Rocky Road: The Movie

Yes, seriously. A movie called Rocky Road about ice cream! We like ice cream and we like movies, that's why we were pretty excited to hear about this new flick.

Sunday, July 20 is National Ice Cream Day and also the premiere of UP's original Rocky Road. Head over to your UP channel and tune in at 8PM. 

We can't tell you how it will be, but it looks like a sweet (yes, pun intended) story about a wall street banker who gets laid off, moves home, and drives an ice cream truck. Could be kind of cheesy, but it's ice cream and movies and it's on the UP network, which means it promises to be "uplifting." (Don't know what UP is? I didn't either. Check it out here.) I'll try to catch it, because if it makes you happy, even cheesy can be good!

And it stars Mark Salling of Glee fame, if that catches anyone's fancy.

But as LaVar Burton would say, "You don't have to take my word for it!"* Check out the preview below.

*On a non-ice cream note, if this quote is lost on you or if brings back fond memories, head over to Kickstarter to see how Burton is bringing his signature line! Whee!

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

I know we have been a little slack about posting daily for National Ice Cream Month. A lot has changed over the years from when we started this blog and we wish we could post more often -- but alas, it is what it is. But we aren't going to get away without posting a wish of a very happy National Ice Cream Day and a thank you and shout out to Ronald Reagan for recognizing the goodness of ice cream!

A very mini version of the raspberry shortcake!

How did you celebrate?

I celebrated yesterday with my annual ice cream party. With two kids under three, this party has gotten a lot more mellow than years past and I only made about fifteen flavors. I bought some and guests brought some -- both homemade and store bought -- and there was more than enough for everyone! I hope to post soon some recipes and new favorite store bought flavors.

Today I celebrated with the company of dear friends and a dish of raspberry shortcake: Bisquick (the "quick" was key!) shortcakes, raspberries freshly picked from mom and dad's garden, homemade violet ice cream (recipe to follow soon!), and local whipped cream. A perfect treat on a perfect day.

Hope yours was as good as mine!

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Hope you have had a great National Ice Cream Day (and hope you are still celebrating -- there's still time...)!

Thanks, Ronald Reagan, for creating this holiday for us...whether or not we liked your politics as a whole (or were too young to remember you as president) this is a legacy you left behind that we can all agree on!

From Wikipedia: "National Ice Cream Month is held in each year in July in the United States. Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984.[1] He also named the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. Reagan recognized the popularity of ice cream in the United States (90% of the nation's population consumes ice cream) and stated that these two events should be observed with 'appropriate ceremonies and activities.'"

I'm celebrating by cleaning out a carton of Banana Cream Pie Ice Cream. Recipe to follow this week!


Ice cream image by ctechs at stockxchng.

I tweet. U tweet. We all tweet for ice cream on 7/15!

Tweet Tweet...that is all Baskin-Robbins wants you to do on National Ice Cream Day, this Sunday July 15th to get yourself a whole lotta ice cream. I honestly can say eating ice cream is first on my list but tweeting to win ice cream is a good second best. So for your chance to win $260 in Baskin-Robbins gift cards, that'll could possibly get you a whole year of ice cream, enter the Baskin Robbins Twitter Sweepstakes on Sunday, July 15th. On that day, followers of @BaskinRobbins who Tweet their favorite Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavor using the special hashtag #BRflavors will be entered for the chance to win. For official rules and additional details about the sweepstakes, visit www.BaskinRobbins.com or follow @BaskinRobbins on Twitter this Sunday. Good luck!

Late Breaking iPhone/Ice Cream News

We like free offers. We like ice cream. I like my iPhone. I especially wanted to post this because my husband paid the $1.99 for this game and my nephew just loved it. I haven't played it yet, but it gets a five-year-old's five scoops of approval!

Sorry for the late notice -- for some reason my head keeps telling me that tomorrow is National Ice Cream Day. It's available today for free, but I'll bet you that nephew Evan would tell you even if you miss this offer, it's worth the two bucks:

Acclaimed iPhone Game "Scoops" Available Free On National Ice Cream Day
"In 1984 U.S. President Ronald Reagan declared the third Sunday in July to be National Ice Cream Day. Reagan recognized the popularity of ice cream in the United States and stated that this holiday should be observed with 'appropriate ceremonies and activities.'" (From Wikipedia) NimbleBit is celebrating this tasty and refreshing holiday on Sunday, July 19th by giving away their game "Scoops" (regular price $1.99) for FREE.

"Scoops" is a stacking game for all ages which puts you in control of a towering stack of ice cream scoops! "Scoops" has been featured by Apple in iTunes and retail stores and has been the #1 Kids game since the category's creation. Join the nearly 200,000 ice cream fans already playing Scoops and stack a cone to celebrate National Ice Cream Day. More information including a video of game play can be found at http://www.nimblebit.com/games/scoops/. Scoops is available on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=291591378&mt=8.

NimbleBit is an independent game developer with over 1.5 million apps downloaded on the App Store. Other popular iPhone games by NimbleBit include "Sky Burger", "Hanoi", and "Textropolis". More information about NimbleBit and their games can be found at http://nimblebit.com.

Happy National Ice Cream Day

Our good friend Ronald Reagan who declared July to be National Ice Cream Month also declared the third Sunday in July to be National Ice Cream Day.

Rumor has it he was also a huge fan of jelly beans. In his honor, I made my Vanilla Bean Jelly Bean ice cream...

I have made this three times so far and each was a different kind of jelly bean.

I made a vanilla base, but instead of just using a vanilla extract, I use a vanilla bean paste (because I am too lazy for all the scraping of the vanilla beans) so I still get the specks of seeds.

The three jelly beans that I have tried are:

1. Regular, run of the mill Brach's Jelly Beans (the most common type around at Easter)
2. Starburst Jelly Beans (by special request of my sister)
   
3. Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Creations Jelly Beans (I mean, c'mon, that's just a given!)
   

The key here is to make sure your beans aren't too big -- if I am using the large beans, I cut them in half. Also to make sure you don't tell your dentist you made and ate this ice cream -- the jelly beans become pretty hard and chewy.

Having tried them all, my vote is for option 1.

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

P.S. For a nice history of National Ice Cream Month, The Ice Cream Bloke writes a nice history on the Food Channel website.

Photo of Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Creations Jelly Beans from the Jelly Belly site.

Happy National Ice Cream Month!

Today marks the first day of National Ice Cream Month (as designate by Ronald Reagan in 1984 -- never followed his politics much since he was in office when I was just five through nine years old -- but this is one of his ideas I can get behind!)

Check back with us daily for news, recipes, interviews during the month of July.

Today is also Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. This one is not as "official" as National Ice Cream Month or National Ice Cream Day (also designated by Reagan -- it falls on the third Sunday in July) but it still gives you an excuse to eat ice cream (as if you need one!).

One of the most creative flavors I have ever made and actually enjoyed in all it's creativity (because both garlic and durian fruit, while creative, just aren't that good) was David Lebovitz's Candied Bacon Ice Cream.

What about you? Do you have a creative flavor you have either made or bought that is worth a mention?

Ice cream image by ctechs at stockxchng.

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

(Hope it's Scoopalicious!)

Photo taken by Becco at stock.xchng.