold, so they don’t melt in the fryer. We chose pistachio, Oreo crumbs, whipped cream, Nutella, and more cookie crumbs. This is DECADENT. The whole place reeks of fried food, and it tastes like ice cream and funnel cake all in one. The Oreos crumbs were barely tasteable, it mostly just tasted fried, which is fine in my book. Highly recommend if you like a sweet and savory taste combo, as well as a cold/hot palette combo. Only problem: It’s hard to get a photo before the whipped cream starts melting on the fried goodness! Ice cream was a bit hard, since it must be extra frozen, but combined with the fried part, it’s amazing! As a self-proclaimed french fry enthusiast and professional fried food taster, this was a great food moment in my life.
The menu laid out the steps.
Roll that thanggg in Oreos, baby!!
FRY IT UP!
Take photos quickly before it melts.
So cute! The cups have stickers that match the walls.
This painting looked incredibly similar to what it looked like IRL.
Third stop of the day, I was hoping to get drunk and forget about all of the calories I consumed. JK. Sorta. This place had been ALL OVER THE INTERNET and I knew it was opening for a few months prior. It used to be sold only in pints (made locally in Harlem!), but a full-on “Barlour” was opening during #30Years30IceCreams so I knew I had to go. They let you taste up to 2 flavors, but no more. I assumed this was so that drunk people would not fall on the Barlour floor. There is a choice to purchase either one flavor, or a flight of 4 flavors. This was an easy choice. Plus, the flight was much better for photos, which is what matters the most. They had little cups with sprinkles around them, and they even had hashtag flags with things like #IceCreamWasted and #FoodPorn. Love it. Unfortunately, I did not end up drunk (or fortunately, since I had to teach a spin class that night), but I definitely did taste the alcohol once the ice cream started melting! We chose Tequila Mexican Hot Chocolate (cinnamon-y and YUMMY), Maple Bacon Bourbon (flavor was EH, but bacon was DEEEELISH; also the bourbon flavor definitely came out once it started melting), Red Velvet Martini (yummy, but not very red-velvet-y), and Mango Margarita (very refreshing, but not very tequila-y). Definitely recommend this as an experience!
Barlour, get it? #ISeeWhatYouDidThere
Cute (and serious) signage.
How cute are these tiny sprinkle cups??
They had “hashtag flags” which only added to my “aesthetic” rating.
They even sell adorable merch like this tank top I seriously considered getting.
We got ice cream wasted. But not really.
I CE NY – Rolled Ice Cream, Take II (@i_ce_ny) June 1, 2017
Aesthetic (9) Flavor (7) Texture (8) Overall (8)
I had rolled ice cream before in week 2, but I decided to give it another go because it was so creamy the time before! Sure enough, it did not disappoint. Incredibly creamy. Also, you get a show because you can watch them make it! I had coffee ice cream, with brownies mixed in, Nutella, strawberries and rainbow jimmies. YUM. Dinner and a show for 7 bucks! JK I had more ice cream for dinner (see below).
The presentation and show part of dinner.
How cute is this? Lady Liberty and Ice Cream: goes together like peas and carrots.
Gorgeous.
Almost too pretty to eat. ALMOST.
Wu Kong – Cotton Candy Cloud with Cotton Candy Ice Cream and Blow-Torched Marshmallows (@wukongus) June 1, 2017
Aesthetic (10) Flavor (8) Texture (7) Overall (9)
I saw this cotton candy cloud amazingness all over Instagram and it was immediately on my list of MUST-DO. I went here with emoji-bf’s sister (see below, they look so alike!), which meant we could get more because there were two of us. We got a double scoop, one of cotton candy flavored ice cream (go big or go home) and one of vanilla, to neutralize all of the sugar (with more ice cream LOL). Then we picked our flavor/color of cotton candy. Then we picked out our UNLIMITED toppings. We asked for the prettiest things, and I added two pink marshmallows, as one does when they are available. I was pleasantly surprised when they pulled out a blowtorch and roasted them, like sleepaway camp. The memories! This was the prettiest ice cream ever. It sat on the table for a full 10 minutes while we stared at it before we realized we should probably eat it before it melted more. As far as texture goes, it wasn’t the best or creamiest, but you can’t win everything. Also, the cotton candy turned my fingers and mouth blue. #WorthIt.
First Step: Bright Blue Cotton Candy.
Second Step: Literally blow-torching my marshmallows.
Third Step: Sprinkle with fairy dust sprinkles.
#5 Wu Kong: Cotton Candy Cloud Ice Cream, the thing of dreams.
Fifth Step: Zoom in, take more photos.
Sixth Step: Realize the Cotton Candy is larger than your head; take more photos.
Seventh Step: Realize Tongue is completely blue, take more photos.
I wrote about the ice cream brands from the Scooper Bowl in alphabetical order, so as not to prioritize or favor any of them. However, the very first brand alphabetically also happened to have my favorite flavors of the day. Baskin-Robbins had three flavors available and I tried them all. More than once. And with unlimited ice cream for 5 hours and so much to try, you KNOW I liked them if I went back for more! The three flavors were Golden OREO ‘n Churro, Love Potion #31 and Rainbow Sherbet. My favorite flavor ever was Love Potion #31, which is a classic flavor from 1995, white chocolate-flavored and raspberry ice creams, a raspberry ribbon, chocolate chips and raspberry-filled chocolate-flavored hearts. How can that be bad??? It wasn’t. It was amazing. Also amazing, Golden Oreo flavor… and I don’t even like Golden Oreos! I’m more of a classic Oreo girl, myself. But: cinnamon caramel-flavored ice cream with crispy churro pieces and Golden Oreo cookie pieces all wrapped together with a fried dough-flavored ribbon… come on. I can’t even say more about it, you have to try it yourself.
I have been to the B&J Factory in Vermont before, so I was familiar with their ice cream, plus, I am familiar with their current-events-style-flavors. At the Scooper Bowl, they had 4 flavors, and I tried Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream (vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and a caramel swirl), and Bob Marley’s One Love (banana ice cream with caramel & graham cracker swirls& fudge peace signs). Personally, I love when my ice cream has stuff in it. So B&J knows the way to my heart. I loved the waffle cone pieces in Colbert’s, and I LOVED the Marley banana ice cream. I would have eaten more of it if I had more capacity in my belly. Highly recommend both if you only have access to a grocery store and not to a cotton candy machine like Wu Kong.
Breyers – Good Cookies & Cream (@breyers) June 3, 2017
Aesthetic (4) Flavor (8) Texture (8) Overall (6)
To be honest, by the time I hit Breyer’s, I was Ice Cream-ed out. I tried it because I knew I had to. You know I was #overit because I didn’t even take any photos! I had seen Breyers in the grocery store before, but there’s something to be said about ice cream that is scooped for you. Less Work = More Delicious. I tried the Cookies and Cream, and I was not disappointed. The cookies weren’t crispy like a fresh Oreo, but the ice cream was incredibly creamy for a store-bought variety! Not bad, Breyers, not bad. (Probably better without the 4 hours of ice cream prior.)
BK Ice Cream Factory didn’t have the most unique flavors (vanilla, chocolate), but what they didn’t have in flavors, they made up for in presentation! The strawberry flavor was REALLY good and I’m not usually a strawberry girl. Their most unique flavor was blueberry, which was not my favorite because the blueberry pieces stuck in my teeth! Ain’t nobody got time for that with 8 ice cream places to try! However, this place wins the Scooper Bowl for presentation. They had little mini cones, and they had chocolate cookie thingies for open-faced ice cream sandwiches. Winner Winner Ice Cream Dinner. Made for some great photos.
As I talked about in my Scooper Bowl post, I was intrigued by DF Mavens, which is vegan and completely dairy free (hence, DF). They used to have a shop in the East Village, but they closed last year! I actually loved it! I liked the nutty flavor (like the vegan flavor I had at Van Leeuwen’s in Week 2), but even more than the creamy ones, I was excited that they had a raspberry sorbet. Not my usual flavor choice, but a welcome palette-cleanser. I really disliked the red bean flavor, but I don’t like red bean in general. My favorite flavor by far was key lime with chunks of pie crust in it. YUM! You can still purchase DF Mavens in stores and online, so if you have a dairy allergy, get on it!
DF Mavens with dairy free, palette-cleansing sorbet.
Graeter’s was at the Scooper Bowl exclusively on Saturday. I love exclusive, so even though I was ice-creamed out, I knew I had to try it, and boy was I glad I did. They had three flavors available, Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate Chip, and Madagascar Vanilla Bean. OBVI I had to try the black raspberry chocolate chip. I cannot stress how good this was. If you’ve never had black raspberry ice cream, bookmark this page for later, and go get some right now. It was DELICIOUS.
I told the story of Vice Cream in my Scooper Bowl post, but basically, their flavors are based on decadence and indulgence, since their founder, Dan Schorr, started the company after being diagnosed with lymphoma. He decided to start really living his life. Their slogan is “Live Life, Dig In,” and I definitely did that. They had 6 (SIX!!) flavors available, and tried almost all of them. Bourbon Mash, Higher Grounds, Choc of Shame, Minted, Afternoon Delight and L’Orange a Trois. My favorites were L’orange a Trois (vanilla ice cream with orange ripple and three types of chocolate chunks), Afternoon Delight (vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough, salted caramel truffles fudge and caramel), Higher Grounds (dark roast coffee with mocha fudge and chocolate cookie crumbles and espresso), AND Bourbon Mash (vanilla ice cream with chocolate and bourbon-caramel sauce). Ok, TBH I loved them ALL. Plus, they were scooped with love and everyone was so friendly!
Follow them on insta!
This cannot be bad. It wasn’t.
Dan Schorr, founder of Vice Cream! Don’t be such a vanilla!
Hand-Made and Hand-Created-Flavor – Peanut Butter with Chocolate Ripple (@noinstagrambutitwasdelicious) June 4, 2017
When my sister heard I was doing a #30Years30IceCreams challenge, she casually mentioned that they had an ice cream maker. What?? In an NYC apartment? I knew I had to take advantage. On my birthday, I went to her house and her husband named off a litany of ingredients that could possibly go in ice cream. I was overwhelmed, but as a newly certified ice cream connoisseur, I was up for the challenge. I decided on a peanut butter ice cream base with a chocolate ripple. To make the base, we combined peanut butter and corn syrup, warmed it to soften it, added it to the base, and let the machine do its thing. Then, when it was almost completely frozen, we added the hand-made mixture of chocolate chips, cocoa powder and sugar, to make a chocolate ripple. Then, we let it freeze more for a few days. The days of freezing are unnecessary, but my schedule was so crazy with other ice cream endeavors, I didn’t have time to enjoy it before then. When I finally tasted it, I was PLEASANTLY surprised. The flavor was GREAT, but the texture was the star of the show. Sooo creamy, and the chocolate ripple added a great bonus. It was incredibly rich, though. I have shared it with 4 people so far, and I still have a lot in my freezer! I’ll be eating it all month. Turning my birthday into a lifestyle.
Mixing the Peanut Flavor for the ice cream base.
Pouting the PB mixture into the magic machine.
And then we wait.
While we wait, we make a chocolate ripple.
DIY chocolate ripple. By Do It Yourself, I mean, have your brother-in-law do it.
Frozen and ready to be devoured!
Looks delicious!!
TASTES AMAZING!!
That’s it for individual reviews. I will post my overall #30Years30IceCreams summary next week, so stay tuned! Now, off to the gym. For the rest of the summer. And forever.
