Tuesday, July 31, 2012

A Little Mortensen Magic

My darling younger sister surprised me with a guest post for my birthday. Since she called me the best middle sister/ice cream maven EVER, I couldn't say no to posting this. Haha! Just kidding. What a special present and a great way to close out National Ice Cream Month! Thanks, A!

Happy birthday to the best middle sister/ice cream maven EVER!

I live in New Britain, CT, and surprisingly (for a state that consumes the most ice cream per capita!), there really aren't many good ice cream places to choose from nearby.  Nothing that I know of in the city itself, and while the local Cold Stone Creamery used to be a good, short trip for us (located on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington), it's been changed into a frozen yogurt joint.  I'm sure the froyo is good and all (haven't tried it yet!), but that wasn't what we were craving the other day after a long, hot day - I had gotten stuck in a train car without A/C for my ride home from work!*  


Mortensen's original location on the Berlin Turnpike.  From their Facebook page.

Anyway, the boyfriend and I been asked to do a favor for a friend in the West End of Hartford, so I decided to jazz the trip up by making a detour on our way back home, to Mortensen's!  We had just intended to get ice cream, but realized we really needed to get some food in our bellies, too, so we started with burgers (mine veggie) and fries, all of which was very good!  The place certainly isn't JUST ice cream, so plan to have a whole meal there if you can squeeze it all in!



Unfortunately, we couldn't.  We'd spent most of the meal perusing the BINDER filled with flavors and their descriptions, and had settled on some flavors we wanted to try.  However, when it came time to order dessert...we decided we'd have to do to-go ice cream instead, and enjoy our dessert later on.  Our waitress kindly offered to hand-pack a couple of pints for us (this is usual practice - they will pack pints, quarts, etc. at your request).  I chose Graham Central Station and Maine Black Bear (even though there were a bunch of other flavors I wanted to try - but I always have to remind myself to try the unusual flavors, because I can get the staples anywhere!).  Troy chose their mudslide (I think it was called Mud Pie?), but when they didn't have that (the ice cream is made fresh daily, and flavors are constantly rotating), they offered to mush together their cookies n' cream with their coffee.  So we both went home happy!  We thoroughly enjoyed our ice creams, and I definitely plan to go back again soon to try even more flavors!  (Although Graham Central Station has become a new favorite....)



Mortensen's has been around just about FOREVER, and they are great, local, family-owned restaurant, so if you find yourself driving through central CT on a road trip this summer, be sure to stop in for a real treat.  One of my favorite things about the place?  They have fruit flavors which they offer year-round (strawberry, peach, etc.), which they switch out for seasonal ones when the time is right.  So, if you're there, say, during our peach season, you'll get locally-grown, fresh fruit in your ice cream!  And if you're not, you'll still get their premium ice cream with peaches from a carefully selected source (they indicate the locations from which all their fruit originates on the menu).  I love the concept, I love supporting fantastic local businesses, and of course - I love the ice cream.

-------------------
*While I don't NEED air-conditioning in my daily life, I've decided that it's definitely necessary in an enclosed train car where you can't open the windows and are stuck with dozens of other people, just all sweating it out...it must have been about 20 degrees warmer in there than it was outside!  Ugh.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Short but Sweet (Let's Link Up)

I have a ton to do today but can't miss the second to last National Ice Cream Month 2012 post...SO I am going to post a few links to things I have been meaning to post to forever...

First we have a nice recipe for Ten Minute Soft-Serve You Can Make in Your Food Processor. Thanks for sending, Dad!

Next we have a super cool link to dozens of photos of Vintage Ice Cream Trucks. This is amazing -- you could spend hours looking at this post. (Again, thanks for sending, Dad!)
I chose this image from the site because I love what it says: "Eat a Plate of Ice
Cream Every Day" -- For sure! Originally posted on Shorpy.com.
Then there is the super fun graphic, The History of Ice Cream Timeline. As you know, I love infographics and ice cream -- what could be better than this? Maybe an edible ice cream infographic...? Ok, maybe I am stretching a little. Maybe there IS nothing better. Thanks, Sister A for sending!

Finally, another link from Sister A: Ice Cream in a Baggie. Super cool!

I have a great family and great friends who keep me abreast on the latest ice cream findings -- the problem is, I am not the greatest at keeping up with posting!

Have a great second to last day of National Ice Cream Month and come back tomorrow for a guest post from a dear sister!

(Also, keep coming by in August. We already have two giveaways planned!)

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Another NH scoop shop delights

It's been an awesome week of outdoor fun and a whole lotta ice cream. We were super excited to find another shop selling all homemade ice cream, Conehead's Supreme, in Woodstock NH. My daughter went first and ordered Brownie Batter ice cream in a plain come with chocolate jimmies (those are sprinkles to non New Englanders) and it looked so good I couldn't resist ordering the same. It was SO good! Light and creamy brownie batter flavored ice cream with small chunks of rich brownie. Another great find we are sure to revisit on next year's trip to the White Mountains.



Saturday, July 28, 2012

Sucre Shop Giveaway!


Update: My hugest apologies to Brooke of the Sucre SHOP -- I made a typo in the title and called it Sucre Chop (which I have since remedied). So sorry!

I am just winding down from my annual ice cream party and am excited about our final giveaway for National Ice Cream Month.

The fabulous Brooke of Sucre Shop has generously donated a set of ten dishes and ten spoons as a giveaway for Scoopalicious. These products have been featured in People Magazine, Martha Stewart Living and Redbook! Thank you so much, Brooke!

We are in love! The paper dishes are designed by Brooke and are of quite a generous size. The spoons are super fun and colorfully printed. Perfect for a small gathering of friends when you want dishes that are cute and fun but don't want to be doing dishes after all your friends have gone.

I was tempted to order some of the awesome custom spoons from Sucre Shop: "Bethany is awesome..." they'd say. Haha! Just kidding. Seriously, I was actually thinking they would obviously be great at a wedding but could also be super cute "business cards" printed with "scoopalicious.blogspot.com." How fun would that be?!

A friend just told me she thought the spoons would also make excellent popsicle sticks -- how cool is that? A super fun stick to hold onto while you cool off with your popsicle?! Love it!

We are trying out a new way to enter  (see below!)-- and you can get multiple entries this way! Please enter by August 3rd! Thanks for playing! (Please note that the spoons may be a different pattern than those pictured!)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

P.S. Congrats to Terry for winning the Ben & Jerry's giveaway!

(Photos by Brooke of Sucre Shop.)

Another NH scoop shop delights

It's been an awesome week of outdoor fun and a whole lotta ice cream. We were super excited to find another shop selling all homemade ice cream, Conehead's Supreme, in Woodstock NH. My daughter went first and ordered Brownie Batter ice cream in a plain come with chocolate jimmies (those are sprinkles to non New Englanders) and it looked so good I couldn't resist ordering the same. It was SO good! Light and creamy brownie batter flavored ice cream with small chunks of rich brownie. Another great find we are sure to revisit on next year's trip to the White Mountains.

Friday, July 27, 2012

2012 Ice Cream Cupcake Winner

We are more than pleased to announce the winner of the 2012 Ice Cream Cupcake Contest! The winner is: Ice Cream Cupcake Peanut Butter Cups by Confessions of a Bright-Eyed Baker.

A big congrats to Confessions of a Bright-Eyed Baker and thank you to everyone who entered. We were not envious of the judges who had to choose from so many winning recipes! Thank you again to:

Our Judges: 
Stephanie Nuccitelli from 52 Kitchen Adventures
Lindsay Ann from Dollhouse Bakeshop
Melissa Johnson from Best Friends for Frosting

Our Sponsors:
Foodbuzz
Häagen-Dazs®
Sucre Shop
Cakespy
Heather Baird

And thank you again to everyone that entered! We love your enthusiasm, your ideas, your creativity and your passion.

And finally, thank you, thank you, thank you to Stef of Cupcake Project who always manages to do an amazing job at spearheading this contest every year.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Congrats MOO Giveaway winners!


Yippee....we have three lucky winners for our MOO giveaway!

"Jonathan" (jonralton)...who loves Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

"-C-"(dodkalm83)...who loves Rum Raisin

"tylerkilledlove" (monicamezaa)...who loves Cookies and Cream

Each of these lucky winners will receive 100 Business Cards or 200 MiniCards courtesy of MOO.com. Congrats to you all, thanks for entering, and thanks MOO for the awesome giveaway!

Random.org was used to pick winners. Winners will be contacted.


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

My two favorites

Homemade Ginger and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream courtesy of Bobby-Sue's in good old New Hampshire. So good!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

SoCo Creamery

Saturday I went into downtown Hartford with my daughter, parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. I really wanted to take Daughter on the carousel. Being two, she was a little overwhelmed by it, so she never actually rode it (though she was enthralled with watching it.) The trip wasn't a total bust though. Not at all. Sister, B-I-L, Mom, Nephew, and I all rode the carousel. Nephew and Daughter enjoyed the playground, Daughter enjoyed the bouncy house, AND we happened upon the Hartford Jazz Festival. We enjoyed a nice picnic and wandered the booths at the festival.

An outing like that wouldn't be complete without ice cream, so luckily as we were leaving, we passed the booth for SoCo Creamery. Of course we stopped.

I kind of have pregnancy brain right now. When I introduced myself they told me they had read Scoopalicious and we had written about them at the Scooper Bowl. Oh, duh, I recalled. I had chosen the Salted Caramel they make as my favorite of the event and Tina had chosen their Lemon Poppyseed. Seriously, it was my favorite, I just don't remember things from one day to the next! Haha!

In fact, SoCo's tasty creation inspired me to try my own hand at Salted Caramel. I used the recipe from Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones: 90 Recipes for Making Your Own Ice Cream and Frozen Treats from Bi-Rite Creamery ...I think I burnt my sugar, so it wasn't as successful as I'd hoped -- but my friend Ashu swears by Bi-Rite's Salted Caramel, so...Salted Caramel Taste Off, anyone?!

But I digress...

SoCo's Salted Caramel is still among my favorites. I ordered a scoop of the salted caramel and a scoop of blueberry. I was a fan of both.

Sister said: "I ordered the Apple Cider Donut and loved it, but also loved the Salted Caramel and Minty Mudslide."

Brother-in-law said: I had the PB mudslide and the dirty chocolate. I really enjoyed the chocolate as it was very rich. The PB mudslide was good. I tried the blueberry and was a bit sad that I did not get that as one of my flavors."

Dad said: "Had a Cider Donut...very good...Much like apple pie ice cream had once before."

As for the Cider Donut -- I find it interesting that they used a cinnamon base with cider donuts mixed in. I made mine with a cider base. I think their recipe was a little more mellow -- less tart, less overwhelming...I wonder if I added cinnamon to the cider concentrate?

The reviews are in and they are all super positive! You go, SoCo! This time I am going to remember how much I love you guys!!! I am going to have to find you locally...

Monday, July 23, 2012

Cone-a-versary and a Giveaway!

There are many stories about the invention of the ice cream cone, but we like the one that causes the 108th anniversary to be today!

From the Library of Congress Today in History: On "July 23, 1904, according to some accounts, Charles E. Menches conceived the idea of filling a pastry cone with two scoops of ice-cream and thereby invented the ice-cream cone."

As you know, I love the smell (and taste!) of Ben & Jerry's cones. To celebrate this anniversary and such a great cone, we are giving away a copy of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book as well as a coupon for a free pint of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream! (Although you'll have to forgive the fact that the book does not actually share Ben & Jerry's recipe for their cones!)

Leave a comment about your favorite cone by Friday, July 27 for a chance to win! Email MUST be included with your comment (in the comment field) -- otherwise we will be unable to contact you!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Ice Cream Cupcake Contest Finalists Announced!


Stef at Cupcake Project has announced the three finalists for the 5th Annual Ice Cream Cupcake Contest. Head over to see who is in the running!

When we initially posted about the contest, we had offered prizes to three participants just for entering, but it turns out we have four prizes, so I used random.org to choose four winners (at random, obviously!) just for entering the contest.

Christina from Christina's Emporium, who entered the Celtic Pride Cupcake: Green Velvet Cupcake with Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream and Chipotle Vanilla Frosting, won the 20 striped spoons and 20 ice cream cups from Sucre Shop.

Laura Rao and her daughter, who entered the Chocolate Mint and Cookies Explosion! Cupcakes, won a copy of Sprinkle Bakes by Heather Baird.



Winners, please contact us at scoopaliciousblog (at) gmail.com to claim your prizes.

Thank you to all of our contestants (the entries were amazing and I know the judges had a super hard time choosing their favorites) and to our generous sponsors.

Congrats to all!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

77¢ Cones to Celebrate 77 Years of Friendly's

Friendly's is celebrating it's 77th Anniversary with 77¢ cones today! Not a bad deal!

I love this photo they posted on their Facebook page!


Happy 77th, Friendly's!

I love that I read about the deal on a sign at the Friendly's in my hometown. I'm hoping to be able to celebrate tomorrow at the Friendly's I grew up going to!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Bundle's Ice Cream Infographics!

I love data. I wear a Fitbit tracker and use a Zeo Sleep Monitor mostly because I love tracking the data. I love looking at the graphs of my activity and my sleep.

I love infographics. LOVE them. I love everything from simple charts to beautiful, complicated presentations of information.

You can imagine my delight when we got an email from the managing editor of Bundle.com, "the data-driven review site," telling us about their ice cream infographics. A match made in heaven.

Check out their beautiful graphics of "The Cities and States That Eat The Most Ice Cream in America":


For a more detailed view or more information (especially on how they gathered this data), you can check out the high res image of the above graphic (unfortunately it's a little large to see on your screen so you probably have to download it to your computer -- it also takes a while to load!) or visit their awesome article directly. 

I have to say: this chart justifies Tina and my credentials. The top ten ice cream consuming states include Rhode Island (2), Massachusetts (4), and Connecticut (6). Tina was born and raised and still lives in Rhode Island, I live in Massachusetts (and we both work in Massachusetts), and I was born and raised in Connecticut. Seriously. We grew up eating a lot of ice cream. We know our stuff!


[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Spaghetti Ice Cream

Both Husband and Marsha sent me two different articles (here and here -- oh, well I guess the former is just a link to the latter, but still...) about spaghetti ice cream recently, which is kind of odd since I have seen it before and since it's been around since the sixties.

Apparently blogger Click Clack Gorilla, who wrote the post I mentioned above, had just recently tried it and was a big fan.

Oh yeah! I did a search for "spaghetti ice cream" and recall where I heard of it. I saw a machine (online) for it a while ago from the aptly called Spaghetti Ice Cream Co, though apparently Click Clack Gorilla said you can use an "old noodle press."

Here is the Spaghetti Ice Cream Co's "spaghetti ice cream maker" as seen on the Food Network five years ago.



Looks fun and makes a nice display, but seems like an extra step to me...

I wonder if the ice cream eating experience is really that different? Has anyone tried it? I'd love to hear more...

It's only $12.95 on the site for a "unit [that] may be without the attractive retail gift box and/or unit may have some minor cosmetic flaws" (the $22.95 unflawed one is out of stock) -- maybe it's worth trying?


[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]






Wednesday, July 18, 2012

America's Best Ice Cream

What's a more perfect match than a road trip and ice cream on a hot summer day!? I have the fondest memories of riding in the hatchback (yes in I'll admit I am a product of the 70s when seatbelts were non existent and my mom and Dad let us open the hatchback in the way back and lounge back for the ride!) and going for ice cream on our way to go camping, to the beach or just out for the day. It's the memories of HoJos for Mint Chocolate Chip in a baseball cap cup that are still as vivid as ever. Many things may have changed a lot since then (like um seatbelt laws thankfully!) but some things sure haven't like America's universal love for Ice Cream.  

US News Travel brings us America's Best Ice Cream list. Have you stopped at any on your road trips? We are excited that our own local Toscanini's makes the cut! Ooh and I've been to Capogiros in Phili which according to their website was named National Geographic's Coolest Places to Eat Ice Cream. Hmmm..not sure I totally agree...very cool place and awesome gelato but environment, although cool, wasn't list topping IMO.Guess who tops the list?

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Happy Peach Ice Cream Day!

Peach Ice Cream Day is a pretty specific holiday, but I guess it is a combo of two things at their peak -- peaches are so seasonal and have only a short window of enjoyment each year, and ice cream, while popular year round, certainly shines in the summer when it's hot out. It seems only natural that they be combined into a holiday.

In the past we've posted peach ice cream recipes (or failed to in some cases -- sorry!), but I started wondering where we can get packaged peach ice cream...I started searching some of our favorite brands...here's just a sampling...
Hope this gets you started and gives you a jumping off point for celebrating the holiday!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Awesome MOO.com Giveaway ~ Enter by 7/21


MOO notecards made by scoopalicious

It's National Ice Cream Month so bring on the giveaways! Not sure if you read about our awesome MOO.com experience back in March but if not we mentioned a giveaway to stay tuned for. First off if you are still staying tuned, thank you, because I am so behind the eight ball on getting this out there and now that it's an important month in the ice cream world so we thought we'd make sure to share it with you all.

To Celebrate National Ice Cream Month, the business card (& more) printers, MOO have provided three sets of 100 Business Cards or 200 MiniCards (for 3 readers!!) in an exclusive giveaway. If you are not aware of MOO, they just love to print Business Cards – Not only that, they also print MiniCards, Postcards, Greeting cards, StickerBooks and much more! Check out our FB header...it showcases their great work. We not only made business cards but some great notecards too my daughter used for a school raffle. 

What we truthfully love is MOO’s own unique ‘printfinity’ technology allows you to place a different image or design on each card in a set to make each of your business cards really stand out. MOO has also teamed up with Flickr and Facebook too, so you can upload your personalized Flickr and Facebook photo cards! You can choose from a range of business card templates and designs for your cards and personalise them with your own details, or upload your own images or artwork to create truly unique cards.


The Prizes

100 MOO Business Cards or 200 cute MiniCards to three different readers so your chance of winning are great!

And keep in mind even if you don't have a business these cards can be so useful...mommy cards, gift tags, blog cards, kids info cards, portfolio cards, and so much more. The mini ones are so super cute


How to Enter

To be in with a chance of winning one of the prizes – all you have to do is post a comment below and tell us what your favourite ice cream is, and/or if you could invent one, what flavour would it be!?

Winners will be chosen by random from the comments below! Please enter a valid email address in the comments section (we can not access your email address from the place where it asks for your email) so we are able to contact you if you win! 

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Hope you have had a great National Ice Cream Day (and hope you are still celebrating -- there's still time...)!

Thanks, Ronald Reagan, for creating this holiday for us...whether or not we liked your politics as a whole (or were too young to remember you as president) this is a legacy you left behind that we can all agree on!

From Wikipedia: "National Ice Cream Month is held in each year in July in the United States. Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984.[1] He also named the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. Reagan recognized the popularity of ice cream in the United States (90% of the nation's population consumes ice cream) and stated that these two events should be observed with 'appropriate ceremonies and activities.'"

I'm celebrating by cleaning out a carton of Banana Cream Pie Ice Cream. Recipe to follow this week!


Ice cream image by ctechs at stockxchng.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

The Cape's Sundae School rocks!


Awhile back I had the great pleasure of experiencing a Cape Cod staple, The Sundae School. And as the title of this post says, Sundae School Rocks! I have to admit I am a New Englander but one who really hasn't made it to the Cape all that much in my life as us Rhode Islanders tend to go south to our beautiful RI coastline instead. But friends of ours just bought themselves a great Cape house and we spent our Memorial Day weekend relaxing and checking out the sites, one of which we were told was a must...The Sundae School.


Nestled in the awesome town of Dennisport this landmark opened in 1976 by of course, a school teacher, thus the "school" reference and in an awesome renovated old barn. I totally love the vibe of this place being surrounded by loads of ice cream memorabilia, a great old fashioned ice cream parlor feel, high energy, lots of families, friends, kids, and lots of ice cream. And this place was insanely busy. Granted it was Memorial Day weekend but we got there at 9pm on the Saturday and there was a line to just get in the parking lot and there were parking attendants flashing you down. They really need valet. They'd make a killing!

Onto the ice cream...I don't think I even had a choice. I was talked up so much to about the Coffee Oreo Cookie that how could I not get it. So as usual I had to try two so it was Coffee Oreo and Chocolate Peanut Butter...and all homemade I must make clear. Even though this place does killer business they still pride themselves on making fresh batches daily...it was awesome!

Love the Sundae School and when on the Cape make it a to do. They actually have a few locations so stop in. And as I quickly found out the Cape has an ice cream shop every half mile (no joke) but seriously Sundae School Rocks....fresh homemade ice cream...yum!



Friday, July 13, 2012

I tweet. U tweet. We all tweet for ice cream on 7/15!

Tweet Tweet...that is all Baskin-Robbins wants you to do on National Ice Cream Day, this Sunday July 15th to get yourself a whole lotta ice cream. I honestly can say eating ice cream is first on my list but tweeting to win ice cream is a good second best. So for your chance to win $260 in Baskin-Robbins gift cards, that'll could possibly get you a whole year of ice cream, enter the Baskin Robbins Twitter Sweepstakes on Sunday, July 15th. On that day, followers of @BaskinRobbins who Tweet their favorite Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavor using the special hashtag #BRflavors will be entered for the chance to win. For official rules and additional details about the sweepstakes, visit www.BaskinRobbins.com or follow @BaskinRobbins on Twitter this Sunday. Good luck!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Seattle! Boston! New York! Portland (OR)! B&J Truck Tour!

Sometimes our posts are area specific. (Sorry those of you who don't live in the cities listed in the post title...) And sometimes they are a bit late. (Sorry L.A., D.C., Miami, and San Fran...) We are truly sorry about leaving people out at times, but feel free to let us know of something local to you that you may want us to post about!

Anyway, Boston, Seattle, New York, and Portland...there's still time for you ask Ben & Jerry's to stop by your neighborhood so you can get some FREE Greek Frozen Yogurt! It's all about social media these days. Tweet away! Terrence (below) explains how it works in New York City, but it seems to be pretty much the same for Boston, Seattle, and Portland, too.


East Coast, (that's you, New York and Boston) tweet Ben & Jerry's at @BenJerrysEast...

West Coast, (hey...Seattle and Portland, listen up!) tweet Ben & Jerry's at @BenJerrysWest.

For further info, visit the 2012 Truck Tour page.

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

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