Lots of ice cream in today’s ice cream adventure at the South Lake Union Saturday Market.
This is a newish market in our rotating neighborhood farmers markets. It has the feel of being a consolation prize for Amazon employees stuck working on Saturday. It’s only a block long and no fresh produce sold here, just prepared food. Once a month they have a theme and this month it’s ice cream. I was able to taste 3 shops I haven’t been to yet this month.
I started with Sweet Bumpas, which several of you have encouraged me to try. I opted for a scoop of the Fresh Mint Cocoa Crumble. I liked the sample, but the flavors were…overpowering for a whole scoop. I also sampled: Chocolate Malt (very good) and Chipotle Peanut Brittle (spicy good).
Next, I tried Seattle Pops. I bought a Blueberries and Cream Pop. Blueberry is one of my Top Eleven Favorite Foods, and this pop didn’t disappoint. It was creamy enough to be sweet and yet not overwhelm the blueberry. It was also iceberg-level-frozen: great for a hot day.
I made my way over to Street Treats. They sell ice cream sandwiches and it’s kind of fun to order. You get to pick your flavors on the spot. They give you a generous scoop in between two delicious homemade cookies. I sampled Coffee and Toasted Coconut ice cream flavors. I couldn’t really taste the coconut, probably because my tongue was still thawing from the popsicle. I got a sandwich with Coffee Ice Cream (made with Caffe Vita coffee) and snickerdoodle cookies. So good! Their shop is in the nearby Central District neighborhood, so I’ll be going back. When I went to tip them, I realized that I accidentally dropped my used sample spoons in the tip jar. The owner said, “Eh. They’re as clean as money, right?” So there’s that.
I sat down to eat the sandwich and found myself next to a bulldog. He was in a baby stroller. He was not the only dog in a baby stroller here, but he was the only one wearing a bowtie. Down the block, a busker played the Batman theme song on a violin.
There was a line about 70 people and 3 dogs deep for “rolled ice cream.” Every time I passed, I asked people if it was good. “I dunno! I haven’t tried it yet.” I talked with folks in the line for Hawaiian Shave Ice, and they said that the market doesn’t have the rolled ice cream very often.
“Is it good?” I asked.
“It looks good in pictures,” they said. Sure enough, when I got a closer look at the line, it went: order food, get food, stage photo, exit line. I re-applied my lip balm, which had started to liquefy in my purse, and decided to skip this one.
Being at the street market reminded me of a few icy goodies from back home that I really miss: the waffle sandwiches at Dorney Park and good ol’ Italian Ice from a truck. If you’re in PA, have some for me!
Tomorrow is the long-awaited Ice Cream Cruise—today’s event was accidentally posted as happening tomorrow, so I don’t have to double up tomorrow. Whew! There’s just two more days till the end of National Ice Cream Month. If you haven’t had an ice cream adventure this month, hurry up!