#30Years30IceCreams has finally come to a close. 35 ice creams, 30 days. I feel like we have gone on a journey together. A really long journey. A photographic journey, an expensive journey, and least importantly, a caloric journey. Perhaps it seems long because it started in spring, and it is now blazing summer. Perhaps it seems long because I am now carrying an extra 10 pounds of weight on myself.
What will I do better next time? I will NEVER do this again.
What have I learned?
Sugar causes migraines in large doses.
Rolled Ice Cream is the hibachi of the ice cream world.
Chinatown has the coolest ice cream.
It IS possible to have 5 ice creams in one day if you use your phone-a-friend lifeline.
Ice cream photographs really, really well. I have lost 25 Instagram followers since I stopped posting it daily.
I wish I could tell you this is like the MasterCard slogan and that #30Years30IceCreams was priceless, but that would be a lie. I told you I was tracking my ice cream by using mint.com, my new obsession. I tagged all of my ice cream purchases, and I ended up with 19 separate transactions, and a grand total of $142.78 spent. Again, this is where sharing came in handy. Instead of paying for each one, I traded off. Also, it helps that it was my birthday month. A few people bought ice cream for me as a present (shoutouts to Mary and my sister). This low amount of transactions is also thanks to The Scooper Bowl, where I paid $20 (plus 1.99 service fee) and got to have 7 ice cream brands, unlimited, for 5 hours. That’s just over $3/brand. Not too shabby.
I know what you really want to know is, which were my favorites!? My point system was eerily accurate *pats self on back*. I judged my ice cream in four categories: aesthetic, flavor, texture, and overall. You can find my full ratings here on this google sheet. If you order the 35 places by total points, my top five, in order, were: Brooklyn Farmacy, Taiyaki, Blossom, Carvel, and Wu Kong.
#1 Brooklyn Farmacy: 99 Problems Sundae
#2 Taiyaki: Creamy Soft Serve with delicious Instagrammable Waffle Cone
#3 Blossom: Lavender-Infused Rolled Ice Cream
#4 Carvel Cake: Because look at that #hashtag.
#5 Wu Kong: Cotton Candy Cloud Ice Cream, the thing of dreams.
Brooklyn Farmacy sundaes were out of this world. I highly highly recommend going there if you ever find yourself on the other side of the East River. Also, make sure to bring a sharing buddy. They are HUGE. Taiyaki tasted amazing, included a waffle cone, AND it makes for the BEST photos. Pro tip: Always get your nails done first to match the sprinkles. Blossom had the creamy taste you can only get from freshly rolled ice cream, PLUS it had unlimited toppings and lavender-infused flavor. Carvel had to get a high ranking; it had my hashtag #30Years30IceCreams written on it and it was the biggest! Wu Kong… I mean… Look at it. It’s a work of art.
Honorable Mentions go to #6 Sam’s Fried Ice Cream, and #8, Softswerve. In fact, if you are looking for a good-old, no-frills, DELICIOUS soft serve, my #1 choice would be SoftSwerve. It was so creamy. I’d actually go back there soon. That’s saying a lot considering the amount of ice cream I have consumed.
Overall, this has been a great experience, but I do not recommend it to anyone. I still have 8 places left on my map to visit: Amorino, Ice & Vice, Kith Treats, Mikey Likes It, Milk Bar, Milk & Cream Bar, Minus Celsius and Neuhaus. If anyone wants to accompany me, you’ll probably have to wait until next summer. Or my next life. JK I’ll probably be there the next time temperatures hit 100 degrees. Which is likely to be soon, because, New York. I hope you’ve enjoyed my journey more than I have! I still have some homemade ice cream and Carvel Cake in my freezer, so come on over. And if you have any questions about ice creams, I’m your girl.
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.
23 days down, 7 to go. 20 ice creams down, 10 to go, maybe 11, if you don’t count Sip Sak, below. But now it is crunch time. All bets are off. Also, all non-stretch pants are off. I’m officially 3 ice creams behind, but I am picking up speed. I have the next 2 days off of work thanks to the Jews and their cheesecake holiday (more on that later), and I plan on filling them with ice cream, ice cream, and more ice cream. Here’s what I have discovered, I like a complicated ice cream, a mix of flavors, some salt and sweet, some crunch and creamy. After 20 ice creams, you have to do more to impress me than simply sticky a dairy (or non-dairy) product in a cone. I am becoming quite the ice cream connoisseur. I am also counting down the days until my life no longer revolves around frozen treats.
TL;DR
This week was my actual birthday! I am officially 30 years old. Luckily, I started this quest on May 7th, so I have 7 more days to pick up some slack. I also have 7 more days to find my long-lost metabolism, which I am pretty sure I left in my 20’s, somewhere around 22. I have been really sick for the past week, and that has gotten in the way of my taste buds, my energy, and my drive to stuff my stomach with frozen goodies.
This week I went to an old-time soda fountain for AMAZING sundaes. It was the best place I have been so far, and I gave it a 9.5, in case somewhere in the next week lives up to the elusive perfect 10. The next day, I went to Turkish restaurant and had an off-menu lava-cake-like halva-stuffed ice cream dome. It was unique, to say the least. The next day I had a two-a-day (not the gym, god forbid), where I went to Wowfulls for aesthetically pleasing, but gustatorily sub-par waffle ice cream, and Snow Days, for shaved ice cream, something I had never experienced. It was like tasting actual snow, that sort of tasted like ice cream. Low in flavor, high in mental confusion. Think: Dippin’ Dots.
Friday I had a date night with my favorite emoji boyfriend at Cool Mess, where we picked our flavor and toppings, and made the ice cream on the table in front of us! VERY cute date idea, if you don’t mind the kids running around everywhere. Who doesn’t like a date that involves and activity, sweets, and a server who offers to take boomerangs of you!? Saturday, I went to Pier 6 in Brooklyn for Ample Hills ice cream. The view was fantastic, but unfortunately I was too sick to taste the ice cream. Rating of flavor was done by my trusty BFF. The next day was birthday celebration, where I topped off the week with a personalized Carvel Cake, reading, what else but #30Years30IceCreams. Without further ado: Week 3.
Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain is housed in a 1920s apothecary store in Brooklyn. It has only been open since 2010 as a soda fountain, but you wouldn’t guess that by walking in. It feels like going back in time. Even the waitresses, or “soda jerks,” seem old-timey. The sundaes though… to DIE for. They were MASSIVE. Three of us went after spin class, and we had a case of “eyes bigger than bellies” when we ordered 2 sundaes to split. First, we got the Mr. Potato Head, featured on Food Network, which has vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, and warm caramel sauce, topped with whipped cream and surrounded by salty potato chips. WOAH WOAH WOAH. I am a chip girl myself, so this was pure heaven. The salt, the sweet, the caramel, the crunch, the melty peanut butter. AMAZING. Best flavor combo so far on this journey. Then came the big kahuna: the 99 Problems sundae. It was a warm brownie, topped with chocolate ice cream, “doused” in vanilla milkshake, topped with a dark chocolate coconut shell, whipped cream, shaved chocolate and a cherry. This thing was literally larger than my head. See below. Unreal. Between the brownie, and the coconut hints of the chocolate shell (they use coconut oil to harden it), and the vanilla milkshake… I have never had anything like it before. HIGHLY recommend. Also, if you buy a Jerk shirt, you can get free egg creams forever! Or buy Fox’s U-Bet syrup in store, and make them yourself at home.
Photo Opp outside
Clearly post-gym, sitting at the soda fountain.
Mr. Potato Head in all of its potato chip glory
#1 Brooklyn Farmacy: 99 Problems Sundae
This thing was as big as my head.
Bad idea: having a scale at an ice cream sundae spot.
Bargain alert! Jerk Shirt = free egg creams.
Old-Timey things for sale, including Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup for egg creams!
Sip Sak – Ice Cream with a Halva Crust (no official Instagram but you can find geotagged photos here) May 23, 2017
Aesthetic (9) Flavor (6) Texture (6) Overall (7)
This place may not count toward my 30 places, since it is not technically known for its ice cream. However, the restaurant is amazing. So I recommend it with or without the ice cream. It’s a Turkish restaurant with a famous chef known for his off-menu items and Michelin stars. Luckily I went here with a friend who spoke Turkish and she took care of all of the expert ordering. She got Semolina Halva for dessert, which was a pine nut-enriched semolina crust over a dome of creamy ice cream (also off-menu). It was like a Turkish version of chocolate lava cake. The texture of the halva was not my favorite but the ice cream was creamy and a great “cherry on top” of a delicious meal. Also, I always like a hot crust/cold ice cream juxtaposition.
You’d never guess what was inside…
Break it open for gooey goodness.
YUM.
Wowfulls – Hong Kong Egg Waffle Colorful Instagrammable Ice Cream (@wowfulls) May 24, 2017
Aesthetic (10) Flavor (7) Texture (6) Overall (7)
I love me a good waffle ice cream. Last week when I went to New Territories, a patron there told me that Wowfulls had better ice cream, but worse waffles; he was right. The waffle was almost too well-done, so it was crunchy, not fluffy. However, this was a beautiful ice cream. We got the crazy vanilla, which was three colors, but tasted like vanilla. The ice cream was great, the toppings were great (condensed milk, whipped cream, fruity pebbles, mini gummy bears and strawberries), but the waffle was sub-par. Service was fantastic; I was waiting there for 30 minutes for my friend and the workers chatted with me and let me taste as many flavors as I wanted. Overall, I’d say Eggloo or New Territories tasted better, but Wowfulls has a custom painted wall from @jgoldcrown just for photos. You can’t compete with that. Oh, and color-changing spoons! Made my night.
Custom mural stole my heart.
I mean come on, it doesn’t get any prettier than this.
Second stop of the night. This was something different and interesting in a weird way. It was like shaved ice, but creamy like ice cream. It’s a combo of Taiwanese and Korean shaved ice, with a fluffy texture of snow, but creaminess of ice cream. They produce these small batches of ice cream blocks every day, then shave it into cups to order. We got the smallest size possible (which was HUGE), in a YETITRACKS(TM) flavor, which is basically like cookies and cream. The whole place has a Yetti theme, which makes for great photos and adorable cup creations. Extra points for them because we picked the three allotted toppings, and they added Pocky sticks for free for effect (again, always tell them you will blog about it!). Overall, it was a different-tasting experience, not my favorite type of texture, but it was a great value for the money and super cute in photos!
Shaving Ice Action Shot.
This is the cutest looking ice cream around.
It looks just like the wall! Even yettis like taking photos for instagram.
Excitement over MORE color-changing spoons.
You can see the inside here, snow-like texture.
Even the choking poster featured yettis.
Cool Mess – DIY Ice Cream on the table (@coolmessnyc) May 26, 2017
Aesthetic (7) Flavor (7) Texture (8) Overall (9)
This place has been on my list of date ideas for over a year, and I finally got my emoji-bf to accompany me. In theory, I guess it’s a place for kids and kids’ parties, and I think we were the only people there over the age of 15 without kids that were under the age of 5. Oh well. The kids clearly know where it’s at. We picked a vanilla base, and added Oreos, bananas, cookie dough and OF COURSE plenty of rainbow jimmies. It only took 8 minutes of waiting for our ice cream to finish freezing. Probably a long time for kids, but just enough time to instagram/boomerang/snapchat for a girl newly in her thirties. As far as price goes, it’s a bit steep for ice cream ($29.95 for two people), but we had a really fun time and it was a great cheap date, relative to other things! You can’t go to a movie for that, and we got to eat our creation. The flavor wasn’t anything outrageous, but the fun experience (and great company 😉 ) knocked this place up to an overall 9. Plus they had their own Snapchat filter. (Also, expert tip, they sell DŌ cookie dough there, if you don’t want to wait in line for an hour.)
Steps to the mess.
Ice Cream in process…
Mash up the cookie dough, add to the base.
TADA!! Beautiful, DIY ice cream!
Cool Mess: Ice Cream You Make! Emoji BF cameo
The way to my heart is through a customized snapchat filter.
I ran into a problem here: Ample Hills has many locations, but I really wanted to go to this one on the water for the photos. Main problem: they are only open during the day, and mostly only on the weekend! By the time I finally got around to going, I was sick and I couldn’t taste anything. We got Munchies flavor (pretzel-infused ice cream with clusters of Ritz crackers, potato chips, pretzels and M&Ms) and Oh Fudge (Vegan, non-dairy chocolate with coconut milk and a splash of rum). Luckily, I had my best friend with me as a tasting buddy (the flavor is ranked by her). You know what they say about how your other senses are heightened when you lose one? Well that is true. I really enjoyed the texture, and the photos came out great! Aesthetic of the ice cream itself wasn’t anything special, but with the Freedom Tower and Brooklyn Bridge behind it, it was really something. After enjoying some nothing-flavored creaminess, I went home and went back to bed with some Dayquil.
The pièce de résistance of the week: the Carvel Cake my big sis got me for my birthday! And of course she had it iced in the only best way possible: #30Years30IceCreams. I had people over to my rooftop for my big 3-0 celebration, and we could not have had a birthday celebration without ice cream. It was a typical half vanilla-half chocolate with chocolate crunchies in the middle (the best part!). It was a beautiful sunny day, and it was a great break from the sangria-drinking. I also have a LOT left in my freezer. I can have a piece every week until my 31st. Do like Drake and turn my birthday into a lifestyle.
My best friend also hand-baked mini cupcakes and iced them, and stuck them in sugar cones to look like mini ice creams. She knows the way to my heart. Technically that doesn’t count as ice cream, but they were so precious (and DELICIOUS) so I included a few photos below.
Cake Close-up.
#4 Carvel Cake: Because look at that #hashtag.
Happy Birthday to me!
Yum!
Vanilla cupcake ice cream close-up.
Chocolate cupcake ice cream close-up.
It is the home stretch. This Mucinex DM better start working ASAP because I’ve got some catching up to do! Wish me luck and send Kleenex my way.
WHEW! Here we are again, 1 week later, 20 pounds heavier. Ok, perhaps that is a MINOR exaggeration. I have been doing a lot of “salad for lunch, ice cream for dinner.” Maybe I will become one of those Instagram health influencers soon. I think I’m on to something here. Keep following along on my Google Map, updated in real time. As people have found out about my quest, they have been giving me suggestions, and my list continues to grow. My poor, pre-diabetic body.
TL;DR
This week in NYC brought incredibly high temperatures. Wednesday through Friday we hit 90 degrees and above. Perfect ice cream weather. I ate one less ice cream than last week, and I managed to eat only one per day, with the exception of Tuesday. Tuesday I had 2 people to share with so I felt like I was basically on a diet. One per day is definitely easier on the stomach, but keep sending the pepto my way. This week I tried my first rolled ice cream of the journey, my first gelato, my first vegan ice cream, AND my first milkshake. I also visited two places with unicorns in them. 2017 is officially the year of the unicorn, so I feel like I’m doing all of the right things. I tried the unicorn frappuccino, mostly for the Instagram photo, and I am happy to report that both unicorns I encountered this week were better than that horrific liquid pixie stick.
On Monday, I went to Blossom Ice cream in Brooklyn for lavender-infused rolled ice cream, on Tuesday I went to City Cakes for a half pound red velvet stuffed cookie gelato sandwich. Also on Tuesday, I went to Big Gay Ice Cream for the infamous Salty Pimp cone and a few photos with unicorns and Golden Girls. I skipped Wednesday (GASP), and on Thursday, I was back in Brooklyn for Van Leeuwen’s handmade ice cream, one scoop regular, one scoop vegan. On Friday, I went to New Territories for some incredibly Instagrammable treats, and on Sunday, I went to Brooklyn Bell with my new favorite fitness/fun/culture/food combo activity, Runstreet.
I learned a very valuable lesson this week: If you tell the employees that you will tag the place and you plan on blogging about it, they make your ice cream extra pretty! (Feel free to use this tip in the future, even if you’re not blogging.) Make sure to scroll all the way through to see all of the Instagrammable moments! One thing is for sure, I need to get a manicure, STAT. So many photos of my hands! Without further ado, week 2 of #30Years30IceCreams!!
Rolled ice cream is to dessert, what hibachi is to dinner. It always tastes better because you get to watch them make it! This started as liquid, but after pouring it on the cold stone, flattening and mixing and rolling, it was a super fun treat. We went after spin class, so I felt like I earned it. Also, one of the girls from class (my ice cream buddy of the night) bought it for me for my birthday! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, #IfItsFreeItsForMe. Tastes so much better that way. We got the wild berry lavender flavor, and since it was free unlimited toppings we got blueberries on top (in addition to the blueberries that are mashed up in it), coconut shavings, and condensed milk. YUM. It had a super creamy texture since it started as a liquid, and so pretty! Check out my Instagram for some boomerangs of the rolling in action.
Pouring the lavender goodness.
Always looking for the most instagrammable photo opp.
#3 Blossom: Lavender-Infused Rolled Ice Cream
Post-Spin Sweaty Ice Cream!
City Cakes – MASSIVE Red Velvet Cookie Gelato-wich (@citycakes) May 16, 2017
Aesthetic (7) Flavor (7) Texture (7) Overall (7)
This thing was BIG. The cookie itself boasts a half pound of red velvet, cream cheese stuffed goodness. I was definitely glad I brought two people along to share. Emoji bf and big sis in tow, we ALMOST managed to finish it. The gelato was sub-par. It was from Amorino, which was around the corner and is still on my list, but I haven’t been there yet! The gelato flavor was fiordilatte, which the website says is “authentic and pure,” and “gives proper justice to fresh whole milk.” Honestly, it just tasted bland to me. Also, the cold gelato sort of ruined the cookie, because it would have been softer and gooey-er without the cold gelato on it. Cookie was an 8, gelato was a 5, average of a 6.5. I’d recommend it if you want something huge, but if you are a cookie purist, get it without the gelato.
These were the largest cookies I had ever seen.
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Stuffing in action.
WOAH.
It was LITERALLY half the size of my head.
Picturesque outside, I felt like I was in a movie!
Somehow, after the half pound red velvet cookie, we were still up for another adventure. We walked 15 minutes (thank goodness), and went to Big Gay for the first time ever. We had to get the salty pimp, since that’s what this place is known for. It’s vanilla soft serve dipped in chocolate hard shell, with swirls of dulce de leche. As far as aesthetic goes, it was ugly. It’s tough to make dipped soft serve pretty. But the soft serve was SO CREAMY. I have begun to realize that I have a soft spot for soft serve. Pun intended. The best part of this place was the decor. Unicorns and rainbows as far as the eye can see. They really committed. And I had no idea before going that there would be Golden Girls everywhere. The second most popular cone is called the Bea Arthur, and there was a Pop Art Warhol of Sophia on the wall. Even the choking poster had Dorothy from the Golden Girls, giving the Heimlich to a unicorn. If I was rating the decor, this place would be an easy 10.
Menu lookin’ good.
Still toting my Big Sis and Emoji bf to share the calories.
This place was another recommendation from one of my Spinning participants. It’s all about balance, right? There was a line out the door so I knew it was going to be good. All of the ice cream is made from scratch in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (extra points for local). The menu was half regular flavors and half vegan. The regular scoops are made of only fresh milk and cream, cane sugar, and egg yolks, and the vegan scoops are made with house-made cashew milk, organic coconut milk, organic extra virgin coconut oil, organic cane sugar, pure cocoa butter, and organic carob bean. Unfortunately, the Vegan Blackberry with Salted Palm Sugar Cake was sold out for the day (it looked especially Instagrammable from my research), so if you plan to go here, go early in the day! We settled for two scoops: Black Sesame, Ash, Chocolate Cake (regular) and Cookie Crumble Strawberry Jam (vegan). Again, I mentioned that I’d be blogging about it, so they made it extra pretty (pro tip!). The black sesame was surprisingly tasty and had huge chunks of chocolate cake that tasted like brownies, but the real surprise here: I liked the vegan one better! It didn’t taste much like strawberry, but it had coconut pieces, and the cashew milk gave it this delicious nutty flavor. Texture was pretty creamy as far as non-soft serve goes. The only reason the aesthetic rating is low is because it’s no frills, unlike my next place.
Streamlined menu with regular and vegan flavors.
The most “Brooklyn” photo ever. He took so much care to make the scoops instagrammable!
Looking fab. Cookie Crumble Strawberry Jam Vegan on top, Black Sesame Ash Chocolate Cake Regular on bottom.
Splurged for 2 scoops.
Another post-spin sweaty selfie. The best way to eat ice cream!
All frills, basic flavor. This place has a very small menu, but everything on that menu deserves its own Instagram following. I went with a friend here, luckily, so I was able to try the infamous Unicorn Parade Milkshake as well as one of their famous bubble-waffle-ice-cream-creations, U-be Trippin, extra points on the name pun. The Waffle had ube syrup in it, and was handmade, then topped with earl grey ice cream, condensed milk, animal crackers, whipped cream and fruity pebble sprinkles, and a butterfly, all edible. Every single part of it was great, especially the handmade waffle. But beware that it does melt quickly because of the hot waffle, so have your phones out and ready! The Unicorn milkshake was nothing more than a vanilla milkshake, but the photo was worth everything. The mug was dipped in chocolate and covered in rainbow jimmies, and the inside was half coated in purple ube syrup. It was topped with 3 different marshmallows on top of Pocky sticks, whipped cream, fruity pebbles dust, a rainbow-shaped marshmallow, and an edible butterfly. It didn’t taste any better than a normal vanilla milkshake, but the photo made it absolutely worth all $12. Definitely substituted this for dinner.
Ube Waffle in process.
Unicorn Parade Milkshake close-up.
U-Be Trippin! This waffle was amazingly delicious.
Always bring a friend to share, you can order twice as much!
They even had a mini unicorn floatie for photo opps. I wonder if I could bring that in the pool with me.
I went here as part of one of my new favorite fitness/fun/culture activities, Runstreet! After more than 4 miles running and looking at art, this ice cream tasted fantastic. We started and ended our run here, which gave us something awesome to look forward to. Their website boasts the “freshest old school ice cream made in Brooklyn,” and it’s hand-crafted in small batches that are made daily in the store! It really is a local gem, and a total mom and pop shop (he is a computer programmer and she is a lawyer, with an ice cream hobby)! I got brown sugar whiskey vanilla with chocolate sauce (because I earned it). The flavor was really unique and intriguing. It wasn’t as creamy as I was hoping, considering it’s homemade each day, but as far as no-frills ice cream goes, it was pretty darn good. Go and support local businesses! Special thanks to Marnie from runstreet because I wouldn’t have found this place without her.
All very unique flavors, made fresh daily.
Chocolate sauce totally made the photo.
Beautiful day for ice cream! Then again, what day isn’t?
Me in all my sweaty glory. Are you seeing a selfie trend yet?
Follow them on Instagram!
13 ice creams down, 17 to go, I’m only 1 day behind schedule! Does anyone want to work out with me? Or roll me to the next 17 places?
