Facebook Group: People for a Library-Themed Ben & Jerry's Flavor

My awesome younger sister sent me this link from Bust a while back and I thought it would make for a nice post today as the kiddos are heading back to school.

Looking further into it, I found the facebook group, People for a Library-Themed Ben & Jerry's Flavor. This group was stated by A New Jersey librarian, Andy Woodworth. What fun! My personal favorite? The Gooey Decimal System. Do kids even still know what this is these days? Well I'm off and heading to the 641.862s...

A Month of Sundaes

I think it is due time I write a post about A Month of Sundaes by Michael Turback so that I can give it to Tina to read when I see her tomorrow

It wasn't so much that it had an exciting ending that I wanted to finish it, but more because I wanted to check it off my list. I thought the history was interesting, but it wasn't particularly a book that I just couldn't put down. The other reason I may not have been so into it is as a general rule of thumb, I am an ice cream girl more so than a sundae girl. I mean, a good sundae will never be turned down, but for me, it's all about the base -- the cold, creamy, sweet resting place for all the toppings.

There are a couple of places in the book that really stood out to me that I want to visit:

1. Putman Pantry in Danvers, MA. Why? It's nearby, and I can't believe our dear friend Spaghetti never told us about it! Guess T and I will have to meet him up there for sundaes someday soon. For those of you that doen't know Spaghetti, it's still worth the trip, as Turback descibes the "fourteen foot, stainless steel sundae bar as an anti salad bar." I'm so there.
2. Serendipity 3. But then again, that's been on my list for a long time. Ashu, next time I visit you, we are SO there. If it's still there, can we sit at Andy Warhol's table? By the way, I happened to come across this article I missed when I wrote about the World's Most Expensive Sundae at Serendipity 3 back in July. With it are pictures and all!
   
3. Shark and Rose, in San Jose, CA. Do you know the way to San Jose? I don't but I am sure to figure it out next time I am in California, so I can see what all the fuss is about their Soup Spoon Sundae. Is this little sundae enough, or does it leave one begging for more?
   

My biggest problem with the book was the design. And I am not just saying this as a designer. The book was designed in pink and black, which I think is very appropriate for a book on ice cream. However, the typefaces chosen were awful. I understand where the designers were coming from, wanting typefaces that were fluffy and ice cream-like, but they were so fluffy they were practically illegible. The body text was a swirly serif that should not be used for so much writing. It makes ones eyes tired because it really has to study each word rather than read in a flowing manner. The little pink box notes were even worse: they were written in a cursive script. This is not suitable for reading a paragraph of type. The worst were the capital "S"s -- they kind of looked like "T"s or "J"s.

Ok, so here's the embarrassing part. I never remember what I read, so writing this little review here has been a little hard since I finished the book on October 20th. So here i am looking back to see what parts of the book stood out to me, and alas, I come across the Inside-Out Sundae. Where can I find it, I ask? Oh, Minnesota. I was in Minnesota last week. But Minnesota is a big state so I probably wasn't anywhere nearby. Oh, it's served at the Green Mill. Oh, the Green Mill that we ate at last week?! Yep, if I could remember what I read, I sure would be better off -- I could have been reviewing the Inside-Out Sundae in person!

Hmmm...Green Mill's (super slow) site doesn't seem to mention it. Does it still exist? Looks like it exists in Bemidji, Minnesota location. So maybe I didn't miss it after all...

All things considered, people define what makes a sundae very differently. Does it have to have nuts? Syrup? A cherry? One thing is for certain, a sundae has ice cream, and here at Scoopalicious, that's all we think that counts!

Top Selling Ice Cream Books at Amazon...What's the Scoop?

Out of curiousity the other day, I looked up "ice cream" at amazon in the cookbook section and then sorted them by bestseller. Though anyone can do this search, I thought it would be fun to see how many of the top ten I have, and review those I do have! How "with it" am I in ice cream land? Do I have all the best sellers? Do my favorites make the list?

Answer: I have three of the top ten. And no. One of my favorites made the list (The Ultimate Ice Cream Book) but one did not (Gail Damerow's Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop!)

So I used my lazy internet skills, created an amazon widget, added some comments, and made a list! I'd love to hear more feedback on these products if anyone has used them!
[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

My Little Secret: Ice Cream Cookbooks Galore!

I love books. I love ice cream. I love mail and packages. I don't really love soy. I don't love spending money. So, I traded one book for another.

I guess this isn't totally about ice cream making, but it is, kind of. Just the other day I got a couple of new-used ice cream books in the mail. I got a like-new copy of Ice Cream: The Perfect Weekend Treat by Susanna Tee, and better yet, a little out-of-print gem of a book called The Joy of Ice Cream by Matthew Klein.

I just wanted to write a little post about the virtues of searching places other than your internet superstore or megabook store (though those can be good too!) for those books you want to add to your collection...I got one of my favorite books at the library book sale, and another one on Paperback Swap.

I just did a search at Paperback Swap for Ice Cream in the Cookbook category, and I found a number of books here. Don't worry, I didn't take them all! Sometimes, though, my favorite part isn't gettnig them immediately, but putting it on my wishlist until it becomes available, and then "Poof!," all of a sudden, a new ice cream book arrives at my door.

Of course, the popular ones are hard to come by but if you wait enough, you just might be surprised -- and of course, sometimes the unpopular ones are better than expected...

Anyway, this post is a little different from previous posts, but I guess I was a bit excited by my new finds!