The Sonic Sweetheart Shake and Giftcard Giveaway

Neither Tina or I have a SONIC near us, so we "hired" my the fab duo of my sister and her boyfriend to do the dirty work for us...Payment was a date to SONIC on the $20 gift card the folks at SONIC had sent and all they had to do was write a short review. Sister Arianna went above and beyond...Thanks, A and Troy! Thanks SONIC for the gift card. 

Read to the end for a chance to win a SONIC gift card yourself!

Who needs flowers and candy on Valentine's Day?! My boyfriend and I had a very romantic Sonic date to celebrate the holiday.

We drove down to the Sonic in Wallingford, CT for our special night. Ever since discussing the idea earlier in the day, we’d both been really looking forward to our meal. We arrived and took our time perusing the menu, before making our final selections. We wanted to get a meal (me: veggie burger (I love Sonic’s veggie burgers!) and cheesy tots; Troy: a Philly cheesesteak and Ched ‘R’ Peppers), but our real purpose was to scope out the Chocolate Cherry Sweetheart Shake for Scoopalicious! We ordered that last...and the girl taking our order told us she was so sorry, they were out. She eagerly volunteered to make us a cherry shake with chocolate syrup or another sort of chocolate chips, and I just figured we’d have our meal and (what a shame) have to come back to Sonic another time. But Troy decided to explain that it was imperative that we get that shake like the one in the poster, because we were writing a blog post about it. -- Well, that changed things! Our amazing order-taker, Sydney (already having proved her merit by offering to make us her best equivalent shake) then said she’d place the rest of our order, and see what she could do about getting her hands on some of those chocolate chips! Apparently they searched high and low, and finally located some in the back of the top shelf of the fridge. Hurray! The Sweetheart Shake adventure was back on.

The view from our car window!

Our server Lindy came to the car with our food, and we had a great conversation with her about the veggie burgers and the work our boyfriends did (I believe hers was a glazier; Troy is a union ironworker). After the delightful conversation, we hungrily tore into our food, saving the shake for last. When we’d eaten, it was time for dessert. (The cherry on top, just like the one on our shake!) We both stuck a straw into the cup and tried it at the same time. It was divine! Which is especially amazing, since I’m normally not a big chocolate or cherry fan. But, so delicious. The flavors balanced so well; neither was too overpowering. The chocolate chips were a brilliant idea, because they added just the right amount of chocolate to an otherwise cherry shake. The whipped cream was maybe the best part. All together, it was the best dessert I’d had in a long time!

We ordered a large shake. Looks yummy, huh?

We sat there for quite a while, sharing the shake and discussing its merits. Since we were sipping from one cup, I felt like we must have been channeling Archie and his ladies at the Chok’lit Shoppe:

(Or this one, which I found when I was searching, and I had to add it because it just amused me so much!)

We did have one problem with the shake, if you could call it a problem: we ended up finding that spoons did a better job than straws! The shake itself was very thick, making drinking it through a straw already very difficult (especially because we were enjoying it, and wanted MORE, QUICKER!). But also, the chocolate chips - as awesome as they were! - just kept getting stuck in the straws! It was drinkable, and I wouldn’t be upset if someone gave me one while I was driving and couldn’t use a spoon, but it was just something we noticed. I would suggest asking for a spoon when you order.

All in all, we were fans. I’d definitely order the Sonic Sweetheart Shake again.

A and T, thanks for spending your Valentine's day at SONIC and enjoying a real Archie moment! BEST dessert you'd had in a long time?! I guess it wasn't too much of a pain for you to have to go for us then...Thanks T for explaining the situation and thanks to Sydney for searching high and low and allowing this post to come to be!

I visited SONIC's site and it looks like they are done selling their Sweetheart Shake (maybe next year?!) -- in the meantime, check out their menu (ice cream or other) and enter to win a $20 gift card.

Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.

Happy Trails to You!

My awesome younger sister, Arianna, emailed me today with some news...Maryland and Eastern Connecticut also have "ice cream trails" (just like New Hampshire!). She said she thinks only these three states are part of the trend, but like me, she hopes other states follow suit! Apparently these "trails" are a take off on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which I wouldn't have known about unless I read the article Arianna found later in the day...) -- I know ice cream, not liquor!

So, Maryland's trail is quite small (only seven shops) with a special focus: on-farm ice cream. As stated  on their site: "Maryland has seven dairy farms that offer fresh, delicious on-farm ice cream. Together, they make up the newly minted Maryland's Best Ice Cream Trail."  Maryland's trail also has a contest attached. If you are into geocaching (or even if you aren't, now's the time to get started!), get your passport (found in the PDF flyer) stamped at each location, mail it in, and you could win some prizes!

Connecticut's trail focuses only on the eastern part of the state, but it covers thirty-nine ice cream locations, and has a pretty cool map (click on the numbers on the map for more info about each location). In addition to their great brochure, they also have some super special picks (Hockey Fight -- "cherry vanilla original featuring white chocolate chunks as teeth and shredded Bing cherries as blood" -- anyone?) on their site. Maybe the best part of Connecticut's trail? The name. Sundae Drives! I love it.

My sister already suggested a road trip -- I'm totally game.

Graphics courtesy of marylandsbest.net and mystic.org.


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

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?