HALLIE EPHRON: It’s hot hot hot out there, which means it’s ICE CREAM TIME! In my neck of the woods that means it’s time to go over to The Ice Creamsmth – a tiny store where they make their own ice cream and the best hot fudge sauce ever in the basement of a tiny store on a busy street.
It opened in 1976 and I’ve been patronizing it ever since—the first owners were Robyn and David Mabel who’ve now retired and their kids, Sarah Mabel-Skillin and Chris Skillin, have taken over. (Jerry and I used to go ballroom dancing with Robyn and David. They're amazingly slender and nimble for a couple who have spent half of their lives making great ice cream.)
There’s usually a line out the door. Their special flavors this month: Birthday Cake, Blueberry, and Coconut Pineapple but I’m a sucker for their Sweet Cream (with hot fudge of course).
So are you drawn to a local ice cream spot as the temperature hovers in the 90s (or worse), and what’s your pleasure when you get to the front of the line and it’s your turn to order?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, that sounds fabulous. I love ice cream– maybe…one bite or two. (And then I don’t need any more because the fear of calories takes away the fun. And the first bites are always the best.)
But my fave of all time is Jamoca Almond Fudge, remember? From Baskin Robbins, and it was coffee ice cream with chocolate-covered almonds. SO delicious! I also love lemon sorbet with chocolate sauce, or with blueberries. Or raspberries. And that coconut pineapple sounds DIVINE! Could we put it in a blender with rum?
RHYS BOWEN: We’ve just come back from Cornwall where we had to eat the clotted cream ice cream. So sinfully good! My favorite flavor is always salted caramel although I’m also addicted to Baskin Robbins pralines and cream.
And when I’m in Italy my favorite gelato is stratiacelli which is like chocolate chip but better.
We do have a local shop here called Silberman’s. It’s been around since our kids were small and every sports team–soccer, baseball, swimteam etc. would wind up there after Saturday games. I’m glad it’s still going strong and the ice cream is still good.
JENN MCKINLAY: Give me all the ice cream. It’s supposed to be 110+ here in AZ so I’d bathe in the ice cream if I could. My flavor preference changes from day to day and there is no flavor that I don’t like but I can give my top three: coffee, salted caramel, or mint chip.
These flavors have endured as my go to choices over decades. I don’t see it changing any time soon and they all pair quite well with hot fudge and whipped cream. Yum.
LUCY BURDETTE: In our CT hometown, the best ice cream is at Ashley’s.
It may sound a little odd, but my favorite thing to order is a root beer float with sweet cream ice cream. I don’t think too much about calories as Hank does–everything in moderation, but since my triglycerides came back a little high this time (everything else excellent!), I’m going to have to eschew the hot fudge…
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: In my area, there’s a favorite ice cream shop called Beals - no indoor sitting, just a couple of benches and picnic tables, but the line always stretches to the parking lot.
Lots of happy memories of stopping there with the kids as a special treat on a hot day.
My faves? Homemade strawberry (not the boxed kind, it has to be really thick with macerated berries,) mint chocolate chip (always good everywhere) and my new fave, salted caramel, which I only had for the first time a couple years ago.
Oh, and I haven’t been, but there’s a small shack on Sabbathday Lake, Bresca & the Honeybee, which is getting national attention for its ice cream. The chef/owner is a multiple James Beard nominee and ran a highly regarded restaurant in Portland until it all got too much, and, much like many heroines in a cozy mystery, relocated to a very small town to start her own ice cream business!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hallie, you got me started looking up gelato places on our town square and there are three! Obviously we need to make a point to go out for ice cream…
I'm not normally a big ice cream eater, but when I was in London it was ice cream, ice cream, everywhere! I had a scoop of strawberry gelato a couple of times at restaurants, but the biggest treat was the day I went to Teddington Lock. Everyone walking along the river had ice cream, sold from an Airstream trailer called The Flying Cloud Cafe, so i couldn't resist. I got a scoop of Marshfield Farms (made in the Cotswolds) Black Currant with Clotted Cream, and it was so good that I'm still thinking about it. Maybe it's a good thing that it's very far away now…
HALLIE: Now I'm on the hunt for "clotted cream ice cream" to have in my rootbeer float... So, where's your favorite ice cream place in your neck of the woods, and what are you craving from there?
I'm not particularly adventurous when it comes to ice cream flavors . . . dark chocolate, please [although any chocolate hits my favorite list] . . . the local shop, Jeffreeze OldFashioned Ice Cream, is, like Julia's, has no indoor seating, just a few picnic benches but the ice cream is yummy.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joan - Jeffreeze looks like it's in New Jersey...
DeleteIndeed it is . . . it's in West Creek.
DeleteI'm sure there is a local ice cream place around here, but my favorite is Baskin Robbins pralines and cream.
ReplyDeleteMy B&R fave was always English Toffee. Then mandarin chocolate. Then...
DeleteNear my home town in MA is a place called Kimballs in Westford, MA. It is oh so good. My favorites there are pistachio (the best I ever had) and black raspberry but if I'm feeling really bad I'll have the Kimball's medium special which is 2 scoops of ice cream (any flavors) 2 sauces, with marshmallow and pineapple chunks, strawberries and a cherry on top. And whipped cream and nuts too if you want it. I consider it an entire meal. Hank you must of heard of this place, it's in several locations in MA and has been on the news as filler.
ReplyDeleteKimballs is legendary!
DeleteGood black raspberry is worth a trip... Most of the ones I've tried just taste a little sweet and fruity without that snap of black raspberries.
DeleteBoth Rajan and I have to watch our cholesterol, but in our pre-careful days, my favorite was coffee and his was French vanilla. In Sacramento, we weren't near any ice cream shops; we got ice cream at Safeway. But here in Braga, ice cream shops abound and do a brisk business year round. Seriously. On the coldest winter day, people will be strolling around with ice cream and happy faces. And it does get pretty cold here in January and February.
ReplyDeleteI think we're talking PORTUGAL... We ate ice cream all the way across Europe but the portions in most places are tiny compared to the mammoth scoops we expect here in the US.
DeleteWe have the original Hodgies in Amesbury. Their coffee ice cream is, well, creamy - and heavenly. Their strawberry when the strawberries are in season? Delicious. They make an apple cider donut ice cream with donuts from Cider Hill Farm (a mile from my house). The Cider Hill farm store also sells Richardsons, which is local to a few towns south of here and fabulous. We usually have a half gallon of one brand or the other in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteHodgies has scoop inflation, though. After my son's tap recital thirty years ago, we went there to celebrate - our fist time. I ordered him a small cone. It was as big as my head! I now know to order a quarter-kiddie size.
Roberta, that float sounds so good. My lipids are down, although my weight isn't, but like Hank, all I need is a couple of bites of ice cream.
I should have added childhood homemade ice cream memories. Fresh peach with peaches from our backyard trees was the best. Also vanilla. I can still taste it dripping off the dasher. Hand cranked, lots of rock salt to keep the ice frozen. A real mess, but in a family of six they had plenty of crankers.
DeleteConfession: I've never made ice cream... listening for more experiences with making it...
DeleteHomemade ice cream was always a favorite. My older brother figured out a way to crank the freezer using an old washing machine motor, so we had ice cream every Sunday in summer.
DeleteI'm talking 1940's here with the washing machine cranked freezer.
DeleteMy fave place is a gelato shop called Mantovani 1946. It's the first store from an Italian chain in Canada. Their hazelnut gelato is to die for, but I also like their lemon gelato in summer.
ReplyDeleteAwww, I miss Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge! Alas, Ottawa does not have a Baskin Robbins so I haven't had that in years. There was a store just 5 minutes from my parents home in Toronto & that was my go-to ice cream.
I also loved Jamoca Almond Fudge. Haven't thought about it in years.
DeleteOur go-to flavor all through Austria was hazelnut. Hasselnuss. It's one of the first nonEnglish words either of my kids learned.
DeleteGrace, the first time I had gelato was in the Byward Market in Ottawa. It was lemon as recommended by the owner, and so delicious, light and refreshing. I wonder if it of that origin.
DeleteMARGO: There are 3 gelato shops in the Byward Market: Amore Gelato, Piccalo Grande and Mantovani 1946. They all have lemon gelato.
DeleteGraeters in Cincinnati, black raspberry chocolate chip. And "chunky chunky hippo" in honor of Fiona, toffee ice cream with salted roasted peanuts and milk chocolate caramel truffles.
ReplyDeleteLOVE Graeters... a truly great ice cream in an ice-cream-mad city.
DeleteI have heard so much about Graeters---apparently you can order on line! ANd they will deliver anywhere in the US.
DeleteI love ice cream! My favorite flavors are pistachio, chocolate chip, and black raspberry! Yum!
ReplyDeleteAs for ice cream shops, I really don't know who still makes their own ice cream any more of the one's I used to frequent (Petersen's, Mortensen's) but the UCONN Dairy makes great ice cream. There are several ice cream shops in the town center, but we rarely go out for ice cream any more. One of them is Arethusa Farms which has it's own special herd of 🐄. A cone there is as much as the car payment on my first auto.
Here's what the Roadfood web site has to say about UCONN Dairy: Founded in 1881, UConn is a land-grant college, distinguished from many other large universities by the sustained presence of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The on-campus creamery has been in operation since the beginning of the 20th Century and continues to dish out scoops of its super-creamy to droves of university students and community residents alike. Who says dining hall food can’t be delicious?
DeleteI don't think to eat ice cream these days, as I am not often in town. However when I was milking every day and had quarts and quarts of cream stacking up in the fridge, I used to make it regularly, using the Ben & Jerry's recipe book. Our family favorite was Heath Bar Crunch. I'm sure other flavors would have been popular, too, but with children I was always happy to find ONE dessert solution.
ReplyDelete"When I was milking every day..."??? Who is that?! We want to hear more!!
DeleteIn the little city near home are two places that sell ice cream but they have nothing special. I must add that it became very expensive to buy ice cream in those places.
ReplyDeleteFor the price of one cone, I can buy a container of Coaticook Ice Cream, a family dairy industry that has been operating for over 80 years. All their varieties are delicious and I can savour it in the comfort of my home. For a long time my favourite was dark cherries but for some years now, it has been maple sugar with real pieces of maple sugar throughout. So good !
Danielle
Ooooh, maple sugar throughout?! That sounds fantastic. Reminds me of a children's story I read about how during maple sugaring they'd pour boiling sap over snow to make what sounded absolutely delicious.
DeleteThey did that in Little House in the Big Woods, I think!
DeleteHALLIE & EDITH: Making maple syrup taffy on snow is still done every year in Quebec (and Ottawa) during maple syrup season.
Deletehttps://firstwefeast.com/eat/2014/01/how-to-make-maple-syrup-taffy-quebecois-style
Thanks, Grace!
DeleteWait, Hallie, sometime you need to tell us about ballroom dancing! Ironically, we used to have a ballroom dance troupe here in Cincinnati called The Flying Cloud. They performed many period dances, and a good friend was one of the men in the troupe.
ReplyDeleteIn Cincinnati we're spoiled for choice! As Margaret mentions, Graeter's is a favorite (Oprah said it was the best ice cream she'd ever had), still made the French way, in copper vats. The chocolate "chips" are really chunks of the same dark chocolate they use to make their excellent candies. United Dairy Farmers is a hometown manufacturer of Homemade Ice Cream, and they have scoop shops all over town, usually with places to sit. Aglamesi's is another old-fashioned ice cream shop here; their ice cream is made in the custard style. And of course, lots of "creamy whip" style places.
Last month I made mint ice cream for a dinner party. This week I'm going to make watermelon sherbet for book club, since it's at my house this time, and transport won't be an issue.
Favorite flavor? I like them all! But probably Coconut Chocolate Chip from Graeter's. Like a frozen Mounds bar, yum.
What kind of ice cream freezer do you have, Karen? I made watermelon granita one year and it's delish, but boy, does it melt fast!
DeleteWatermelon sherbert?!??! I adore sherberts and ices, homemade. Karen if you make it before this Sunday and can send me the recipe and a photo I'll run it on one of my days. Wondering ifyou can make it without a machine.
DeleteI have used several kinds of ice cream makers, beginning with the ice/salt/wood bucket type we got as a wedding present 41 years ago. Now I have a Cuisinart, and just got a second tub so I can make two flavors without waiting for the tub to refreeze (it takes 24 hours).
DeleteHallie, I've made watermelon sherbet before, and it tasted just like the delicious sherbet we had in my Hamilton childhood. But a couple years ago I lost the recipe link I used then. I'm trying a new recipe, so I'll let you know how it works out. It seems to me I made it that last time (at least 10 years ago) without a machine, but geez, I've slept since then and can't remember.
Edith, one tip that helps is to have all the ingredients and receptacles as cold as possible. And put your serving dish inside some kind of ice. I've frozen a serving bowl inside another bowl filled with water so the frozen treat stays frozen while being served. Especially helpful for picnics on the deck/porch.
Deletei've made sorbet (but not sherbert) just in ice trays and stirring it up a coupla times while it's freezing. My favorite is grapefruit.
DeleteThere is a local place in Oakmont, right by Mystery Lovers Bookshop, called Brkees, where they make their own ice cream. My childhood favorate is black raspberry, but it's hard to find in Pittsburgh. I like salted caramel, too. And I love a good sherbet. I want to try the local ice cream place in Ligonier, too.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I have to moderate how much I eat. Extreme cold foods and drinks set off the neuropathy in my arm. But even a taste is good.
What a terrible side effect! Good thing you can at least have a taste or two, Liz/Mary.
DeleteKaren, I know! It's awful. Because on a hot day, there is nothing like a little ice cream, even if it's just a dark-chocolate covered Klondike bar. Sadly, it's either abstain or deal with the pain. I can't even have a whole milkshake or a big glass (16oz) of cold iced tea or water. Sigh. Sometimes, the pain is worth it, though. LOL
DeleteYes - Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge and Lemon Sorbet = Yummy!
ReplyDeleteOur local ice cream shop is called Bobboi and is owned by a transplanted Italian who makes all the ice cream in small batches and everything is locally sourced and in season. I love their stratiacelli but you can get so many fruit based flavors.
Bobboi is i San Diego ... and gelato is it's own breed of wonderful. Traveling in Italy for us was a gelato to gelato adventure. Favorite flavor: Pear.
DeleteOh yes, I remember eating really good gelato at Bobboi in San Diego (Little Italy & La Jolla) in 2020. Looking forward to having more of their gelato when I'm there for San Diego Bouchercon in August/September!
DeleteThere's a gourmet ice cream place in our area called Salt & Straw, which has lines out the door in the summer. The few times I've been there, I've found the ice cream delightful, with some unusual flavor (blue cheese-pear, honey lavender). If it's hot, I don't want to stand in line for ice cream.
ReplyDeleteI've been buying Tillamook ice cream sandwiches. I'm mostly not a fan of strawberry ice cream (when we were kids, mom got to eat all the strawberry part of the Neapolitan ice cream and the kids got the chocolate) with the exception of Tillamook Oregon Strawberry. Yum--and the little ice cream sandwiches, with chocolate dipped waffle cone pieces as the cookie part.. double yum.
I'm not from Portland, Or Gillian but I've been to Salt & Straw. It is indeed yummy.
DeleteI agree most strawberry ice creams (ditto raspberry and blackberry) are a pale reflection of the fruit ... I prefer those fruits as toppings for vanilla (chop the fruit up and macerate in brown sugar and a little modena balsamic vinegar)
DeleteAlong with Baskins Robbins in Boston also infamous was Friendlys. A few left in different states. It originally founded in Wilbraham, Ct by 2 brothers. Began with an ice cream store as teenagers. Their father gave them $500 to start business the rest is history. Fortunately for me Baskin Robbins is in Mt Pleasant, SCwhere I live. Just outside Charleston. If u haven’t been plan a trip. For those interested in Friendlys , look upBlake brothers. The eldest brother passed recently @ 100 in Fla.
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure to meet him . Friendlys book on Amazon, just a fun summer read.
Friendlys restaurants are no more but the ice cream is iin our local supermarkets here in the Boston area. Love their Buttercrunch.
DeleteThere is a Friendly's about 4 miles from me in the next town. Their Sundaes are legendary, just ask Jenn;-)
DeleteHere in rural Schoharie County, NY, it depends if you want soft "ice cream" known as soft serve or hard. If hard is what is wanted then Stewart's is the place and luckily there are several in the area, and all over the eastern part of the state, for that matter. For the soft variety I have read that the Cobleskill Diner has the largest of all. In the pictures it looks like it might be 10 inches high! The soft is made with some kind of mix, but I really don't know what it is. There used to be frozen custard, which was wonderful but we never see it anymore.
ReplyDeleteMy son likes to churn his own ice cream and several years ago I made a version of Martha Stewart's ice cream. I suppose you might call it plain vanilla, but it was anything but plain. There was a cooked base, which required 6 eggs! I used a vanilla bean, as directed. After the mixture was cooled and strained I refrigerated it until the next day, when more cream was added and it was finally churned in the machine. Truly the best ever!
But if I buy ice cream, it is always Butter Pecan. When I lived in NC I remember a chain of ice cream places called Mayberry's. My favorite of their flavors was Baby Ruth. It had actual pieces of the candy bar mixed in.
For some reason, yesterday I started craving Orange-Pineapple ice cream. Probably that's what someone in a book was having. But now I want it too!
Martha Stewart: The classic overachiever, imhop. I imagine her with a recipe where you hook a bicycle up to the churner and pedal your way to perfection.
DeleteJudi, Irwin is from Albany and we've had Stewart's Sundaes 🍨, yum.
DeleteHallie, Martha Stewart's pumpkin pie starts in the pumpkin patch selecting just the right pumpkin. Really!!
Judy, personally I think making a pie from an actual pumpkin is way over-rated, to say nothing about a lot of work. If it isn't exactly the right variety of pumpkin, results are very disappointing, as we found out last year when my grandson wanted a pie make from the pumpkin, whose seeds he had planted.
DeleteThat's why Martha has to pick (choose) the pumpkin. LOL.
DeleteWhen we were younger, we would take a vacation to my mother’s family farm in Prince Edward Island. Along with playing in the barn, using an out-door privy (not a favourite), part of that treat was homemade ice cream. This was made when we came to visit, and all the local relatives would turn up after supper.
ReplyDeleteThe cream was skimmed off the top of the milk can, mixed with fresh eggs and sugar, and a bit of vanilla and salt for flavour, and then stirred in an old ice cream maker by hand until hard. Since hard was not really hard, it was then that the can was opened and the paddles were taken out and eagerly awaited to ‘clean’, and then a cupful of grapenuts was added. The ice cream was stirred and the lid put back on, more ice was packed around the sides and a huge quilt was placed over the entire thing and it was moved to the coolness of the cellar. Here is sat and chilled from afternoon until evening – so many hours that you couldn’t stand it, and then finally when all the relatives arrived, it was brought up to the pantry, and the quilt and then lid were removed. Ahhhhhhhh…..
Small bowls of the delight were passed around and as well there were fresh what now would be called macerated strawberries there as sauce. There was always a plate of ice box cookies beside – another thing that never happened without the ice cream. They were a hard caramelly sugar cookie cut thickly and then sandwiched together with usually really hard fudge frosting and absolutely delicious. Hard on the teeth and only one each!
Health codes not involved in the making of the ice cream include: using fresh whole unpasteurized cream (cholesterol and who knows what germs), fresh raw eggs (probably same health issues as the delicious cream), sugar (we didn‘t know it would kill us or rot our teeth then, and no one imagined hyperactivity – that was caused by some annoying uncle chasing kids around the kitchen). The entire mixture was not made on a cooked custard base – making it so much richer. Grapenuts – well, actually they were healthy because they were made from roasted malted barley, and somehow never went soggy in the ice cream. Unfortunately, Post no longer makes them, so that flavour is now only in history. As an aside, did you know that grapenuts ice cream, like orange pineapple is only made for the Maritime market.
Favourite ice cream for dessert here – President’s Choice chocolate (it is the chocolately-ist) topped with a spoonful of black cherry (I love the almond flavour) all in a stubby ice cream cone. Alf (the dog) waits patiently for me to get near in the end…
Margo, Post does still make Grape Nuts. My husband has them for breakfast most days. Maybe they just no longer sell them in Canada?
DeleteI used to sprinkle them on ice cream, many years ago. Wow, that was a buried memory!
Thanks Karen, I just checked with Amazon and they do have them now at $30/box rather than 99$ so I ordered a box. I too love them sprinkled on various things. The box will probably last 3 years so $30 amortized over 3 years is not so bad (I am telling myself!)
DeleteMargo, I LOVED READING THIS!!!! What great memories. Hope you write them up and pass them down in your family. Priceless.
DeleteMargo, local supermarkets here in FL carry and, before I moved in 2021, those in CT carried GrapeNuts. It was one of those things like toilet paper and Lysol, that disappeared for a while during the pandemic. Don’t know about Canadian supplies. Elisabeth
DeleteI hope this isn't out of line, but since ice cream is the subject today, I am seeking the wisdom of the Jungle Reds community. My older sister's health is in decline and she has had to give up a lot of things she used to enjoy. Most recently, her beloved ice cream seems to set off HORRIBLE irritable bowel syndrome episodes. Can anyone recommend really good non-dairy frozen treats that we might try for her as a substitute? I hate to just buy randomly until we find something good.
ReplyDeleteBaskin Robbins has a limited selection of non-dairy ice-cream and frozen ice drinks.
DeleteSusan, she might like to try this. Freeze some fruit – strawberries peaches, probably not raspberries because of the seeds. Place frozen fruit in a blender, and add just a bit of cream (probably not in her case if that is her trigger) or almond milk. A touch of sugar or sweetener if you want it, a touch of vanilla or almond flavouring, and just a pinch of salt. Blend, and eat while still frozen. The trick is the ratio of fruit to liquid – you need mostly fruit. I used to make it in the little mason jars which took the blades of my blender – 125ml, filling about half full to allow for room to mix. Just enough for one person. She can try it with various fruits and liquids to see what she tolerates. Good luck!
DeleteSusan, there are lots of easy recipes online for non-dairy ice cream, including made from frozen bananas, and coconut milk. I went through a period of not being able to eat dairy, and I made both kinds with huge success. Even my picky husband kept dipping into "my" treats instead of the real ice cream. My favorites were just the plain "vanilla" type, but with cocoa added. So rich tasting.
DeleteSusan, another alternative to explore might be A2A2 milk. Buckeye Country Creamery in Asland, Ohio, produces milk with this protein (they DNA test their cows). It's easier on the digestive system than regular milk (which has A1A1 protein), is NON-GMO, and non-homogenized. I've never had ice cream made from it, but am betting it would be delicious. I've had their chocolate milk which does not upset my stomach at all and is tasty! There must be other dairies with A2A2 cows!
Deleteand I LOVE sorbet, which has no dairy in it by definition.
DeleteThank you all for the suggestions!!
DeleteWe have a local dairy--Toft's--whose ice cream is available at most mom and pop places that scoop up here. They also have an ice cream parlor at their main production facility in Sandusky. My favorite in summer is vanilla with fresh berries/fruit. But chocolate with black raspberries from my vines is also a winner!
ReplyDeleteMake a note: When in OHIO check out TOFTS!
DeleteWonderful topic today! As a child, I remember Swensen's ice cream parlor and Foster Freeze. Now there is only one Swensen's ice cream on Russian Hill in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteTo my surprise, I still see Baskin Robbins and I remember their ice cream sandwiches when I was a child.
These days I go to Mr. Dewie's Cashew Milk Ice Cream shop and my current favorite is Coconut Chocolate ice cream.
When I lived in England, I remember ice cream was called ? Flakes ? I will have to try clotted cream ice cream the next time when I visit England. I could eat whatever I wanted to and still lose weight or not gain weight because I walked everywhere in London.
And I remember the gelato in Italy. I will have to try the Stratiacelli gelato. I also remember having sorbet. A little taste of gelato, I think, would be ok. These days I cannot have real dairy.
Diana
On The Great British Baking Show I've seen the contestants make non dairy ice cream with coconut milk, whch I love...
DeleteJust back from two+ weeks away and mostly offline, I'm in holiday mode, still, and totally with Jenn: all ice cream, all the time. French Vanilla with dark chocolate and crystallized ginger chopped into it. Served in a bowl, at home, while watching the nightly news to make the horrors of the world bearable...
ReplyDeleteMmmm crystalized ginger. Perfect addition to a bowl of ice cream.
DeleteYum, yum, yum! No ice cream shops in my neck of Maine, but growing up we had Holsten's - all homemade and they made candy, too. All of my Easter candy came from Holsten's. If the name sounds familiar, it was featured in the Sopranos! In later life, I loved a place called Grandma's in the Florida Keys. It's long gone, but they had the best coconut and key lime ice creams.
ReplyDeleteRhys, your mention of Italian Gelato brought my very favorite to mind. Gianduia. I first met it in Milan, and rediscovered it on the French side of St. Marten. Oh, so good. Chocolate with Hazelnut - the mouth waters.
A google search turns up a Holsten's in Bloomfield, NJ - which explains it coming up in the Soprano's. And I'll put in a vote for Flamingo Crossing in Key West.
DeleteYep. Tony and his family were eating there in the final episode. Years later, Matthew Weiner said he intended the wise guy who approached Tony's table in the final episode to kill him. So glad they didn't do that. I wonder if the Holsten family had any input into that decision. Wait, back up the pick up, I wonder if the Holsten family are still involved with the store!
DeleteIce cream is the only solution to this miserable heat, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteJenn, I'm sorry you guys are having to go through such a horrible heat wave and the fact that it has been ongoing for such a long time. Yes, ice cream is the best solution!
DeleteReading all these wonderful stories of ice cream brings back memories of the summer of '68 when our family lived in the dorm rooms at a university in Logan, Utah while my dad took college courses for math teachers. They had a agricultural dept and I was told they had their own cows and made really fresh (from the farm so to speak) ice cream. It was so delicious!! Beyond delicious actually!!
ReplyDeleteSounds fabulous. WIsh we could sample... I wonder if it still exists. I wonder if this was it: https://www.usu.edu/aggieicecream/
DeleteIt still exists.. Aggie Ice Cream is famous.
DeleteIce Cream Weather? Any day of any week of any month of any year…as long as Tony and Gina at Il Bacio in Danbury, CT are making and scooping it! Absolutely, aside from friends, most missed thing with my move to Florida! Enjoy those sundaes, shakes, cones, and double scoop dishes all! Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteBlack raspberry, orange pineapple, mint chocolate chip (with small chips), a scoop of either chocolate or vanilla with a scoop of orange sherbet.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be several ice cream shops in the Boston area- Brighams, Howard Johnsons (48 flavors) and Baileys, all gone now. Swensons was here at one time-Swiss chocolate which had an
orange flavor combined with the chocolate.
Trader Joes ice cream is pretty good, but not always reliable in having some flavors in stock, some because a flavor may be available for a limited time only, others just sell out faster than they can restock. Right now they have a chocolate and vanilla bean swirl gelato. Their ice cream section is usually depleted in most varieties these days.
How about types of cones, sugar, cake or waffle?
There’s an ice cream stand, The Sundae House, in my neighborhood, open from spring through roughly the last week in September. There’s no seating. People either take their ice cream home or they sit and eat it in their cars. They have all kinds of flavors, and they get their ice cream from a local ice cream business, Buck’s ice cream. They also have soft serve. As a dedicated chocolate lover, I don’t buy anything that isn’t chocolate! My favorite things to get there are an all-chocolate ice cream soda or a cup of chocolate ice cream covered in either hot fudge or chocolate sauce, depending on my mood. On a hot summer day, there’s a long line, but everyone leaves happy! On the way home from my first colonoscopy, when I was starving, I had my friend who drive me to the hospital stop off at The Sundae House so I could get a chocolate ice cream soda!
ReplyDeleteDebRo
With all the talk of the small and artisanal ice cream shops we now enjoy, I just want to reminisce on the complete teenage thrill I used to get from going to Friendly's ice cream. Growing up, ice cream almost always meant Mom's scooping it from the grocery stores brand gallon box. But once I started working, the summer I was 16, my friends and I could go out to Friendly's and pay for it ourselves!
ReplyDeleteWe loved sitting in one of the booths and each ordering a different extravagant banana split or sundae. Also delightful in my memory is the fact I never, ever worried about fat, cholesterol, calories, or sugar intake! It was pure pleasure. They had exotic flavors Mom never brought home from the grocery store (I recall a lot of Neapolitan, as splitting the difference between the vanilla and chocolate lovers in the family.)
I know we have a former Friendly's employee on staff here, so, thank you, Jenn, and know that wherever you were scooping and serving, some of the kids ordering cones for you were having the time of their lives.
I don't know that we have an ice cream shop in my town that isn't a chain. Of course, I usually buy it at the store and eat it at home. Love me ice cream of just about any flavor. I've got Caramel Swirl right now (caramel in a sweet vanilla ice cream).
ReplyDeleteLiving in south Florida I'd think there should be lots of choices in ice cream. But it tends to be mass produced dreck.
ReplyDeleteIn Maine, however, it seems like every town has a top quality ice cream store. Go figure.
The ultimate is John's Ice Cream Factory in Liberty. He takes ice cream recipes and removes all the garbage. Like chcocolate chip mint? His has actual mint in it.
Our favorites are peanut butter crunch and mocha chip.
Hank, jamoca almond fudge! Yes, the best.
YES! Do they still make it?
DeleteI live in the dairy state, and ice cream is our middle name, unless it's frozen custard, even better. Bringing up ice cream has triggered a flood of memories.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in first and second grade, I used to stop in the local drug store on my way home from school in warm weather. I could get an ice cream cone for a nickel, and have it dipped in jimmies (chocolate sprinkles) for another penny, no sales tax. Sometimes the young man who made it was the pharmacist's son Buzzy, who died in one of the polio epidemics that closed our schools every September. The pharmacist sold the drug store and moved away.
When I was in law school in Madison, there was an ice cream parlor in Babcock Hall, one of the main buildings at the ag school. One of the first warm days of spring of our first year in law school, I made Owen take me there and buy me an ice cream cone. It was eggnog flavor, very exotic for those days.
I have been known to go out to Kopp's custard stand in the middle of a snow storm to buy the flavor of the day, especially if it is tiramisu or pistachio nut. Yeah, I know-- we're a little crazy in this state, and also a little overweight.
The second summer I lived in Florence, I used to go to a coffee stand near the Uffizi gallery for breakfast every morning, a cappuccino and a macedonia of fruit with a minuscule scoop of gelato panna-- sort of a cream flavor-- on top.
This week I bought a box of waffle cones and have been working my way through a tub of caramel praline ice cream. Last week it was mermaid sprinkle. And now the song "Vanilla Ice Cream" is going through my head.
Ooh, Hallie got me started thinking about root beer floats. I usually treat myself to at least one every summer. I think we have root beer, but no ice cream... Maybe I should just hit DQ!
ReplyDeleteBoth my best friends in high school worked at an A&W root beer drive-in. Their floats are the ones I still judge all others by.
DeleteWe have High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA where they make their own ice cream. My favorite flavor is Purple Cow: blueberry/raspberry ice cream with white chocolate and dark chocolate chips.
ReplyDeleteIrene
Three college summers scooping ice cream sort of destroyed my enthusiasm but every so often I have that craving. I like a few other flavors, and sorbets, but the one that calls my name loudest is vanilla chip with hot fudge. Unadorned. A classic and not too different from the hot fudge sundaes my grandmother treated me to at Woolworth's lunch counter. ( Who remembers that?) With several very fancy ice cream shops nearby...I still end up at Haagen- Daazs
ReplyDeleteUsually if we indulge these days it is for Culver's Frozen Custard. The flavor of the day today is Oreo Cookie Overload which appears to be chocolate custard with Oreo cookies mixed in. We do have a fun local joint called Flapdoodles (two locations now!)
ReplyDeleteOf all the places we went for gelato on our 18 day tour of Italy in April, our favorite was Gelateria Artigiana near the Four Pillar Bridge in Venice. My favorite flavor was Nocciolarosa ciocccolato (hazel nut with chocolate). It was also the least expensive of all the places at 2 euros for one (large) scoop. I really miss my almost daily dose of gelato!
I'm with Lucy. Ashley's is my place. Last week we celebrated a colleague's 10th year with our project. My boss organized an ice cream party from Ashley's. Choc, vanilla, and strawberry with a choice of toppings: choc chips, raspberries, trail mix, bananas, choc wafer cookies.
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ReplyDeleterowing up, early on, we had Neapolitan. The strawberry was ALWAYS left over, until my mother laid down the law: NO scooping around the strawberry.
ReplyDeleteWith me it would be chocolate. I love chocolate in general, but I don't like chocolate ice cream.
DeleteSnelgroves in Salt Lake City. Gone now, but never have tasted ice cream half as good. Their specialty sundaes were named for the local ski resorts, so you could have a Snowbird, or an Alta, or a Brighton. Noone can duplicate their Burnt Almond Fudge. Fantastic.
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