Scoopalicious is Growing! Welcome, Patrick!

A few months ago, you may have read a great post by our guest blogger Patrick. A while back, when we realized we were letting a bunch of great events in New York pass us by (um, like meeting Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey, for instance), we realized we didn't want these experiences to go to waste. I thought of the people I knew in New York City, and I immediately thought of the enthusiasm and passion of my friend Patrick. Patrick and I have known each other since grade school, and there are few people that I know that seem to love and live life as fully as Patrick. I talked to Tina and we thought it would be a great idea to have him as our Guest Blogger/New York Correspondent. His first (and highly successful) mission? To an event to meet Nutty the Water Skiing Squirrel!)

Fast forward to February, and it looks like we have made the right choice. Patrick has made such an impression on the Ben & Jerry's PR people that he gets invited to Burlington to be a VIP with a bunch of other food bloggers -- just as I did a couple of years back. He's thrilled, replies "yes," packs his bags to spend a few days up north (and props to him for going from cold to colder in this never-ending winter!).

Patrick comes back from his trip with such excitement, and as I look at the blog that Tina and I love dearly, but have so little time to give as much attention to as we'd like, and we realize, we need this energy back -- hopefully to inspire us as well. We officially ask him to be a member of the Scoopalicious team, and he says yes!

We are so excited to welcome Patrick to the Scoopalicious team and look forward welcoming ice cream season with him. Er, um, who are we kidding?! It's always ice cream season.

P.S. You might see this photo popping up more again on this blog, but it's just so Patrick I couldn't resist using it as his introductory photo!

Nutty the Water Skiing Squirrel Presents...Scotchy Scotch Scotch

Tina and I are always bummed when we get invited to events in NYC on such short notice. We missed Ben & Jerry's events with Jimmy Fallon and with Tina Fey. When we heard about this latest B&J unveiling, we decided we need to get someone to this event...someone that would appreciate free ice cream and a waterskiing squirrel. 

Luckily we found someone and he brought another someone and they were a great choice to send as our proxies...

Without further ado, we want to thank our guest poster, Patrick Langevin, for this awesome write-up and for taking the time out of his busy day to attend this event as our new New York correspondent. And thank you to his date Maggie for keeping him company, enjoying and taking some great pictures (as both the subject and photographer!) Nothing like relying on the the goodness of childhood friends to take care of important ice cream business for us. Thanks, Team FHS! 

I had the opportunity to attend the Ben & Jerry’s unveiling of their new celebrity flavor on Tuesday evening and I had no idea that such sweet hilarity would ensue.

My guest and I arrived at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to find a large pool of water sitting in the middle of the room. Nutty the Water Skiing Squirrel was announced and came out to perform with his trainer. Nutty was quick to hop on his water ski as the remote control boat sped off around the circular pool. Nutty seemed to be a natural on water skis and looked around at the crowd as he daringly skied over the small ripples in the water. Nutty’s final lap was followed by lots of cheers.

The time had come for the big reveal. They played a small clip from the movie Anchorman with Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy giving a news brief about Nutty the Water Skiing Squirrel. The fabric was drawn from the hidden sign to reveal Scotchy Scotch Scotch as the new limited batch Ben & Jerry’s Flavor. Thankfully not a Scotch flavored ice-cream (Although you had the opportunity to have scotch poured over your sample) but a butterscotch ice-cream. Immediately following the announcement a Channel 4 News van drove out from behind the curtain and out came a bevy of Ron Burgundy look a likes with trays full of Scotchy Scotch Scotch samples.

Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch is creamy with ribbons of butterscotch and crispy thin chunks of butterscotch. You definitely need to be a lover of butterscotch for this ice cream but I enjoyed the texture and the butterscotch flavor. The extra crunch from the butterscotch chunks really were what made this flavor stand out. I would have enjoyed a butterscotch ice cream but that extra crunch really brought it to the next level of ice cream fulfillment.

My friend and I sat back by the pool eating our ice-cream while watching Nutty the squirrel perform one last time. Before leaving we had the opportunity to meet Nutty and his trainer. Nutty decided to sit on both of our shoulders to personally greet us before we had to say goodbye.

Only Ben & Jerry’s could create such a unique experience to announce their new celebrity flavor to coincide with the release of Anchorman Two, in theatres in December. I would suggest grabbing yourself a pint of Scotchy Scotch Scotch on your way to the theatre or to eat on the couch while watching the original film.

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday, New York Correspondent! Hope this kicked off your birthday week in high style!

P.P.S. Since this is a new flavor, the B&J Flavor Locator might be of use to those wanting to try Scotchy Scotch Scotch.

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.

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*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.

Guest Posting: Intercourse & ice cream post

Bethany's favorite younger sister Arianna surprised her last night with a guest post about ice cream in a little town called Intercourse, Pennsylvania. She mentions that she had previously been in Lancaster, so I hope she sent a little "shout out" to our friends there. Anyway, I'll let Arianna's awesome post do the talking.


My friend Sarah and I took a trip down the coast recently, with not much of a plan in mind, and made some fun stops in various places. On a whim, we decided to check out Amish country, so we headed over to Lancaster, PA. Once there (after an awesome ride in the restored Strasburg train), I realized we were very close to Intercourse, PA, and knew that we just had to make that a stop. I had grown up seeing "I heart Intercourse" (with a very small "PA" underneath) t-shirts, and I definitely wanted to head over there and pick up some fun souvenirs! (I'm not much of a souvenir shopper, so this was actually a big deal to me.) So we made the short drive over, through beautiful PA countryside, and boy was it worth it for a nice afternoon break before hitting the road again. I should admit here that I actually had two goals in mind that day: the second was handmade ice cream.

When we stumbled across Lapp Valley Farm's ice cream stand, I was thrilled! (I am Bethany's sister, after all - it should come as no surprise that our whole family is addicted to ice cream!) I had a difficult time making a decision from about a dozen or so flavors (nothing out of the ordinary, save for "Butter Brickle", which I now wish I'd been in the mood to check out), but settled on an old favorite, listed as "COOKIES' n. CREAM" (don't worry, they didn't lose too many points with me for the grammar!).

As you can see, the scoop I ordered was an unexpectedly brown ice cream, with no actual cookie chunks in the batter - it appears it was mixed in so thoroughly that it became sort of a light chocolately ice cream instead of the usual vanilla-with-cookies-mixed-in. Perhaps that was because of the hand-mixing. In any case, I wasn't disappointed - the ice cream was very rich and creamy, and delicious on a hot, sunny day! The perfect refreshment.

The location of the stand is worth a trip, ice cream or no (although I do highly suggest a cold treat from Lapp Valley!). It was very busy even on a Tuesday afternoon in August, which makes sense as it is located within an adorable setting: a little old-style bricked seating area of tables with umbrellas is surrounded by various shops, including a kettle corn/homemade potato chips stand, a toy store, artisan shops, souvenir shops, and the like - there are even pony rides for the kids! And of course, the ubiquitous horse and buggy were parked nearby....

The ice cream itself was served up by girls dressed in Amish costuming (but I noticed, they did work in an air-conditioned booth!). The setting is quaint but still modern enough, and filled with groups of people doing the tourist thing on a late summer afternoon. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area; it's a very pleasant day trip destination. What little I saw, I have to say: I adore Intercourse! :)

(Pricing is $2 for 1 scoop; fresh, homemade waffle cones are $2.50 for 1 scoop. Slightly more for 2 scoops, but all less than $5.)

Thanks, Arianna! Should we add this to Our Readers Recommend?

Guest Post: Wai Wai, Chinatown, Boston

Bethany's husband takes us to Chinatown in Boston for his favorite ice cream...

I was in Boston's Chinatown last night and realized that one of my all time favorite ice cream places EVER was one block over. The sign had changed since I last visited about a decade ago, but it's still there. Wai Wai on Oxford St:


It's below street level and the first thing you see is roasted duck, but don't let that fool you. To the left of the duck is a small ice cream case and the only flavor I've ever tried is Coconut. I never want to risk any other flavor just because the Coconut is so singularly awesome.

Bethany would use fancier words to describe this, but it super soft, very coconutty, and I noticed a few small ice chunks in it. Whatever is in this ice cream, they should keep doing it, and I'll keep stepping in whenever I can.

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

SpiceDish Saturday {May}: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

We love us some SpiceDish Saturdays and we are so happy it's that time of month! I am especially excited for this one because my strawberries are growing like weeds (um, yeah...) and flowering like crazy. So, if Ernie the dog doesn't eat them, I'll have to make some of this when our strawberries start to appear...Thanks EB!

Okay folks, so it’s the beginning of strawberry season around these parts and I’m a sucker for ‘em. I always have been. I was not a Barbie girl. I was a Strawberry Shortcake girl. There’s just something about those little, dimple covered bombs of deliciousness. This recipe highlights the first, sweet berries of the season and is just the right balance of tart to that sweet.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

1 lb organic strawberries, chopped into small pieces
1 cup of sugar
1 ½ tsp lemon juice
The zest of 1 lemon
1 cup cream-top whole milk plain yogurt

Cover the strawberries with the sugar, add the lemon juice and the lemon zest. Stir well. Let sit for about 30-45 minutes. Squish the mixture with a potato masher until it resembles jam. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Stir in the yogurt and mix well. Freeze according to your mixer’s directions.

SpiceDish Saturday {December}: Banana Spice Snap

Last month we started SpiceDish Saturday. Can't believe a month has gone by, but it has! I think the picture to the left is proof that we need not wait another minute to make this ice cream -- it looks SO yummy! So I will stop talking and give to you another recipe from the Ab Fab EB...AFEB...hmmm....

Call it a sign of the economic times, but I find that most of my recipes lately consist of leftovers or pantry items that I try to stretch as far as possible. This ice cream was no different.... and surprisingly led to great tasting results. Trying to rid myself of at least a few of the dozens of frozen bananas I have in the freezer, I decided to make banana ice cream. When making banana ice cream it's actually very important to use bananas that have been previously frozen (I could go into an Alton Brown like spiel here but lets just say it has to do with the formation of ice crystals and move on). I wanted to add some oomph to the banana with spices because, well, I love spice ice cream so I added ginger and then one upped the spice factor with a few crumbled ginger snaps I had sitting in the pantry. This is a surprisingly rich, creamy and decadent ice cream that also happens to be pretty easy to put together! Enjoy.


Banana Spice Snap

3/4 cup whole milk
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 ½ cups mashed banana that has been frozen and thawed (fresh banana will turn into frozen ice chunks!)
1 cup ginger snaps, broken in pieces
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 dash nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

Warm the milk, sugar and ginger in a saucepan. When sugar is dissolved, remove from heat. Pour cream into a bowl and set a strainer on top of the bowl. In another bowl, whisk yolks. Add a few tbsp's of the milk to the yolks and whisk. Slowly add rest of the milk while whisking constantly. Pour mixture back into saucepan. Heat on medium. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon, until mixture thickens and coats the spoon. Be sure to stir constantly so eggs don't harden. Pour the mixture, through the strainer, into the cream. Stir in well mushed banana and vanilla. (For a smoother texture, blend in blender). Cool over ice, then put in the fridge to cool completely. When cold, freeze in ice cream mixer (according to directions). 5 minutes before finished, add cookie pieces. If soft, ripen in the freezer for a few hours.

Thanks, AFEB!

P.S. Check out SpiceDish's site for some "Rubberized Awesomeness" -- totally up our alley. Really, this is rated G, people (as my friend Ashu would say).

New Feature: Spice Dish Saturday!

A while back the oh-so-fabulous Cakespy introduced us to EB of SpiceDish...with that introduction, we found a new friend, a charming person, and a ice cream maker a la mode! (ok, I just made up that expression -- what I am trying to say is she is AWESOME.) After following her wonderful blog and all the recipes she creates and/or tries, Tina and I had a wonderful idea -- let's invite SpiceDish to be a monthly guest blogger. So we asked and she said "yes!" How lucky we are!

Without further ado, here is the first installment of SpiceDish Saturday!

This is an ice cream for the adults out there who find themselves pulling melted skittles out of their carpets, bubble gum wads stuck in sox and new cavities in their kid's heads. This is a treat to that will use up that bit of pumpkin you have leftover from muffin making, the dregs of cocoa you haven't made hot chocolate with and what's leftover in those pumpkin heads full of 'fun-size' candy bars. It may feature kid-sized candy bits but its flavor is most decidedly adult. The deep chocolate base with a hint of vegetal pumpkin flavor both spiced by cinnamon is decadent all by itself, but the candy bits bring back those holiday memories.

Cocoa-Pumpkin Ice Cream With Goodies! (aka Holiday Aftermath)

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup dutch cocoa powder

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup pumpkin puree

½ tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Mixed mini-candy bars, chopped

In a saucepan add the milk, sugar, cocoa and salt. Heat while whisking until it froths up. Turn off the heat and add the pumpkin. Stir in. Chill until cold then freeze in your ice cream maker. 5 minutes before it is finished churning add the candy pieces. Enjoy!

We will enjoy! Thanks EB and welcome!

Beautiful photos courtesy of EB of SpiceDish as well!

Guest Blog: Beijing Black Sesame

What is the ice cream experience like abroad? We have Japanese Ice Cream and Ice Cream Ireland to tell us something about it, but it's always nice when our traveling friends taste ice cream in different countries and tell of their experiences. Husband was in China last week on business, and he graciously bought ice cream at the Beijing Airport and wrote us a guest posting. If you have international ice cream stories to tell, please do tell -- we'd love to share your story.

I was walking through Beijing International Terminal 2, debating if I had bought enough souvenirs for my awesome, sexy wife when I noticed this:

I didn't have much room in my luggage, but I did have room in my stomach, so I figured I could try bringing back an ice cream post from China. Plus, if I load it up with enough compliments about Bethany and her incredibly smart and talented partner, Tina, they'd post anything.

First off China does a few things right and service is one of them. In the USA, this little stand would have been staffed by one unhappy teenager trying to avoid looking at you. Customers = work, right? This stand had two enthusiastic women scanning the crowds. The guys at the right were just standing around looking at some lights on the wall, my guess is that they were monitoring the delicate ice cream computers. At this point, I've wandered a bit closer so that both women are smiling, waving, and trying to offer me samples. I start scannng the case and they hand me a tasting spoon of coffee ice cream, easily one of my favorite flavors ever that I didn't even see in the case yet. How did they do that? There must be an ancient Chinese art of flavor identification.



The coffee was pretty good, but I could get that anywhere. I kept looking in the case and something else caught my eye in the back corner. Black sesame. Now if any of you know my dazzling wife, you'll know the only type of sesame she ever liked was the street, and even then she would have reminded you how much she doesn't like the seeds. Bethany wasn't here, so I bought the smallest size of black sesame for 25 RMB, thanked them in my nonexistent Chinese and walked away.

Ok, now take some time to look at this picture very closely and you'll see something very unfortunate:



Got it?
That's right.
Seat 44L, which is soon to be one crappy seat in the back corner on a 14-hour flight to Newark.

The ice cream. Now I am notoriously bad at identifying Bethany's archnemesis of seeds, which is probably why I had no idea what this tasted like. It had a great texture, but then this other flavor kicked in and stayed. I think the best part was the blue-grey color, which I hadn't seen since I tried squid ink ice cream with a friend in Hokkaido. That had decidedly more color than taste. This has decidely more taste than color, and I also wasn't too happy with where this taste wanted me to go. It was like my poor little taste buds had just gotten into some sketchy van.

Anyway, the taste let up when I finished the cup, which was good news since it was going to be a while before I'd get on the plane and the food cart would make it all the way back to 44L. The ladies probably knew me better than I did; next time I'll stick with the coffee. All of the other flavors in the case had been pretty common, with some green tea ice cream thrown in to round out the Asian experience. The next time I'm in this terminal I think I'll get one of those other flavors, unless they come up with another color that looks like it shouldn't be ice cream.

Disclaimer: Despite the lovely things said about both Tina and me, we had nothing to do with the content of this posting and, though accurate, we did not edit this piece to make ourselves look better!

Our first guest blogger says "Scream All"

Who doesn't have fond memories of that jingle coming from the ice cream truck down the street? Or the begging Mom for one more quarter (aging ourselves I know!)? We're excited to have our first guest blogger, and dear friend, share his colorful memories and the fact that he was nicknamed Spaghetti...you'd appreciate that if you knew him! Got memories? Feel free to share and thanks Steve.

I'm a baby boomer. Today when I hear the ice cream truck approaching the neighborhood I am instantly taken back to a simpler time. My childhood in the inner city.

Like Richard Pryor's classic routine, my friends would be whipped into a full blown frenzy at the sound of the bells, and start shouting at the top of our lungs. That's why my dad called the stuff "scream all."

It could be the bottom of the ninth on the sandlot, tie score, winning run on third and two out. When we heard those bells we'd drop everything and make a crazed dash for the truck. My best pal Marc nickname Meatball (I was Spaghetti) once fell and broke his arm while pursuing the Good Humor man. He got up, and in a state of euphoria continued running, bought his treat, savored it, and only then did he allow his mother to take him to the emergency room. The cast was his badge of honor that summer.

The other neighborhood truck was Uncle Sam's Ice Cream. While the Good Humor truck glistened, the driver was starched and friendly, and his ice cream fresh, Uncle Sam's was a different story. He drove a battered relic, smelt of bad whiskey, and was the Soup Nazi of scream all. His fare was covered with freezer burn. We didn't care. On one occasion a push pop from him caused me to swell up like a dirigible.

My third option was the local Carvel stand. On Mondays their summertime special was fruit salad sundaes for 99 cents. I'd plan my day around them. One at 3, another after dinner, and a third before closing.

Ice cream is like a delicious Rorschach Test. For me it will always trigger sweet memories.

Steve Steinberg, aka Spaghetti, (at left) is a Senior Vice President of Marketing at Jones Lang LaSalle, as well as an ice cream connoisseur and all around good guy.

Image of Spaghetti and Meatball courtesy of Steve Steinberg. Image of ice cream truck treats by Kevin Rosseel on MorgueFile.