Last Day of National Ice Cream Month 2009

As I wrote last year, July 31st has become extra bittersweet for me. It used to just be the fact that the summer was half over on the negative side, and my birthday on the positive side. For the past two years though, the end of National Ice Cream Month is another line item on the negative side!

On the brighter side, it's been a full and exciting month -- a new recipe from Spice Dish, a new member of the Scoopalicious team, an ice cream TV show, a guest post on Astronaut Ice Cream, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck...and much more...

And yes, I love the Library of Congress collection. Look for more images from the LOC in upcoming posts.

Image from Library of Congress.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Years (Ice Cream on the Jersey Shore: Yesterday and Today)

Ice Cream Man, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Image from the Library of Congress

Fudgy Wudgy Ice Cream Men, Sea Isle City, New Jersey, 2009

Note: When in New Jersey, be sure to check out Yum Yums for fantastic ice cream, as well as the Fudgy Wudgy Ice Cream vendors.

Free Ice Cream on July 30 at the Mark Twain House in Hartford

Good news for those Connecticutians who used to enjoy Mark Twain Days in Hartford. Though there won't be a frog jumping contest or fencing expos, there will be some frozen treats at the historic home.

To celebrate the brand new 1890's ice box in the Mark Twain House, the landmark will be having an ice cream social from 4-7 PM on July 30. And the ice cream will be donated by the the UConn Dairy Bar. What could be finer?

Lemonade, music, games, and more round out the evening...and be sure to visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe House next door!

So tomorrow, join Tom Sawyer and Uncle Tom for some ice cream!

Thanks to Korky Vann of the Hartford Courant Blog for the tip.
Photo from the Library of Congress.

There's always room for Jell-O...Except in my Ice Cream

So I was getting ready for my ice cream party and Kevin reminded me that he has a diabetic friend coming to the party. Out of my thirty-some flavors, I had none that were sugar-free. (As my friend Lisa watches me type, she says, rightly so, "Yeah, why would you? Cuz who wants sugar-free ice cream?") She should go ask Alice. Alice is Kevin's diabetic friend.

Anyway, this sparked something in my head that reminded me I had wanted to try making ice cream with Jell-O. So I went out and bought sugar-free jello, used one og my recipes but replaced the sugar with Jell-O, made some adjustments to keep it from tasting too aspertamey, and put it in the fridge to cool. I won't bore you with the details because it didn't work.

I went a couple of days later to churn it and...I had a creamsicle flavored Jell-O mold. And it wasn't very good...

I don't really know why I thought this would work and didn't think about the fact that it would jell as gelatin does, but it might be the thirty flavors I had made in a period of weeks and my head wasn't on straight.

Anyway, this is one of those things: let well enough alone. Jell-O is awesome alone, as is ice cream...

Buuuuuut, I have heard there are some good Jell-O recipes that use ice cream...maybe we'll feature some of those soon!

Turkey Hill Holds Virtual Ice Cream Party on July 29

Turkey Hill is so thoughtful -- they're holding a huge ice cream birthday party for me...don't tell them they are three days off -- I know they worked so hard to organize it...Oh, wait, no, I think it's just a big party for everyone!

This Wednesday, July 29th, Turkey Hill's blog, Ice Cream Journal, is holding an online ice cream party...Grab your favorite Turkey Hill Ice Cream (preferably one of their limited edition flavors) and head over to Ice Cream Journal at 8 PM EST and to chat with other Turkey Hill lovers and comment about your flavor!

Visit their blog for more info on the shindig...

I'm interested to see how this goes -- I've never been to a virtual ice cream party.

If only I weren't hosting book club...