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ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 28

Allison
Canarino in Edmonds, with Kate! I was so excited to try this that Kate had to remind me to take a photo. This shop has a tasty selection. I sampled the Pear sorbetto, Dark Chocolate sorbetto, and Chai gelato.
My complexion has gone haywire this month (I refuse to see a connection, thankyouverymuch). This morning I made my own facial toner with tea tree and lemon essential oils and witch hazel. As I left the house, my husband said, “you smell like Lemon Pledge.” Fortunately, it was a warm morning and I drove with the sunroof open to off-gas my face.
But lemon was on my mind, I guess. I chose the eponymous Canarino gelato, with its lemony goodness and bits of cookies. Kate, who did not recoil from my vapors, had a combo of Amaretto and Vanilla gelato.
ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 27

Allison
Molly Moon’s (Redmond location) with my friend Stef and her kiddos! Molly Moon’s is one of my faaaaaaaaaavorite places on earth. Their shop on Capitol Hill introduced me to the salted caramel flavor and specialty ice cream shop years ago.
 
We needed an east side location so we met up at the shop in Redmond. (Sidenote: WTF Bellevue with your no local ice cream places?!) I arrived early so was walking around Redmond, with its miniature replicas of Capitol Hill stores (Rudy’s, Top Pot, Half Price Books, etc).
A man named Dragon walked next to me for a few blocks. He was in the midst of what sounded like a challenging situation and I was sympathetic. But then he started talking avenging matters and his swords (plural). I looked for the place he was least likely to follow me into.
Which is how I came to get a manicure.
Once I met up with Stef and her boys, I sampled away and decided on a sundae with:
* lemon blueberry cheesecake ice cream
* earl grey ice cream
* lemon curd topping
* candied hazelnuts
* whipped cream
* and, of course, a cherry
The whipped cream stole the show. It looked and tasted handmade, it was just the right amount of sweet, and it was heavenly dense.
There was some heated discussion about A’s cone compared to the size of his head. Bigger? Longer, maybe, but not as wide. I maintain the volume is roughly equivalent. I mean, kid got a double scoop! I suspect the staff went a little extra—they were very sweet with the kids and super excited about the ice cream. As we ate our scoops and caught up a little, a man walked by with a floor length cape. Keep Redmond weird, I guess.
ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 26

Allison
Walter’s in Ballard with my friend Lisa! Walter’s serves Snoqualmie Ice Cream. Mine is Root Beer and Dutch Vanilla, Lisa got Peach (ice cream, not sorbet, though both were on the menu).
We both sampled the Cucumber Lime Sorbet, which I liked but Lisa thought it tasted like hand sanitizer. I was confused about that until she said “Bath & Body Works” and then it clicked.
Walter’s is a totally cute little place where you can get: ice cream, espresso, beer, and wine. If you sit outside you can pet all the neighborhood dogs whether you want to or not. The shop was apparently out of beer pretzels. The customer in front me said, “I should have brought my own nuts.”
Ballard: I should have brought my own nuts.
ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 25

Allison
Tomato Melon Mint at Frankie & Jo’s on Capitol Hill. This was so darn good! It tastes mostly of watermelon (which I love), but the tomato and mint really make it interesting. The texture is very, very nice.
Frankie & Jo’s is a “plant-based ice cream” shop. The ice cream is crazy flavorful. The few others I tried tasted magnificent but the textures were a little gritty for my liking. I sampled California Cabin, Gingered Golden Milk, and Chocolate Date.
ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 24

Allison
Tom and I went to Scoop Du Jour in Madison Park, where they service Olympic Mountain Ice Cream. I had a double scoop of Kentucky Pie (chocolate ice cream with Oreos and pralines) and the not-at-creatively named Vanilla Salted Caramel Swirl Fudge Brownie. T had the Kentucky Pie. The ice cream was good. I didn’t sample anything else there, though they had some interesting-looking soft serve frozen yogurt flavors.
We ate our cones outside, near a couple who were having cones with their young grandson. After a while, we heard the grandson’s little voice exclaim, “I ate it all, all the ice cream AND THE CONE!” His grandparents cheered and they walked to the park. Remember when we used to be praised for eating a lot of food? You go, kiddo. Eat it all.
ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 23

Allison
Coconut and Mora (blackberry) at Mora on Bainbridge. With Christine and Carolyn! We sampled nearly every flavor between the three of us. I went for the blackberry because it’s their signature flavor. I sampled some caramel chocolate, dulce de leche, Italian chocolate, mojito, and chocolate peanut butter.
 
Here Carolyn has Mora and Sabayan, Christine has dulce de leche and banana.
ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 22

Allison

Ben & Jerry’s Coconut Seven Layer Bar at Mary Kaye’s house. This is a non-dairy ice cream made with almond milk and almost everything else thrown in: caramel, chocolate, graham crackers, and I don’t know what else. As with most Ben & Jerry’s pints, I could eat this in one sitting. What?

ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 20

Allison

Homemade Banana! This is another favorite. I saw it on The Kitchn a couple summers ago: chop a banana, freeze the pieces, then blend them.

 

 

There’s a surprising number of variations to this recipe (ripeness, how small to chop it, how long to blend it, what to add), but I like the simple, short version.

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ice cream

National Ice Cream Month, Day 19

Allison
DICK’S HOT FUDGE SUNDAE! I’ve been looking forward to this one since Day 2. The Dick’s in my neighborhood is the best and if you don’t agree you can take that up with my friends Sir Mix-A-Lot, Macklemore, and Hollis.


One of the reasons I will always love Dick’s is that they pay well and have forever given their employees vacation time, insurance, tuition reimbursement, paid time for volunteering, and 401(k) with match.