Hey guys! I know I’ve been sparse on the blog. It’s been hard to keep up between moving apartments, crazy work season, and starting a bullet journal (more on that later). Also, I’ve been trying to keep up with all of my resolutions, which includes planning free nights for myself! I’ve been watching a lot of Olympics.
Anyway, fear not, I have still left myself plenty of time to stuff my face with ice cream. Even while traveling! I have had three new kinds of ice cream in my travels in the past 6 weeks. Thankfully, I’ve also stuck to my new year’s resolution of swimming to even it out. Does anyone have suggestions for a waterproof, affordable, fitbit-like device?
As with my many weeks of recaps last May/June, I will review each mission on a scale of 1-10 in 4 categories: (1) Aesthetic (2) Flavor (3) Texture (4) Overall.
Kurt Farm Shop, Seattle, Washington, Local, CHEESE Ice Cream!
Aesthetic (4) Flavor (9) Texture (4) Overall(5)
I didn’t PLAN to go get ice cream, per se, but after a car ride back to Washington from Vancouver, and 3 hours of car ride snacks, we weren’t in the mood for a full-size dinner, and we were in the mood for a walk. I found this place on Foursquare and figured, DUH, ice cream is the answer. This is a little shop that sells ice cream, but also sells cheese from local farms and creameries. The custard base is made with organic cane sugar and it’s flavored at the store.
According to Foursquare it’s the #3 ranked ice cream place in Seattle, but I was drawn by the promise of unique flavors. I saw reviews about Szechuan Peppercorn, and Rose flavors, and most importantly, FLORA’S CHEESE. What’s better than cheese? Ice cream. What’s better than Ice Cream? CHEESE FLAVORED ICE CREAM. Obvi. They were very generous with their samples, so of course I tried every single weird flavor on the menu. I opted for half cheese, half pumpkin. It was delicious, plus it was served with a real spoon, always preferred. Only drawback: there was a strange coating left on the top of my mouth from the cheese flavor, probably due to the way they pasteurize the milk. Still worth it.
Creams & Dreams, Santa Monica, CA, Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
Aesthetic (if you count the nitrogen show) (9) Flavor (6) Texture (10) Overall(8)
Love the name of this place. Love even more that I found this place on a business trip and insisted on bringing my boss here. This place makes liquid nitrogen ice cream, and if you have never had any, go out right now and find a place for it. The fact that this ice cream begins as a liquid, and is then frozen in small batches, just for you, makes it the creamiest ice cream I have ever tasted. I tried a similar place, NiceCream in Arlington, VA a few years ago, and I never forgot about it. The only bad part about having a hand-made batch of your own ice cream is, it’s impossible to get samples.
Going here is like dinner and a show. If you consider ice cream as dinner. (It is.) They hand-pour your flavor (I love the Nutella and Cookies and Cream), and then they pour liquid nitrogen on it to create a smoke show. Last time I was there, the guy even threw some toward us to make us laugh. It feels like cold water, but it doesn’t get you wet. So bizarre.
They have some strange flavors as well, like Maiz Con Queso, and Fresh Avocado, but I stuck with the classics here. Cannot recommend enough. It is a staple for all of my SoCal trips now.
Dinner & a Show!
YUM.
Smiling because duh.
Salt & Straw, Venice, CA, Weird, Delicious Flavors and Samples
Aesthetic (4) Flavor (10) Texture (8) Overall(7)
After a 4-day whirlwind work trip, I had a day to myself to spend on the beach. I threw an apple and a beach towel in my backpack, picked up an iced coffee, then hit the sand.
(Side note about the coffee: GO TO PHILZ!! They even have two shops on the East Coast in DC. I got the famed mint mojito iced coffee and it was TO-DIE-FOR. Not only is the coffee amazing, but they buy only the highest quality green beans AND they have a generous donation program to Food4Farmers and World Coffee Research, to incorporate conscientious care for everyone in the supply chain from farm to cup. Caffeine + fair trade = win-win. Read all about their values for their workers and farmers, and environmental protections here.)
Mint Mojito Iced Coffee
Aesthetic = Everything
Anyway, as great as my coffee and apple were, by 3 pm I was starving. I walked along the beach from Santa Monica to Venice, and I was doing some window shopping when I realized a line of people across the street. Like any good New Yorker, I gravitated to the line. If people want it, it MUST be good, right?? Well my New York instincts did not steer me wrong – it was ice cream!! And boy was it amazing.
I read the tips online as I waited in line, and saw that I could ask for as many samples as I wanted, and that I could order a “split scoop” so I could have multiple flavors, but without overloading on ice cream. Samples are super necessary because the flavors here are exotic and ever-changing. I tried everything from 24 Blackbirds’ Lavender Truffle, to Roasted Strawberry Coconut, and about 4 others. I basically told the guy I love weird flavors, and he let me try every single one. I was already full by the time I got my cup! I decided on a split scoop of Avocado & Oaxacan Chocolate Fudge (SO creamy and refreshing), and Black Olive Brittle & Goat Cheese (best flavor ever, with bits of crunch). This was the perfect afternoon post-beach snack.
Guys, this place is a must-go-to. Also, if you really love ice cream, join their Pints Club and get five brand new flavors delivered to your door every month!
Flavors Galore!
That flavor on top is the olive brittle goat cheese. DELISH.
That’s it guys. #30Years30IceCreams lives on for the whole year! I’ll keep you posted as I hit up some new places. I have 3 months left of my 30th year! How many flavors can I fit in that time?
#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.
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?
Week 1 of #30Years30IceCreams has officially come to a close and all I can say is WOAH. According to everything my mom said growing up, with the amount of sugar I have consumed I should be hyper for weeks, but I am exhausted. It’s a lot of work eating that much ice cream! I think I have picked up about 20 new Instagram followers, and zero blog subscribers (looking at YOU Pop Bar employees who said you’d subscribe! WTF!). Meanwhile, my 30th birthday looms closer every day, and I am trying to take advantage of whatever is left of my waning metabolism rate.
TL;DR
7 days down, 7 ice creams consumed, so I am right on track. I taught spinning on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and attended a class on Saturday. Overall, I probably still gained 5 pounds, so I’m right on track with that, too. My mom is V proud, in case you were wondering.
I went to Holey Cream on Sunday, Häagen-Dazs on Tuesday, Emack and Bolio’s on Wednesday, and then Morgenstern’s, Soft Swerve, Dominique Ansel, AND Pop Bar on Saturday. Best photo award goes to Holey Cream with honorable mention to DA, and best flavor goes to Soft Swerve, but each one had something great to boast (HELLOOO Häagen-Dazs was free, my favorite price). Speaking of price, I created a new tag on my mint.com for money spent on ice cream, so I’ll keep you apprised of that situation as well. It all tastes better than vodka though, and I haven’t had any time to drink, so at least there’s that. See, mommy? Not all bad things coming out of this adventure.
I brought along a couple friends throughout the week to share the sugar, calories, and dollars spent. If you try this at home, I highly recommend bringing sharing buddies. For Holey Cream, I had my emoji-bf in tow, and on Saturday, 2 friends did a spin class with me at Peloton (fittingly themed the #RideOfShame) before we embarked on our ice cream journey so we could spin away a few calories. Emphasis on FEW.
Saturday was pouringggg rain all day long. My toes were wet and frozen before we even started tasting ice cream, but it was totally worth it because there were no lines! Nothing scares away a line-loving tourist like 17 hours of nonstop rain. But as they say at the USPS, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” In plain English, we were determined. And rewarded! We had some great surprises along the way: Soft Swerve gave us free stickers to put on our cones (helllooo insta), we found an Empanada Mama along the way for a mid-sugar-coma-break, it happened to be the Cronut’s 4th birthday, so Dominique Ansel had free treats, AND Pop Bar had a 7-foot popsicle on the wall for photo opps. Speaking of photos, make sure you scroll through all the ratings and commentary to see the fabulous pictures! Without further ado, Week 1 of #30Years30IceCreams.
This was the official start of my ice cream tour. I dragged my boyfriend here (see below) as a quick dessert date, and boy am I glad I did, this thing was HUGE. Sharing required. The wall was painted with the steps to make your masterpiece, although the workers didn’t follow them in order. FAKE NEWS. Gist of it was 1- pick a doughnut 2 – pick an ice cream flavor 3 – pick an icing 4 – pick a topping. There weren’t actually doughnut choices, so that made my life easier, as decisions are not my strong suit (why do you think I’m going to ALL of these ice cream places instead of picking a few?) My emoji-faced-boyfriend basically only likes cookies and cream ice cream, so that step was decided for me. Then we picked Nutella as icing, and rainbow jimmy sprinkles, because Instagram. Obvi. Ultimately, I’m not a huge fan of donuts so I was pleasantly surprised with this deliciousness. The ice cream was just regularly scooped, so nothing great on texture. Definitely recommend, if at least for the photo and the quantity.
The steps that were loosely followed to make our masterpiece.
I mean, COME ON. This looks too good to eat. But we ate it anyway.
This wasn’t on my original list but #IfItsFreeItsForMe (one of my life mottos). Free Cone Day was this past Tuesday, and it couldn’t have been more perfect timing. It was my one day off from spinning all week, which left me plenty of time to wait in line. (More on my increased Spin schedule to compensate for these calories at a later time.) I went to the HD across from Columbia, which was probably a dumb move, since college students have no money to BUY ice cream and plenty of time to wait for it. Oh well. The line took 20 minutes and I brought a book. Plus, maybe we saved some bees while we were at it. Häagen-Dazs wanted their “customers” to “pay it forward by planting wildflowers native to their region to help keep bees buzzing,” according to their news release. I got midnight cookies and cream, which was delicious but sort of hard in texture. Also I don’t really care for cones but I felt I could throw it away and save some calories because it was free. #WinWin. Also #Waste but oh well.
Long Lines. Note the backpacks. So many students!
#WorthIt
And they had their own snapchat filter! Totally made it even better!
This place is known for its dipped cones. I picked fruity pebbles because I liked it as an Eggloo topping a few months ago, and it’s pretty for a photo. For the ice cream, I picked Space Cake, which is cake batter ice cream with short bread cookie pieces and chunks of red velvet cake. Sounds amazing, right? Well, it looked amazing. The ice cream was good, not too hard, not too soft, but also nothing too special. The cake batter did taste like cake batter, not very sweet, so it depends what you like. Gearing up for a full week of sugar, I was thankful for the lack of sweetness. Full disclosure, I am not a huge cone-lover, and this place is specifically known for its cones, but even knowing that, I was #NotImpressed. The cone was hard and the fruity pebbles tasted a bit stale. Overall rating: eh.
I’ve seen pictures of this dark black ice cream for ages and I always wanted to try it. I didn’t even know what flavor it was. Good news: it wasn’t licorice, which I was dreading. Bad news: it was coconut ash, which literally got EVERYTHING black: napkins, hands, shirt, and teeth!! If you thought red wine teeth were bad, I looked like I’d been smoking cigarettes for 300 years and then used tar as mouthwash (see below). But it tasted great. It was a subtle flavor and incredibly creamy. They hand-make each batch, so they are served out of these little containers that look like leftovers. I felt bad asking for a sample because they had to take out those containers, but the workers didn’t seem to mind. There was a middle-aged man in a full suit there, who brought a photographer to take pictures of him eating ice cream. I asked him if it was for his new tinder pic, but he said they were “making a zine.” Then he sauntered out, photographer and pink pocket square in tow. New York is so weird.
Mini batches of ice cream in containers.
SO BLACK. Soon to be melted on everything.
Many flavors, but that black is so impressive. Also, note the constant phones and photo-taking.
My sharing buddies for the day. Thank goodness.
The melting began early.
I’m pretty sexy. I’m aware. I’m also still sweaty. No wonder my bf insists on being covered in emojis.
“New York’s Yammiest Ice Cream.” Also the creamiest. I went with the swirl ube purple yam and macapuno coconut in a black chocolate cone. The workers here were so friendly, and they offered multiple times for us to try any or all of the 4 flavors. Extra points there (figurative points, since I’m not actually rating service). I tried the matcha, didn’t love it, but I think that’s just because I don’t love matcha in general. The ube was awesome and I loved the purple color! Again I got a cone, but only for the photo. It was supposedly “black chocolate” but it tasted like cardboard to me (loss of points for flavor/lies there). But where they lost in cone flavor, they won in creamy soft serve. Plus they gave us stickers to put on the napkin around out cone. Looked beautiful on my Instagram.
My research paid off. If anyone looked through my google search history at this point, they’d definitely think I was a diabetic at best, someone starring on My 600 Pound Life at worst. But guess what, it worked. Because I found this off-menu gem by stalking their Instagram. In fact, after I ordered it, multiple people were staring and asking what it was. First of all, you can’t go wrong with a DKA (“Dominique’s Kouign Amann”). In their words, it’s a “tender, flaky, croissant-like dough with a caramelized crunchy crust.” In my words, it’s AMAZING. Then add salted caramel ice cream??? (There was a choice of vanilla or chocolate too, but come on, duh.) Then we added a side of a chocolate chip cookie and milk shot. Better than rum, if you ask me. AND to make it even better, it was the 4th birthday of the cronut (who knew?! Well, YOU would have, too, if you followed their instagram) so they brought out free cronut holes in special flavors to everyone in line! As I have said before, #IfItsFreeItsForMe. It was still pouring rain, so the line only took 4 minutes. During that 4 minute wait, we got to eat free cronut holes and watch a pastry chef using a blowtorch to make their famous frozen s’mores on a stick (it’s literally served on a smoked willow wood branch). AWESOME experience overall.
Pouring rain, but the garden was open!
My eyes were on the cronut… 4th birthday celebration!
Action shot of the free cronut holes as they were passed out.
This thang was HUGE.
Insta of my Insta! #PicturePerfect
YUM YUM YUM.
Popbar – Handcrafted Gelato on a Stick – (@popbar) May 13, 2017
Aesthetic (7) Flavor (4) Texture (4) Overall (6)
This was our last stop of the day, and luckily it wasn’t too too sweet because I was about to collapse from hyperglycemia. They had many choices for gelato, all made with real fruit and a few ingredients. They are all also kosher (you hear that, rabbis?), gluten and preservative free, and have no artificial coloring. We went with the chocolate banana gelato stick, and dipped it in dark chocolate, then hazelnuts on one side, and pistachios on the other. The texture was hard, tasted more like a popsicle and less like gelato. The flavor was subtle, which is good after 3 other ice creams, but I probably wouldn’t go there if I was craving something sweet. It wasn’t my favorite of the day, and it was very difficult to hold and take photos, which is always determinative to my final rating (one more shoutout here to the loopy cell phone case). They did have a cute oversized popsicle for photo opps, though (see below).
This place was so beautiful!
Our popsicles looked like minis next to this massive thing!
Are YOU a popaholic?
Wall decorations.
Snapchat’s new geofilters. It knew where I was! #BigBrother probably thinks I’m morbidly obese.
We made it! Ice cream buddies made it to 4 places in one day, in the pouring rain, ankle brace included. Great success!
I had zero ice creams yesterday, so I’m already officially behind for the week. To be continued…
