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?
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.
Yesterday I went to the Scooper Bowl for unlimited ice cream. I’ve never fancied myself to be a competitive eater, but yesterday was both a race against the clock, and a race against the physical capacity of a human stomach. I lasted more than 5 hours, and I’m pretty dang proud of myself. Also, I feel like did a great thing for the world because it was a fundraiser. Win-Win!
The Scooper Bowl is the nation’s largest all-you-can-eat ice cream festival, co-benefiting The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. It began in 1983 in Boston, and according to their website, thanks to generous contributions from the largest ice cream companies in the nation, the Scooper Bowl has raised more than $5 million in the past 33 years for cancer research and patient care at the world-renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The most amazing part, ice cream companies donate all the ice cream, labor, scoopers, and products needed to make the event happen each year.
I heard about this amazing event because, as you probably already know, I have been on an epic ice cream journey, #30Years30IceCreams. I officially have 2 days left out of 30. If you haven’t read about Week 1, Week 2, or Week 3 yet, get to reading! I will be posting more about the actual ice cream and flavors in my Week 4 update, but for now, more about how I managed to eat ice cream for 5 hours straight, because there WAS a method to the madness. I was a woMAN WITH A PLAN.
The Scooper Bowl is a 3-day event, Thursday through Saturday, and tickets were only 20 dollars per day in advance (plus a processing fee), or 25 dollars at the door. I honestly was not planning to go. The LAST thing I needed after 27 days of nonstop ice cream, was UNLIMITED ICE CREAM. I heard about it through creepy internet cookies; since I have been posting ice cream-related posts for weeks now, I was the prime advertising target. It was showing up in my Instagram feed, Facebook advertisements, dreams, etc. And when other people started to hear about it, they were forwarding me the link via Instagram direct messages, Facebook messages, and multiple people posted it to my Facebook wall! The writing was literally on the wall: I HAD TO GO.
The ultimate deciding factor: my cousin texted me from Washington D.C. and said that her friend who just moved to NYC was looking for a friend to go with. I can’t say no to a blind friend date. I mean hello, perfect blog material! Here’s how you should prepare for an AYCE ice cream festival: go to the gym and don’t eat anything else. Here’s how I prepared: laid in bed eating and watching Sex and the City. Oops. Mistake #1.
My blind friend date couldn’t make it to the festival until 5:45, but the festival started at 1 pm, and I wasn’t about to miss out on all of those hours of ice cream, so I met some other friends there at 3 pm. I hadn’t seen those friends in years, so we had plenty to chat about while stuffing our faces with sweets. I arrived and scoped the scene: 8 vendors, 3-4 flavors per vendor, total of about 30 flavors to try. The flavor list had been released a few days prior, so I had an idea what I was in for, but I did a quick survey to double check. Vendors: Baskin-Robbins, Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, DF Mavens, Graeter’s, Häagen-Dazs, and Vice Cream.
I went to Haagen-Dazs first, because they had adorable mini little single-serve cups. They even had little spoons inside the tops! I was drawn to this in the same way I can spend hours in CVS looking at the mini toiletries. However, this was MISTAKE #2: there was a lot of ice cream in those thingies! I was almost full and I had ONE flavor at ONE vendor! I never went back to that stand, but I did get some great photos.
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, and they were on my original list for #30Years30IceCreams, but they closed last year! I was excited to get to try it. I actually loved it! I liked the nutty flavor, but even more than the creamy ones, I was excited that they had a raspberry sorbet and mango creamicle flavor. After approximately 15 mini cup servings of dairy, it was a welcome palette-cleanser. They also had a great key lime flavor with chunks of pie crust in it, but more on the particular flavors in my Week 4 update.
By 4 pm, my friends and I tried and/or grabbed one flavor at each of the vendors, then we decided we needed a break. There was no reentry allowed if you left, so we found a little corner to sit on the ground and digest/eat the cups we had in our hands. We made friends who had the same idea as we did, but they were better prepared with a sheet to sit on. We chatted with our new friends, and a guy who was volunteering at the event who happened to go to UF! The Gator Nation really is everywhere. Every 30 minutes or so, we got up and did another lap to try more flavors and get in some FitBit steps. Our new friends loved free swag and somehow managed to snag us Volunteer shirts from the event, Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors shirts AND awesome Yankees hats! We did a bit of volunteering, since our picnic area was by the staff exit, and we had to keep telling people it was not an exit. “Not an exit.” “Not an exit.” “This isn’t an exit.” “Where do you exit? Um, do you remember where you came in? Try there.” Totally worth the shirt. It’s a 2XL, but it was super comfy to sleep in last night. And the best part of the shirt? Even though there was technically no reentry, if you were a volunteer, you could come and go as you pleased! SCORE.
However, I didn’t leave at all. 4 hours in, it neared time for my blind friend date. I was nervous! What if the girl wasn’t cool and I was stuck with her in icecreamland? Good news, we could always not talk and just eat. Plus, by this point I was a certified ice cream connoisseur (and half-event-staff) so I knew where to show her to the best flavors. My date showed up at 6, and we spent another 2+ hours sampling and taking photos. Good news, she was awesome! Bad news, I was incredibly full. Also bad news, Brooklyn Ice Cream ran out of Blueberry ice cream and ran out of mini cones and open-faced ice cream sandwiches by the time my new friend arrived. Good thing I had taken photos before! The two rookie mistakes I saw (and was able to warn my new friend against): Do NOT take the cup with the largest scoop and do NOT waste stomach room on flavors like vanilla and chocolate! Lamezilla! Why would you do that when you could get L’Orange A Trois, vanilla ice cream with orange ripple, milk, white AND dark chocolate chunks?!
Speaking of, that flavor was from my favorite brand of the day by far: Vice Cream. I hadn’t heard of them before, since they are new to New York (sold in Key Foods!), but the best part, besides the amazing, decadent flavors, was their story! Dan Schorr, founder of Vice Cream (who I also got a photo with, score!), had a goal to reintroduce true INDULGENCE into ice cream. No vegan, gluten-free crap. Schorr didn’t always believe in indulging, but in April 2014, he was diagnosed with lymphoma and given three months to live if untreated. “I ate really well, I ran every day, and I got cancer,” he said. “We think we can bring new consumers back to indulgent super-premium ice cream and give them permission to live life,” Schorr said. Oh, and did I mention that he is now #CANCERFREE?! And hilarious! Check out his blog, Humor with a Tumor! He was wearing a shirt that said “Don’t Be Such a Vanilla.” AMEN to that. Plus, their slogan is “Live Life, Dig In.” I can’t disagree with that.
Overall, 5+ hours of ice cream eating later, one blind friend date, 2 free t-shirts and a free hat later, I would say it was a great success. Also, as I was leaving, I happened to be in the most perfect position to see Manhattanhenge! That never happens. Watch out for the Week 4 recap of #30Years30IceCreams coming at you this week!! There’s no such thing as a cheat day, it’s just calling living. But I did run 6 miles this morning to try and make up for yesterday. #Balance #Blessed 😉
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…
