Reena's Ice Cream

I was hanging out with my daughter and my dear friends from high school the other day, and mango ice cream came up. (Really, when does ice cream not make it's way into my conversations?) I said I really wasn't a fan. 

The friends said I had to try Reena's Mango Ice Cream. I was willing to give it a shot -- I mean, once upon a time I didn't even like mangoes, but now I really do!

Today another friend and I went to the Waltham Indian Market on Moody Street and (hurrah!) they had Reena's.

I have so much ice cream in my fridge as I stock up for the annual ice cream party, and I had also mixed up a batch of the Nutella ice cream Tina just posted about for my husband (this turned out to be amazing, by the way), so I really didn't have too much room to bring home more ice cream, so I picked up three single serves...two mango and one tutti frutti...there were a lot of other flavors I'd like to try, but I didn't even know where to begin -- I couldn't even tell what the flavors were from their pictures and unfamiliar names. 

Both were, um, awesome. The tutti frutti was different than I expected (ok, in full disclosure, I don't know what I expected, as I never really knew what tutti frutti was -- until I just looked it up!), but still very good. The mango was super creamy and not too sweet as mangoes can sometimes be. It was best after it had melted just a bit (right out of the freezer it seemed a little too hard/icy.) It kind of inspired me to try my hand mango ice cream this year and one of the two high school friends I spent the day with suggested this recipe, so I might just have to try it! (The recipe says "super chunky" but there is also a smooth variation, which, after trying Reena's, I am leaning toward.)

Anyway, mango ice cream, I may have had a change of heart. 

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

Rhubarb Ice Cream at The Catnip Mouse Tearoom

Rhubarb Ice Cream

My sister is due to have a baby any day now. In fact, I need to get this post up soon, or she'll have the baby and I'll have to write this intro again. Anyway, it's become kind of a tradition with my mom and sisters to have lunch and ice cream to celebrate pregnancies (we aren't really a "shower" type of family…) so at the beginning of June, my sisters, mom, and my sister's friend Rebecca headed over to The Catnip Mouse Tearoom on Route 20 in beautiful Riverton, Connecticut (yes, Patrick, I now understand why your dream house is in Riverton) for sandwiches, to be followed by ice cream sundae making at my parents' house.

Lunch was what you might call "light" if the sandwiches weren't as huge as they were. I think we all enjoyed the mint basil soup we ordered, as well as our sandwiches (which were good, but not as memorable as what I was hoping I would find there -- the "very yammy" sandwich I had read about in a review on teaguide.net…) 

Our bellies stuffed from lunch, and the promise of ice cream sundaes at Mom and Dad's surely should have dissuaded us from ordering dessert at the tea house, right? Wrong! Not only did the owner have a chalkboard with her tempting desserts  quite descriptively written out and staring at us the whole time during our lunch, but she also had a pretty persuasive waiter and a charming demeanor herself.

Cobbler and Cinnamon Ice Cream

Minutes later our table was piled with desserts to share. Cobbler and cinnamon ice cream, strawberry shortcake, and rhubarb ice cream. The ice creams were homemade and while all the desserts were quite wonderful and the cinnamon ice cream was definitely worth the calories, it was the rhubarb ice cream that blew me away. "This is the rhubarb ice cream I aspire to," I told the owner. And I meant it. Rhubarb sits in my freezer waiting (hoping) to be churned into something as creamy and perfectly tart-yet-sweet as the rhubarb ice cream we tasted at The Catnip Mouse. I keep putting it off because I am not sure I can achieve the perfection.

A couple of notes to add: The Catnip Mouse has no website and it also doesn't have super long hours, so call ahead (860-379-3745)  to make sure she'll be open. If she's not, there don't seem to be too many other eating establishments in the immediate area.


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