Beans For Dessert!

So it's summertime in Philadelphia, and while it hasn't been excruciatingly hot lately, it's been hella warm. And humid. Perfect for a cool treat. So while dropping by Assi with some friends the other week, I picked up a box of these popsicles. BBBig! Yeah, that's right. And it's a popsicle made from sweet red beans.

Crazy, right? Well, actually, not so much. In the lands where people who look like me come from, sweet red beans are quite often used in desserts. Sweets, pastries, candies, and ice creams! The idea of a red bean popsicle is not strange to me, but I grew up with it. But I can see how you may find it offensive. But you have to remember that this is sweet red bean, and not a plain bean. This is not refried beans on a stick. It's sweet and delicious. Now there are actualy hunks of beans in there, so that part actually is a bit strange. But I guess it's not really too much stranger than eating a fruitsicle where you bite into hunks of strawberries or mangos. But yeah, the whole hunks of beans is slightly offputting, but trust me, it's good.

Bi-Rite And Dolores Park

In the Mission there are two famous ice cream spots - Bi-Rite Creamery and Humphrey Slocombe. Bi-Rite is within a hop skip and a jump so we finally got to go there on Sunday. Humphrey Slocombe is on the other end of the Mission, and quite the walk away. I'd been wanting to go all during my visit, but honestly, it was never really ever hot enough! I told you it's cold and windy! I don't get motivated to stand in the cold wind to get ice cream and then freeze my buns off eating cold ass ice cream. On Sunday, it was super sunny and a bit on the warmer side, so I insisted we go!

Bi-Rite, the grocery part, is across the street. The creamery hand makes all the ice cream using local and organic ingredients, in small batches. They have your regular flavors, as well as some wilder ones.You can also take pints to go! And they have other snacks and little food item bits.

Ah, check it... melting in all of the sunny glory. Banana and coffee toffee ice creams. The banana is amazing. Like totally amazing. And the coffee is good too. But the toffee on the coffee? Oh. My. Gawd. I want to eat this crumbled toffee out of a bowl with a spoon. Unbelievable.

And while it was the middle of the day, we enjoyed the sunshine one last time in Dolores park. Ice cream, the muscat wine we'd picked up from Madonna Winery the weekend before, and a loaf of acme bread we got from the bi-rite. It was a perfectly lovely way to spend an early sunday afternoon. I don't know what the open container laws are in SF, but they've got to be loose! I mean I know this isn't vegas... but everyone is boozing it up in Dolores Park, and not on the down low either. Whatever it is, I love it!

Nonnie's Nightmare

After the delicious meat coma, I really wanted a nice refreshingly cool treat. Say, like ice cream. Not a bad idea at all. So we drove down to Nonnie's. This place is next to Bruno's and run by the same people, and it's a little ice cream shop. Seems harmless, eh? They have bassett's ice cream and they also have gelato and sorbettos. Seems very normal. Then the girl behind the counter sneezed right into her hands. Then R ordered a milkshake. Did she wash her hands? No. R didn't notice, but I did. This disturbed me so.

Then the piece de resistance. I was sampling a few of the sorbetto flavors with my little mini sample spoons. Just standing around and tasting. Then all of a sudden, the other girl walks into the joint. She then proceeds to spray Raid up to the ceiling, at this overhead flourescent light fixture where a bunch of little gnats had congregated. Indoors. Over her head. Which was over my head. Do you know what happens when you spray aerosol liquid into the air? Gravity takes over. Yes, it falls back down. Onto me. Onto my spoons. Onto anything below where she sprayed. I looked at her with horror. I looked at R with horror. I looked at the girl behind the counter with horror. The girl who sprayed just smiled at us, like she had done something good. Like she hadn't just sprayed bug spray onto me. I could not believe it.

Then I did something even more stupid. I ordered sorbetto. I think I had just been so dumbfounded that all my sense of logic went out the window. I should have ran, but instead, I ordered some lemon and passion fruit sorbet. To go. At least the ice cream is all enclosed in glass. It's a damn shame, my sorbetto was good! But I was pretty much horrified by the experience and I can never go back. In fact, I called the establishment the next day and told them what happened. The man I talked to agreed that it shouldn't have happened. But of course, he wasn't apologetic or anything. Maybe this is standard operating procedure for them. But it's not acceptable to me. I've had some bad service in my life, but I've never had Raid sprayed on me before. Let's f'in hope it never happens again! So heed my word, and just go somewhere else for your ice cream needs. Don't go to Nonnie's! Thank you.

Yes, It's More Than Just Ice Cream

Do you want to know how long it's been since I've been to More Than Just Ice Cream? I was trying to remember, and it's been so long, I didn't remember. It had to have been in the 90's. Seriously, it was that long ago. What I do remember is that I went for brunch and that it was good. A whole slew of us went one morning on a lovely day. With every brunch entree, you get a complimentary mimosa. How can you not love that? There's tons to choose from and you get plenty of food. The french toast, topped with apples and served with a side of canadian bacon. This was an impressive dish. The chicken salad sandwich, with heaping mounds of chicken salad, a side of greens, some cantaloupe, and a pickle. J enjoyed this sandwich quite a bit. I was a bit jealous of it. The last time I was here I had gotten the eggs benedict. I wasn't going to mess with this. Once again, it was quite delicious. Canadian bacon on english muffins, topped with poached eggs and hollandaise. It was served with a healthy helping of home fries. It's good to know that dish was still good here. For those that had room, some ice cream was also had. I was stuffed, so I had to pass. 

Service was ok. They were just a bit slow. And it wasn't super crowded or anything, so there was no excuse for it. He was nice though, and we weren't in a hurry or anything, so it wasn't the hugest deal. We were just real hungry, is all. The mimosa is a nice touch though. Takes your mind off the fact that you're waiting quite a bit. 

More Than Just Ice Cream 

1119 Locust St 

Philadelphia, PA 19107

215-574-0586

Late Nights at the Franklin Fountain

When you think about dessert options late at night, there really aren't that many that come to mind. The other night, the only thing that popped into my head was the Franklin Fountain. You know this place, it's in old city, it's an old school style ice cream parlor / soda shop. The employees even look old school.
They make their own ice cream and have tons of specialties, which include sundaes, fountain drinks, and even cakes and pies! And you always have the head of old Ben looking down on you. I went simple and got a scoop of peach ice cream in a cone. They had some signs about how the peach ice cream was made with local peaches, so I had to try it out. Man, was it good! So peachy, fresh, and light. Not artificial tasting or looking at all. J, R, and D all got shakes.
Also a variety of specialty sodas. Plus, the place itself is adorable. The two brothers who run the joint painstakingly remodeled the place. Everything about it is cute. And it's open until midnight on the weekends, and until 11 during the week. Go get you some before it starts getting cold again.

Heisler's!

So there isn't exactly too much to do around Lake Hauto. The nearest town is Tamaqua. And don't even get me started on it. But Tamaqua does have Heisler's. It's a dairy, and at Heisler's Cloverleaf Dairy, they sling ice cream and shakes, hot food at the Dairy Bar, and also have miniature golf, a waffle shop, and a bizarre gift shop. It's kind of random, but it was one of the highlights of the trip. And around here, people come from miles around to Heisler's.
The waffle shop was closed that day. Which was a bit of a bummer. I would have totally checked it out. You can get their ice cream and take it home with you! A got a chocolate peanut butter cone. Can you see the miniature golf in the background? I had a banana milkshake. You don't have very many choices when it comes to shakes here: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, banana, and maybe one more that I forget. They have tons of flavors of ice cream, but they only make shakes from the soft serve. Strange. They should do something about that. But the banana shake? Awesome. So I can't complain too much.

Dairy Queen Run!

Put a dozen designers inside on an 80-something degree day and what do you get? DQ run! Blizzards and shakes are something I don't mind juggling!