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.
We are so excited to be featured on the fabulous serving-ice-cream.com! They emailed us a while back, asking for an interview and finally we got our act together and answered. This is really the only "behind the scenes" look at the Scoopalicious team, so if you are interested in history, you can find your answers here! Can't believe we never thought to ask ourselves these questions to share with our lovely readers...but alas, serving-ice-cream.com has, so enjoy!
Unfortunately my husband isn't as creative as Bethany's with the dry ice but regardless I thought I'd take a shot and have some fun too and then dig right into the treats that Josh over at Unilever was so generous to send us. Check out Barbie...she's waiting for her prince in shining armour to come save her from the ice cream monsters.
So as you saw in a past post, Bethany and I decided we'd each get a different flavor of the Popsicle Ice Cream Shots to see what these cool treats were all about. I opted for the Cookie Dough flavor and here's what they were like. Well ya know when you break a stuffed animal apart or your dog chews it open and all little foam pebbles fall out....well that's what these shots look like. Very interesting..and cool and airy. They are definitely different and not something I would spoon up if I am craving a rich scoop but something I would get for the kids or a party. I actually used them like sprinkles on my daughter's ice cream and she thought it was so fun and loved them. As Bethany stated too, they were a bit frozen so the flavor didn't come through as I had imagined...next time I will let them sit for a few minutes as you should do with any ice cream. All in all...they are okay but a Mom is not the target audience for these so I think its okay they are not at the top of my list..because my three year old sure got a kick out of them.
Next in the icebox, Breyers Free Double Churn Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. So I generally will not go for a light option for the fact of if I am going to eat ice cream then go for it. But as I stated, one too many cocktails and cones this summer has led me to the low cal options(won't last long believe me). I will admit I was very skeptical about an ice cream that was Fat Free and Sugar Free. BUT wow this ice cream is super creamy and has great flavor....of course, its Breyers. Yes, it does have a little bit of that fake sweetener after taste but honestly if I hadn't seen the package I wouldn't have ever known. I would definitely buy this again. The texture of the chocolate ice cream is creamy and smooth and it offered chunks of brownie throughout that had wonderful flavor. I'll keep this one on the grocery list.
First it was the cone vs. the dish and now its Flavor Debate 2008.
And on Nov 4th make an even more important decision and Rock the vote for the next president. Because every vote counts and if you don't vote you can't make a difference.
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.
