In Briefs: Ice Cream

MOLLY SCHOEMANN: What the F is up with the popularity of Pinkberrys? They can charge you $.85 to put a spoonful of fruity pebbles on your fro-yo. That should be illegal.

EMILY SAIDEL: The froyo (Pinkberry, etc) popularity was really a couple years ago. At least in NY. Now they’re just around. And dessert trucks have taken their place.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Excuse me, Miss New York City! Remind me to ask you about newfangled dessert trucks in 2013, while you dismiss it and tell us about Flying Frozen Yogurt.
Seriously- please tell me if that happens.

ZOE RICE: I love dessert trucks. I didn’t even realize they were trendy. I just realized they were there. In front of me. At random times. How do you track them??? I still haven’t found the Big Gay Ice Cream truck…

Also, why is there an organic ice cream truck right outside my gym? I don’t tend to take money to the gym or I’d be all over it. At least I get to feel self-righteous instead of just penniless as I leave the gym and mournfully pass its peaceful, artisanal truck decor…

JESSICA BADER: Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is on Twitter and usually at 17th and Broadway.

ZOE RICE: almost my backyard! Also now in my backyard: TGIFridays. So weird. But they have cool ice cream treats, no? And like big alcoholic drinks with ice cream and stuff?

I think ice cream is my bacon.

EMILY SAIDEL: I may not eat all the food trends (I’m not so into the praising the pig stuff) but I do read about them. But also, Pinkberry expanding to the east coast was a thing. But around the same time, I remember an expansion of Red Mango and at least one other frozen yogurt with toppings chain.

HOWARD MEGDAL: And I’m glad to hear about them! Just wanted to feign indignation on behalf of Real America.

EMILY SAIDEL: I always think of that scene in The Breakfast Club when Molly Ringwald has sushi for lunch and the other students are grossed out by it. Granted, I’d probably be grossed out by unrefrigerated sushi as well but that wasn’t the point of the scene. I’m not sure anything would get the same kind of reaction these days. Maybe offal.

JESSICA BADER: Zoe, you are aware that BGICT has ice-cream treats that actually contain bacon, right?

ZOE RICE: Blech. Not for me. But oh!! There’s some new truck I read about called guerilla ice cream with flavors based on social movements. lemme look for link…
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/06/guerrilla-ice-cream-a-new-cart-nyc-social-justice-political-movements.html
okay, it’s a cart, and all that political activism looks deliciousssssssssssssss

HOWARD MEGDAL: Just tried cappuccino ice cream made from coconut milk. It is UNBELIEVABLE.

ZOE RICE: That’s it. I’m bringing money to gym class tonight and that fancy pants ice cream truck better be there.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Now I feel like a bad influence. Also, I just ate more ice cream. Do you know how much fat is in coconut milk ice cream? It’s like an All Star Team of Fat.

ZOE RICE: I was going to say coconut milk is supposed to be super fatty. but in general i prefer not to disparage ice cream in any way.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Yes, Rachel got ice cream with almond milk- half the fat of mine. But I’ll be laughing… All the way to the Big and Tall Shop.

EMILY SAIDEL: Remember Cake vs Pie? This is why ice cream wins.

ZOE RICE: well, ice cream and pie together is just the best ever. warm pie and ice cream together might be one of the best things on earth.

AKIE BERMISS: i’m not really an ice cream person. but with hot pie — pretty much any time.

and also, i’m not allowed to buy coffee ice cream because, if i have a spoon handy (and living out of my car as i general am… i generally do), it usually 3/4 empty before i even get home. oh coffee.

i think I’ll go have some coffee right now.

EMILY SAIDEL: When going out to get ice cream, does anyone else deeply debate the flavors that should go in a single serving? This is a big issue for me. I often do vaguely themed pairing, like hazelnuts and pralines or butter pecan, or green tea with early grey or coffee.

HOWARD MEGDAL: For me, the pressure is intense. I so seldom eat ice cream that when I do, I need to cram about two months of cravings into the order. The toppings are key as well. And add the wrong one, the whole thing topples over.

CHRIS PUMMER: Get an ice cream maker. Make a bitter chocolate sorbet. It is very rich with just a fraction of the fat in ice cream.

JESSICA BADER: Unless there’s an unusual flavor to try (love me some olive oil gelato), I tend to view ice cream and other frozen dairy products as a delivery mechanism for toppings. At those self-serve frozen yogurt places, I pile the toppings on in the sort of combinations that the cashier has to think I’m stoned.

HOWARD MEGDAL: I’m pretty sure sorbet was created to punish children who thought they were getting ice cream. The cream, after all, is missing. Right?

MOLLY SCHOEMANN: The one day I’m on the road with infrequent access to email, and I miss an ice-cream diatribe!

Ever since I went to this one dentist from hell, ice cream hurts my teeth. Like, intense, shooting pains. I went back to him after to complain, and he pretty much shrugged. So I’m indifferent to ice cream, as anyone would be to a dessert that periodically punched them in the jaw while they were trying to enjoy it. Also, I feel that this problem makes me feel both older and more boring.

Granted, I was never all that into ice cream before, except as a ‘let’s all go out for ice cream!’ family activity. (I loved going to the Sundae School on cape cod in the summers). So it’s not like I’ve lost a valuable dessert, like, say, cake.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Or pie.

CHRIS PUMMER: This is a valid point of view. I’m personally not really that hip for fruit sorbets. They don’t really have a ton of flavor other than sweet from the mountain of sugar you have to add. I’d rather just eat the fruit.

But this chocolate sorbet is pretty good and pretty easy.

3/4 c. cocoa powder
1/2 – 1 c. sugar (to taste.. I like less)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
2 c. water

Stick all that shit in a pan, heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Let it cool in the fridge and then run it through the ice cream maker.

That’s pretty good, and as a bonus you can feed it to guests that have some stupid dietary restrictions like not eating dairy.

I also like a lemon-lime sorbet, especially when you toss some zest from the fruit in there. You can make it sweet, but also tart enough to bite your face off at the same time.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Can I make it not through an ice cream maker? I could eat it on the air tonight!

ZOE RICE: ice creammmmm. of course since i brought cash to the gym, the organic ice cream truck was nowhere to be found. i compensated with a chipwich from the regular old ice cream truck that’s always on my block. and it was awesome. i ate it literally still in my gym clothes.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Did you know that isn’t an original Chipwich, but a lesser version, since Nestle’s bought out the Chipwich guy and took his version out of circulation?

ZOE RICE: hang on. i knew it wasn’t a real chipwich, but I didn’t realize the real chipwich DOESN’T EXIST ANYMORE. Is that true???? That was my favorite childhood ice cream treat. That and the green frog on a stick with m&m type eyes. But mostly the chipwich.

Also, btw, I don’t care one whit if my ice cream is organic–the flavors just looked realllly yummy, sigh.

CHRIS PUMMER: Who bought out his soul this year?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_LaMotta

EMILY SAIDEL: My boyfriend (who has had a lot of teeth work admittedly) had a ton of sensitivity to cold. He ended up having an emergency root canal this past spring and since then it’s been a lot better. I’m sure you’ve had good dental care, but it might be something to look into. Not having the root canal, I mean, just seeing if something is developing.

HOWARD MEGDAL: This is where I heard about it, of course- hit Times obit. Worth the read.
Really made me want an ORIGINAL Chipwich.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/business/16lamotta.html

ZOE RICE: I’m so depressed right now about this.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Now I feel like a jerk- I ruined your chipwich!