An open letter to Lola's on Ice

Dear Lola's on Ice,

That dream colored truck
And those crazy wild flavors
Oh, how it pains me
That we are not neighbors

Since you guys are in London
And I’m in New York
I’ll just fawn over your website
Like a big ice cream dork

That pineapple and chili sorbet
Sounds perfect in every way.

Is the cassis and beet
Both savory and sweet?

Hokey Pokey Ice Cream?
Dude, I don’t even know what that means!

But I know that I would try it...

Yes, I'd try it
I’d sample each and every one
So next time I’m in the UK
It’s to your lovely truck I shall run

Kisses,

Frozen Brooklyn

More flavors from Lola's on Ice and the recipe book, which is available from amazon.co.uk.

• Bourbon vanilla ice cream with summer fruit, Raspberry sauce or Pedro Ximenez sherry
• Red summer fruit ice cream
• Valhrona chocolate sorbet with a brandy snap
• Pina colada' - coconut and white rum sorbet with pineapple on a stick
• Burnt orange caramel ice cream
• Eton Mess ice cream
• Raspberry sorbet
• Affogato al caffé
• Fresh mint ice cream with a chocolate brownie
• Pineapple and chilli sorbet
• Horseradish ice cream
• Hokey pokey ice cream
• Gin and tonic sorbet
• Melon and ginger sorbet
• Lemongrass ice cream
• Memphis Belle (apricots, Southern Comfort and Oloroso sherry)
• Banana toffee ice cream
• 'Black Forest Gateau' Sundae
• Star Anise and Saffron Ice Cream
• "Turkish Delight" (Rose petal and Lemon Verbena Ice Cream)
• Beetroot and Cassis Sorbet
• Peach Melba

Kreativ Blogger Award part 3

Seven Things I Love

Since I ever only write about ice cream in this blog, I am going to take this opportunity to chat about something else entirely: music.

• I love my records
  

• I love Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street

•  

• I love Other Music in Manhattan
  
• I love the fact that all throughout the 70's and 80's, there came a moment in a young male musician's career when he felt the undeniable urge to wear a pair of Magic White Pants.  

Mick Jagger

The Brothers Johnson

Boston

David Bowie

The Jackson Five, but even more specifically -

Jermaine Jackson 

Journey

Shaun Cassidy

Teddy Pendergrass

Jimmy Page

And the king of Magic White Pants, bass player Jaco Pastorius.

• I love the chorus at PS 122 in Staten Island singing Landslide.

Kreativ Blogger Award part 2

Seven Deserving Blogs

1. La belle Alix at the Cherry Blossom Girl, of course!  My, what a charmed world she has created.
   
2. Kathleen at Twig and Thistle.  She had me at DIY Valentine's Day brownie bags - and I don't even like chocolate.
   
3. I have to give props to People's Pops.  Yes, I just wrote props.  Hammer, don't hurt 'em.
4. And I wouldn't know about People's Pops if it weren't for blogger, filmmaker, mother extraordinaire Melissa at Viva Snail Mail
5. Ez at Creature Comforts  always posts amazing finds and darling downloadables.
6. Tiina at Sparkling Ink has an sweet and sophisticated eye.  Everything she posts just makes me want to jump through the screen.
7. And last but not least, Michelle of When I Grow Up will get you motivated to make that change.

Kreativ Blogger Award part 1

The divine and devoted Stephanie Bond of Bondville has bestowed me with the Kreativ Blogger Award.  I am joining the ranks of some of the most inspirational thinkers of the blogosphere and believe me when I say I'm overwhelmed, overjoyed, and over the moon - thanks, Steph!

The Kreativ Blogger Award asks that you nominate seven blogs that, in your (in this case, my) humble opinion deserve the award.  Also, I am to name seven things that I love.  So, here we go...

Fresh Ginger Ice Cream with Mango Sauce

New York has been rainy.  I don't mean that it has rained in New York.  That would be normal.  I mean it has been raining nearly every day for the past two months.  Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but not much.  It reminds me of living in San Francisco and to be quite honest with you, if I wanted to be reminded of that, I'd still be living there.  

Oh, for the love of all things holy!  By typing that last paragraph I apparently just irked Our Lady of Perpetual Thunderstorms because it just started again right now.  Sorry, neighbors!  Lessoned learned.  For the rest of this entry I will call it "the r-word" or "the weather condition that shall not be named."  Onward.

To combat the r-word, I have decided to create a little sunshine in the kitchen.  Today's sweet mixture comes to us from David Lebowitz's delectable tome, The Perfect Scoop, published by Tricycle Press.  Most ginger ice cream recipes call for candied ginger.  I was glad to see this recipe uses fresh ginger mainly because I have so much of it in the fridge.  Who doesn't accidentally triple up on ginger every now and then?

I paired it with a mango sauce of my own creation and since I am in no mood to annoy anyone by ripping off a recipe, I'll just advise you to buy the book.  It's excellent.  As for the mango sauce, here you go:

1 mango, chopped

1 tablespoon of sugar combined with 4 tablespoons of boiling water to make a simple syrup

1 teaspoon of lemon

Combine everything in the blender and chill before serving.

Ah, look at that.  Summer in a glass!  The fresh ginger makes it a whole other experience, trust me.  It's lighter and brighter than recipes that call for candied ginger.  One bite of this and you will forget all about the weather condition that shall not be named.

Icy Pride

This weekend is LGBT Pride in Brooklyn and next weekend it's Pride in NYC - don't forget to support The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck!

Sailing Around the Brooklyn Museum

I did not know the work of Gustave Caillebotte.  Furthermore, I did not know that I love the work of Gustave Caillbotte.  Now, I do.  

Caillebotte was an impressionist painter as well as an engineer, art collector, naval architect, and yachtsman who lived in Paris in the 1800's.  Perhaps you have seen these posters for the show at the Brooklyn Museum posted around town.   

He was friends with, and bought many paintings of, Degas, Renoir, Pisarro, Monet, Manet, and Cezanne.  But his own work differs from his contemporaries.  He washes his work in that thin, pale mauve-gray lighting impressionists were so fond of and he paints scenes on the Seine like the others.  The end result, though, is more precise, more photorealistic. Simply put, his work "takes you there."  

And when I say, "there," I really mean, "away from here." Don't get me wrong, I love living in NYC but one needs a mental breaks from all the hubbub.  So when I find something that allows me even five minutes of escape, I grab it.   

So at the Brooklyn Museum, I engaged in some class A escapism with Caillebotte and contemporary artist Hernan Bas.  I plunged in, as it were, since they both find inspiration in the nautical.  By Bas:

By me:

 Are the sailboat ice pop molds to die for or what? You have to let them sit for a second before even attempting to take off the sail and even then, you have to pull a lot harder than with other molds.  I thought I was going to break it the shape but alas...

the end result was rather pretty. Merci, Monsieur Caillebotte!

Inspired by Havemeyer: The Cherry Blossom Collection

The giant old man of a building on the waterfront of the Williamsburg section in Brooklyn is the Domino Sugar Factory.  God, do I love it.  It was spewing white steam and odd smells when I first moved here many moons ago but it's been empty for some years now.  From the way I understand it, the sugarcane was grown in the Dominican Republic then processed in here.  I was always jealous that the factory workers got to have lunch in the tiny park right on the water when the weather was nice.  A pretty little park just for them.  

Like everything else that surrounds me, it will be a luxury condo one day soon.  And by "luxury condo" I mean "small shoddily constructed apartment for sale in the 'right' zip code."  Oh, dear, reader, I shan't bore you with my endless annoyance of urban rezoning for the wealthy but know that my irritation is real and fairly dramatic.  Instead, I will stay on topic and say this: the Havemyer family were the first owners of the sugar factory.

That doesn't sound like I stayed on topic at all, does it? Well, I did, because a few weeks ago I shot this:

These are the cherry blossoms that line Havemeyer Street.  Yes, the family got it's own namesake.  The street is pretty, no?  But, look, if I pull back, it's not pretty at all.  

It's a bus depot.  I suppose that's how I will have to see all these high rise apartments changing my neighborhood right before my eyes - they are as pretty as I choose to see them.  And the pretty that I chose to see...

inspired something truly lovely.  Introducing....

The Cherry Blossom Collection!

Freezer pops made with: 

Edible blossoms

Cherry juice (naturally)

Peach nectar

Grape juice

For this spring quickly turning into summer, I challenge myself to let go of my big city angst and see something pretty everyday.  One woman who sees beauty everywhere she goes is Alix, The Cherry Blossom Girl.  I don't know her but she's a blogger in Paris who takes dreamy pictures and wears fantastic outfits like:

• Baby the Stars Shine Bright
  
• Feathers and Sun
  
• Capeline and Rayures

Every time I check her blog, her whimsy and her hats inspire me to no end so, Alix, these Cherry Blossom Pops are for you!

  

Scoops: Bond Dude as Ice Pop

Oh, what to call frozen goodness on a stick?  

In other English speaking countries, the term is "ice lolly" but here in the US, most people say "Popsicle." I try not to use "Popsicle" because it's a trademarked brand name and really isn't all that representational of what I'm doing (all-natural, homemade, etc).  So I always write the technical term for the treat which is "ice pop."  I find this completely awkward because, let's face it, no one ever calls them that.  That said, writing or saying "ice pop" isn't half as awkward as this madness:

Yes, that's Daniel Craig, the latest actor to utter the words, "Bond.  James Bond," as a frozen dessert.  Apparently, there was a contest in the UK that asked people "Who do you want to see as an ice lolly?" and this dude won. 

Given the opportunity, I think I the only English guy I would have voted for is Jay Kay from the band Jamiroquai - but only if he still wears all those ridiculous hats.