Talking about Ice Cream.

It is called the Ice Cream Diaries, after all, so sometimes I really do talk about ice cream. After spending the bulk of the past six days in the weeds, thanks to a stellar long weekend of weather perfection, today has brought things right back down to Earth. A light drizzle and a brisk 53 degrees is no kind of May weather, even for we New Englanders. But, like I mentioned, if the weather is going to go north, happy to see it happen midweek and not mid-long weekend. Like most things in life, I think it all evens out over time anyway.

So with the lull in the action today, I took the opportunity to make up a few flavors that have been swirling around in my head for a while. The first, Mimosa sorbet...

In case you've never enjoyed this fine breakfast treat, a mimosa is champagne with orange juice.

And for those that prefer a more hoppy adult beverage, I also got a chance to make another beer flavor today. It's not exactly the Guiness beer ice cream you may have tried here around St. Paddy's day and a couple other times a year, but it's close.

It seems an inspiration for a new flavor can strike at just about any time and any place. As might seem obvious in about three sentences, this flavor began brewing in my head while I was across the street at my favorite local pub, The Brass Cat. They have a little 'contest' going right now that involves checking off a number of different fine (and not so fine) beverages, most of which are in the genus and species of beer. You've got months to finish 'your list', and from what I've seen it's been great for Mike the owner's biz.

Kudos for creativity during these 'challenging times'.

In any event, the beer that came up on my list on this particular night was a chocolate stout. It was a treat, dessert in a mug. About three sips into it, I was certain my next batch of stout beer ice cream would be a chocolate one. And I was right.

Both will be out for sampling and indulging this weekend. I hope you can swing by. And if you're not over 21, or just don't like the idea of mixing happy hour with dessert, perhaps the latest cake batter offspring might tempt you. Last week it was cookies n' cake batter, then birthday cake batter (with marshmallow swirl), and up right now it's cake batter sundae.

Cake batter ice cream with marshmallow swirl, fudge swirl, and rainbow sprinkles (as seen above). Have to credit ace scooper extraordinaire, Lauren, for this one.

Of course, there are 52 other flavors to choose from too...

And, as always, don't hesitate to suggest one of your own.

See you soon.

Easthampton becoming the next Easthampton.

An interesting read in this week's Valley Advocate...

Jean-Pierre Pasche, owner of Easthampton's Eastmont Custom Framing, in his monthly arts newsletter about all things Easthampton arts, addressed in April a notion that keeps bubbling to the surface in the burg next to Noho/Hamp: Does Easthampton have the potential to become the next Northampton? It's shorthand for the real question: will Easthampton become a mecca for arts, music and "culture"? Read on...

My favorite quote from the piece, from JP Paschue, "Easthampton is having a great time becoming the next Easthampton instead of Northampton."

...If Easthamptonites tread carefully, the place could become a viable, unique destination in the Valley's seemingly unstoppable artistic spread. And, just as Pasche claims, the more its identity is its own, the better. The Valley doesn't need Eho—it needs a vital Easthampton that incorporates old character and new energy.

And with Open Studios coming in a few weekends, and the much anticipated Bear Fest public art extravaganza right on its, dare I say, paws, Easthampton is getting set to show off what a cool mecca for arts, music, and culture it's already become. And you can still buy a tombstone downtown.

What more could you ask for in a small New England town?

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to You.

Hope you've been enjoying this fine Memorial Day weekend weather. The weather people warned us of rain pretty much all weekend, but not a drop to be seen in this part of town. Which has made for a great weekend of ice creaming. As I like to say around mid-July, I'm a bit tired, but it's a good tired.

In any event, thanks for coming by for a fresh cone of lavender or M&M pretzel or your usual mint chocolate chip.

With a brief break in the action, I got to thinking about what to blog about besides the 'cool in a small town kindof way' Memorial Day parade here in Easthampton, and after a crazy couple of days at the batch freezer, blogger's block set in almost instantly.

So I walked out to the pond in the backyard, stared at the new American flag, just hung by Mayor Mike & a wingman, and thought about Memorial Day.


I didn't get much further than wondering to myself, so why is there a Memorial Day and a Veteran's Day anyway? And what's the difference? I was pretty sure I could guess the answer, but I had to make sure. So in case you were wondering, here's the answer (from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs site)...

Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty. A complete history of Veterans Day, and why it is observed on November 11, can be found on the Veterans Day History Web page.


Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and feel free to stop by. We'll be here regular hours (noon 'til 9:30).

Feel free to bring an extra burger from the grill...

Bear Fest Ice Cream

As you've hopefully heard by now, Easthampton is soon to be visited by 35 bears. The bears you see above are the 'canvases'. Local artists were chosen from among over 130 proposals, ranging from astronaut bear to Patty O'bear, and many themes in between. Artists are hard at work on their bears, getting them ready for the big 'unveiling' party on June 13th. The big bears will find homes in high visibility spots throughout town. Smaller, tabletop bears are also being prepared by local school children and Riverside Industries folks. These bears will be placed inside local businesses. Mt. Tom's will proudly host a bear, as will many other local businesses.

As you can see at the Bear Fest website, the Easthampton City Arts team have worked tirelessly not only to raise the funds to bring the bears to town, but to also plan some great events to celebrate this summerlong public display of art.

I, for one, think Bear Fest is going to great for the city. Once word gets out how cool these bears are, people will come from miles around to check 'em out.

In addition to parties and concerts and artwalks, Opa Opa Brewing Company is creating a Bear Fest brew. They will be 'unveiling' that at a benefit party on June 3rd.

And here at Mt. Tom's, we've got an ice cream flavor contest going right now. I'm letting the kids invent the flavor for a Bear Fest flavor! All kids 10 and under got entry forms at school. Entry forms are also available here at the shop. We've asked them to come up with the ingredients and the name. The winner gets a free cone a week for the entire summer and a $25 giftcard! 2nd and 3rd get giftcards too. The contest runs until May 31st. Winners will be notified by the 5th. And the first batch will be made shortly after that, with the winner helping out and getting the first 'taste'. We've already received a bunch of entries, and definitely some keepers in the stack...

The new Bear Fest flavor will be served at the 'unveiling party' on June 13th at 2pm. That will be held at the public parking lot on Cottage Street. Hope to see you there.

I'll be posting the winning flavor here on June 5th.

Stay cool and tuned...

JJ Dushane Memorial Basketball Courts.

As promised, a few shots of the finished product. Pretty sweet. Congrats again to the entire team for making it happen. I understand, in addition to costing significantly more than the $72K estimate, the JJ Dushane Memorial Fund will continue on, with scholarships and other great causes in JJ's name. So I hope you will continue to support this inspiring effort.

I think it's safe to say these courts will get plenty of use...

Speaking of fundraising, here's one coming up:

BRUCE JACQUES is coming this Friday May 22nd to put on a show and play some music.Check him out at http://www.brucejacques.com/. What a fun night it will be, come join us for the antics and dancing at the Pulaski Club Hall on Maple St in Easthampton MA. 7pm till midnight.

Tickets available at the door.($20)

Proceeds to Benefit The JJ Dushane Memorial FundSponsored by Florence Savings Bank

A Dad sighting on Ebay!

Those who have been following the ice cream diaries from the beginning, way back when it came in the form of an emailed journal entry, will remember my Dad, my ice cream mentor, and all around good guy was one of the original premium ice cream makers, a founding father, if you will. His ice cream flavor inventing days came years before those guys Ben and Jerry were even thinking about turning that old gas station into a homemade ice cream joint. My Dad worked for Howard Johnson's, you know that place whose name was synonymous with the Mass Turnpike back in their day.
I remember our home freezer when i was a kid was always full of Dad's 'mistakes' from his lab at the Hojo's factory in Brockton, Mass. Peppermint stick that was just a little too pink. Cookie dough with too many chips and not enough dough. Of course, being a kid, there's no such thing as bad ice cream or bad pizza. I have great memories of going to Dad's lab on a Saturday morning when he had something to check on. He was also the quality control guy for the factory, so he was probably going in to check bacteria counts on something, but again I was just a kid and I was going to a giant ice cream factory. And I remember his lab being full of all the great stuff that went into ice cream. Giant boxes of chocolate chips. M&M's. 5 gallon pails of chocolate. Paradise for an eight year old.

I particularly remember the paper hats he made us wear when we had factory tours with our Cub Scout den and such. In fact, when I started doing lessons and tours at my shop twenty-five years later, that's the first thing I got...

Of course, back then I wanted to be an astronaut not an ice cream guy. Little did I know this is where I would end up. Turns out, I am the acorn that fell near the tree. Sure, I did get the engineering college degrees and went the traditional big company, cubicle route enroute. And that was great too, in different ways (weekends off were nice, in hindsight). My Dad went the traditional big company route too before he jettisoned himself off the ship to start his own gigs, first 'The Ice Creamery' in Randolph, Mass. Then later 'Dave's World of Ice Cream' in Foxboro, Mass. He and Mom are happily retired now and completely content to play the visiting grandparents role to my little place, Mt. Tom's. Dad gets to pop in during the summer, have some free ice cream, and rummage around my ice cream kitchen just like I used to when I was a kid. There's something kindof cool about that.

Speaking of cool, one of my customers is an avid EBay'er and Howard Johnson's paraphernalia collector (of all things). He was poking around Ebay the other day and came across a bunch of Hojo listings of old company magazines. And wouldn't you know, he found this, and recognized the name. Sure enough, my Dad, hard at work back in the old Hojo days, circa 1981...

Hojo's is an interesting rags to riches to rags story. They were ahead of their time in many ways (premium ice cream, cool flavors, Ground Round) but somehow ended up getting left in the dust. All that remains are a few hotels, a row or two of mac n' cheese boxes in the grocery store freezer, and a bunch of vintage collectables on ebay. Perhaps I'll write more on that topic, although I'm sure many an MBA school business case study has already been written.

Just before they were sold and never to be heard from again, I seem to remember their prices going through the roof while at the same time their quality and cleanliness sinking into the basement. Tough to survive with those strikes against you, even if you do 'own' the Mass. Pike.

If you are curious, here are a few interesting links, mostly grabbed from the wink. site...

http://www.hojoland.com/

http://www.slamtrak.com/hojo2003/

http://www.roadsidefans.com/hojo.html

Well, must go make some ice cream now, just like Dad taught me. Stop by for some. There's plenty to go around.

Enjoy your weekend.

Tiny Valley - The Show.

Probably should have posted about this before the actual opening reception during this past weekend's ArtWalk, but I didn't want to bump the JJ Dushane entry before that event. The good news is this past weekend's ArtWalk was a big success, crazy downpours be darned, and Chris Evans' show here at Mt. Tom's was great. And more good news, Chris' show will be here right through until the next ArtWalk on June 13th. The show is called 'Tiny Valley', and it's a very cool collection of Chris' favorite images of scale-model-like scenes from the Pioneer Valley. He used a technique called 'tilt shift', which allows you to focus sharply on a specific aspect of an image while blurring the rest. You get a bit of an idea from the image above, but the best way is to come down and see the images on the wall in full 16x20 living color.

When you look at them, you really do think they're models, but they're not.

Laura Merwin graciously covered the event at one of my favorite blogs, Bay Road Photo over at Masslive.com. Patrick Brough even got a shot of Chris and I being interviewed by videographer Jon Persson,as part of a documentary being put together in conjunction with Easthampton City Arts, the upcoming Bear Fest, and local cable access channel 5.

If you weren't able to do the ArtWalk thing this past weekend, I hope you can still stop by and check out Chris's show. Ice cream and gummy fried eggs are optional.

JJ Dushane Memorial Basketball Courts.

After many months of tireless hard work and fearless fundraising, the friends and family of JJ Dushane are proud to announce the dedication of the new and amazing JJ Dushane Memorial basketball courts. From their website...

The JJ Dushane Memorial fund was established to honor our son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend who tragically lost his life this past January. JJ was a beautiful and caring young man who touched the lives of many as attested by the more than 1,400 people who paid their last respects to him. He played and excelled in local sports as a youngster all the way through his varsity career at Easthampton High School. Although he excelled at soccer, baseball and football (his blocked punt which resulted in a touchdown sealed the win for Easthampton's first Super Bowl victory in 2005), his passion was basketball. He believed in mentoring younger players and young children. He always knew how to “Lighten Up” people, how to make them laugh and how to enjoy life no matter what the situation was.

The family and friends of JJ Dushane are trying to raise money to build a memorial in his name and to create an atmosphere where the community, especially the kids, can gather and play basketball. JJ spent a lot of his time playing basketball there and we know in our hearts he would want us to complete this project. We have the support of our City Officials, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Easthampton Basketball Association, Easthampton High School Athletics and of course our Family and Friends.

The ‘opening’ ceremony will happen this coming Sunday at 1:30, right at the site of the new courts. In case you haven't been following this touching tribute to JJ, the new courts can be found right at the entrance to Nonotuck Park right here in Easthampton.

Here are a few construction shots of the courts. The group was able to raise the over $72,000 needed to get the courts built. Fundraising came in all forms - from raffles to car washes to poker and golf tournaments to trivia nights. An impressive feat and just goes to show if you put your mind to something, there's nothing you can't accomplish, bad economy be darned.



Obviously, nothing can erase the unimaginable pain of losing a son, but I think his family can find a bit of solace in the heartfelt support they’ve received from Easthampton's fine folks. A great story, and I'm sure those courts will be enjoyed and appreciated by generations to come.

I hope you can stop by the new courts on Sunday at 1:30 to show your support and admiration to JJ’s family and friends. Rumor has it, they’ll be cake and (Mt. Tom’s) ice cream for all…

In case you’re out with Mom or otherwise booked on Sunday, I’ll try to get some shots of the new courts and post ‘em up next week.

Congrats to the JJ Dushane team for providing such a great gift to the city of Easthampton.

Ah Choo Choo. Gazundheit.

Fellow Easthampton'ers will recognize this somewhat scary shop facade from good old Cottage Street. It's the strange pawn shop-looking place sandwiched between the church and Rene's TV repair shop. I can't tell you how many times people have come into Mt. Tom's and asked, 'Is that Choo Choo place ever open?' My usual reply is, 'not that I know of'. I've always assumed it was serving as someone's downtown storage unit, just with big windows and a tacky sign. I must admit, though, there are some interesting collectables sitting just behind those giant aquarium windows. So I suppose I can understand one's desire to 'gain entry' when that life-sized lighted opaque Mickey Mouse they've always wanted waves at them tauntingly as they walk by, enroute to their next sundae.

So how surprised, intrigued, and morbidly curious was I when, as I set up the sidewalk chairs this morning, I noticed the door to Ah Choo Choo standing magically and majestically open for all to enter. I knew I had to go inside. Anxiously, I waited for my scooper to arrive so I could pass over that threshold that so many have longed to cross, yet so few granted the opportunity.

In case you didn't notice the activity outside the 'Choo' today or catch a glimse of the 'tag sale' sandwich board (got a permit for that? good thing it's sunday...), I'm going to give you a quick glimpse into the promised land, that peak at the little wizard of Oz behind the forboding curtain. Welcome to the world of Choo Choo...

I was trying to be all stealthy and clandestine on this first shot, hence the angled shot of mostly ceiling. I gained confidence going into this next one...

The world as seen from inside the ACC...

You're probably wondering, well, did you buy anything? I was tempted by the giant Mickey, but that was heartlessly snatched from my grasp by another patron just as I was wandering over to it. I was really tempted by the Habitrail shaped like a steam engine, but nixed that idea when I remembered I haven't owned a hamster since I was 6. Blue lava light, already have one. Wait a minute, what's this? Could it be? Sure enough. But five bucks is too much, hmm. I glance over to the sign on the wall, 'make us an offer'. I pick it up and casually wander over to the counter, being purposely cautious soas to not draw unnecessary attention to my potential purchase.

'Will you take 3 bucks for this?'

The man at the counter says, 'Will you be hanging it in your shop? (my Mt. Tom's T-shirt and apron give me away every time). I reply, 'ahh, probably not.'

He took my 3 bucks anyway.

As you may or may not remember, I have a bit of a running gag gift thing going with some family members, and it happens to involve the cow theme. Who's to be the lucky winner this year, hmm...

Now how much do you wish you were on my Christmas shopping list?

Not sure how long the big Ah Choo Choo tag sale extravaganze will continue, so best you get yourself down to Cottage Street as soon as you can before all the great? stuff is gone.

You might notice the 'For Rent' sign in the window too. I realize the ACC will be a tough act to follow, but hopefully it might become home to something new and interesting. Will keep you posted.

Well, I'd better end it there. It's raining. The shop is quiet. And there's an old Kerplunk! game I just can't get out of my head. If anyone's looking for me, I'll be over at the Choo.

Spring Shots.

Since it actually feels like Spring today and not Summer, it seemed like a good day to post up a few shots from random sites around town. I'll let the images do most of the speaking for themselves...

(You can try to click on an image to get a full screen view. Photos are shrunk a bit to fit into blogger's size limits so this doesn't always work though.)

Manhan Rail Trail gets some color back.

Daffodils mixing it up with the weeds trailside.


Williston campus in bloom.



Trash as art? Spotted on the side of Sunrise Bakery.


Cherry blossom house in Florence.

Front view.

Pond in bloom.

Dandelions enjoying the Williston views.

In conclusion, happy customers.

Things have settled into a more typical Spring pace, so hopefully they'll be more Spring shots to follow. Stay tuned. As for the kiddo shots, those usually find their way into the digital photo frame on the shop counter...

Cool Shot.

Local roving photographer, Patrick Brough, who can now be found over at MassLive's Bay Road Photo, posted this shot the other day. Seems he got use of a fisheye lens for the weekend and took it on a wander around town Sunday morning. Lucky for me, he happened by the shop and caught this sweet shot. Now I really feel like I work in a fish bowl...

Hope you're enjoying this steamy weather. Definitely a banner weekend for ice cream sales. Thanks for coming by. One more day of April summerlike bliss, and I guess it's back to 'normal'. But then again, who knows what crazy weather lurks around the next corner here in New England.

Who is the Original 'Tom' anyway?

I have a once a year customer who drops in every time he's home to visit family. While he's ordering up his favorite flavor, he always asks me, 'So who did they name Mt. Tom after anyway?' I've tried to get that answer for him a couple of times, but inevitably always got distracted and never quite got it done.

Well, along comes a link to a cool youtube documentary about all things Mt. Tom (the mountain not the ice cream). It's by Robert Schwobe, and it's really good. Lots of great pictures, history, stories, and useful local trivia. (Hat Tip: Western Mass Nostalgia Forum via MassLive Easthampton Forum)

As I suspected, sure enough, it includes the answer to my yearly question, who was Tom?

According to Robert, Tom was Captain Roland Thomas, commissioned by the township of Springfield back in 1653, along with Captain Eliza Holyoke (you can guess which direction he went), to form new plantations west and north of Springfield. They traveled along the Connecticut River to also 'discover' Nanotuck, which we now know as Northampton. You can hear and watch the whole story here... I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I'll be sure to pass along more interesting trivia as I get further into it...



In the meantime, it looks like summer is here, so must go make ice cream. Hope to see you this weekend.

Retail 101.

Before the summer kicks in this weekend (80's expected here for you long distance ICD readers), I thought today, a 48 degree rainy one, would be a good day to talk candy shop. Granted, running the candy store part of the biz isn't what might be considered rocket science, it does require its own care and feeding. Like any retail business I suppose, two simple rules hold:

1. Keep the shelves stocked.
2. Keep the shelves stocked with stuff people actually want.

Or in my case, keep the jars stocked with stuff people want.

So aside from usual 'supply chain management' stuff (coincidentally, this was what I did in my first career, albeit I was managing optical network components and not giant gummy snakes), I'm always on the lookout for which jars are 'moving' and which ones are not. Case in point above, the gummy techno bears, were definitely not.

So they have been replaced by...


Salt water taffy. Just in time for this weekend's arrival of summer.

And with the come and gone of Easter, that freed up some spots for a few new SKU's, (If I actually used the term 'stock keeping unit'. I much prefer 'candy jar'.) Let me introduce a few of the new candies on the block...


Jelly Belly Soda Pop Shoppe mix. Cream soda, Dr. Pepper, Grape, Orange... They actually have an Ice Cream Parlor mix too, but unfortunately it's associated with some 'other' ice cream shop. Lame.

Moving right along...

Gummy Fried Eggs.

Because I can.

Sixlets. By the scoopful. (Hat Tip: Kris P.) Which reminds me, suggestions are more than welcome. If I can get it, I'll bring it in for you. It's still gotta earn its rightful place on the shelf to stay, but I'm always up for trying a new candy variety.

Tried to get this one, but apparently it's only available in Wisconsin. The cool part of this story is the customer who requested it actually went to Wisconsin and brought some home. Even better, they brought one in for me. Thanks to that guy, didn't catch his name...


And on another nutty note, we now have buttercrunch... (FYI: I made a batch of buttercrunch ice cream with it today too.)

And the return of Kookaburra black licorice. If you're into black licorice, this is the stuff...

So that's about it from candyland. Hope this entry left you hankerin' for somethin' sweet.

We're open until 9.

Thanks for your vote.

The Valley Advocate just announced the winners of their 2009 'Best Of the Valley' readers' choices of favorites for all good things, Springfield and west. If you're anywhere within the 413 area code, I'm sure you've seen the Valley Advocate and are well familiar with their 'Best of' lists. You may not always agree with their politics, but there's no denying theirs is the list every local biz aspires to be on.

I know when I started Mt. Tom's more than 5 years ago, making the Advocate's Best of list was one of my goals, right from day one.

Well, I'm happy to report, with your support, Mt. Tom's has made the list again. Third place under the Edibles & Eateries - Ice Cream. That other place in Northampton has a twenty-five year head start, and dare I say, a bit of an edge in walking traffic, tough to beat at this point. But who knows, if Easthampton is destined to become the new Northampton, anything can happen. All I can do is stay focused, make the best ice cream I can, hire the best and friendliest and coolest scoopers, and let the chocolate chips fall where they may.

In the meantime, making the list is still pretty sweet.

Thanks again.

The Days they Get Longer.

There's a common saying in small business, 'Don't be open when you want to be open. Be open when your customers want you to be open.' In the spirit of that thought, along with the corollary, 'make hay when the sun shines,' it seems time to start extending the scoopday here at Mt. Tom's. You'll likely be happy to know, the 8pm close has been safely packed away with the box of ski stuff in the basement, where it will remain until cold weather returns in the Fall.

Here's where we're at:

Now open every day but Monday (just 2 more mondays closed) until May 1st. Noon - 9pm.

Starting May 1:
Open 7 days
Sunday - Thursday: Noon-9pm
Friday, Saturday: Noon - 9:30pm

And Starting June 1st:
Open 7 days
Sunday - Thursday: Noon - 9:30pm
Friday, Saturday: Noon - 10pm.

Toying around with being open until 10 every night, but haven't quite decided on that yet...

See you soon.

Easter Bunny Depot.

Hope you're enjoying this fine and Good Friday.

Just a quick plug for all things fit for an Easter basket can be found right here....

From handmade solid chocolate bunnies to chocolate bunnies on sticks to Easter bunny corn. And not to mention we've got 38 flavors of Jelly Bellies. At just $6.95 a pound, try getting that kind of deal at the mall...

It's getting tight, but there is still time to order up an ice cream cake or pie for your Easter dinner too. 529-2929.

We return to the usual rants and ice cream trivia next week. Until then, I hope you and yours have a great holiday & weekend.

Ice Cream beats the Dow.

A common question I get in the shop these days is 'how is this economy affecting your business?' Makes sense, since we get bombarded every 3 seconds by every form of media telling us how dire things are, who isn't still a bit nervous about things. Our collective moods may swing with the daily performance of the stock market, but generally caution and financial anxiety continue to prevail. So to answer that first question from the ice cream peddling front, I offer up this from the current on-line Newsweek. Standing tough at position number one in their list of 'recession-resistant businesses', you guessed it, ice cream. Nice.

Nail salons coming in at number two was a little surprising though. Alcohol sales, not so surprising.

So far so good here in scoopland, thanks to y'all. This time of year is more about the weather. Some great weather weekends in March made for a banner month. This week, well not quite as brisk. Bring back the 60's!

In any event, hope to see you soon. You still need to come in and sample that Basil ice cream, don't you? Also have fresh batches of strawberry cheesecake, sweet cream, mexican chocolate, and burnt sugar today (to name just a few...).

Basil Ice Cream.

Been curious to try this one since the end of last season, but I figured I'd never go thru a whole tub of it at the off-season pace. So as the fine weather returns and the demand for ice cream cranks right up again, so does my opportunity to try new and interesting flavors. Definitely one of the best parts of being an ice cream guy. I've got a big list of new and rarely made flavors ready to go for the new season. One of the first ones up, you guessed it, basil ice cream. I know that basil is great on top of a slice of tomato and some mozzarella cheese, but in ice cream, I wasn't quite so sure. A couple of customers have been asking for it for a while now, having enjoyed it as a dessert at one of their favorite Boston restaurants.

So now on scoop, basil ice cream. Give it a try. I dare you. It's definitely different, but it does seem to work for the die-hard basil lovers.

If you're looking for something a bit more mainstream, I made up some malted vanilla and malted milk ball vanilla today too. Let the games begin.

Speaking of games, hope to see you at the Riverside charity auction tomorrow night (friday). I'll be scoopin' up some interesting flavors there too...

And on a completely different topic, if you're into marshmallow peeps, check out this guys blog... PEEPS. He emailed me about it, since one of the many, many peeps links is to my blog entry about the chocolate-dipped ones. I hope you and your peeps enjoy it.

Hope you got out on this fine day. See you soon.

Fear not, Pistachio Ice Cream lovers.

I just got off the phone with my pistachio vendor, and he has assured me that the pistachio 'meats' they provide are not part of the current recall. Here's the story, in case you hadn't gotten wind of it yet. Pistachios involved in the recall are of the dry roasted variety, grown and processed in California. The ones we use in our Pistachio Nut ice cream are oil roasted fresh by our vendor in Boston.

Here's the gist of the story:

Supermarkets pulled pistachios and some pistachio-laden foods from their shelves Tuesday, moves resulting from this week's Food and Drug Administration warning to consumers not to eat the nuts because they could be tainted with salmonella.The FDA is scrambling to prevent a repeat of a recent salmonella outbreak from peanuts that has sickened more than 690 people in 46 states. And in Sacramento on Tuesday, a lawmaker introduced legislation to tighten safety standards for foods processed in California.

From what my vendor tells me, the FDA may have underreacted to the peanut contamination recently, and is likely overreacting to the current pistachio one. Although it's hard to argue that over isn't better than under. Nonetheless, authorities are advising people to hold off on popping those pistachios until they can confirm they're not part of this big recall.

And while we're on the topic, the article had some interesting pistachio trivia..

California is far and away the nation's No. 1 pistachio grower, producing 98% of the domestic crop. Globally, it trails only Iran in pistachio farming. About 60% of the crop is exported, making pistachios an important source of foreign currency for both the state and the nation.

Who knew.