A Full Belly

nyc ice cream sandwiches face off

Taste Taste: Ice-Cream Sandwiches. I would get all excited about New York Magazine's round-up of the city's eight best ice cream sandwiches except that a) the one from Otto doesn't count because it involves brioche instead of a cookie (and yes, I know this is traditional in Italy), and b) I'm already in love with the one the deli on the next block sells for 35 cents. I'm sure I'll enjoy the listed treats once I get around to trying them but I doubt they'll ever be the remedy I think of when I feel an ice cream sandwich-shaped hole in my heart! Sometimes cheap and simple is all you really want.

What's it?

One of the San Francisco treats I've had the pleasure of discovering is IT's IT. IT's IT is a ice cream sandwich made up of a scoop of vanilla ice cream between 2 oatmeal cookies and dipped in chocolate. Google chef Nate Keller worked with IT'S IT to create a natural, locally-sourced, trans-fat free version of the treat, only available at the Google campus . Very cool. [via Sippey]

world's coolest frozen pop contest

The 10 Winners of Nestle Ice Cream's  World's Coolest Frozen Pop Contest. I want to taste the PB&J Pop: "The sweet, gooey, kid-friendly flavor of a PB&J sandwich moves from the lunchbox to the frozen pop. The tart flavor of raspberry jam sandwiched between two layers of smooth, creamy peanut butter definitely makes this snack a chilly classic."

liquid nitrogen ice cream

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream. "If you are anything like me, then you love ice cream. There is nothing like making your own, but the problem is, it just takes too long to freeze and some things just don't like to freeze. A while ago Scientific American [April, 1994 pgs. 66-71] had an article call Cooking with Chemistry or something along those lines. One of the recipes was one for using Liquid Nitrogen to make Ice Cream. Great!" This site is circa 1996 but still going strong. Make sure to watch the video!

chinatown ice cream dragon debacle

NYC Chinatown Ice Cream Dragon: There Can Be Only One. David Yee summarizes the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory vs Nolita Ice Cream Factory shebang.

I checked out the Nolita joint two weeks ago and they do seem to serve the same ice cream as Chinatown—the black sesame and mango I tasted seemed the same, as did the coconut I eventually and inevitably ended up getting—so I really don't understand what's going on.

lobster ice cream

Lobster Ice Cream. Okay, if it's between having this and Durian Ice Cream, I'm definitely going for the Durian! Eww! [via The Girl Who Ate Everything]

Ice cream machines reviewed

Which machines whip up the best ice cream? Not too surprisingly, the most expensive one--the Musso 4080 Lussino Dessert Maker. She's a beauty, but at nearly $600, I'd have to make A LOT of ice cream and ice cream lovin' friends to justify the purchase.

politicians and ice cream

NYC Election scoop: Mayoral hopefuls vote for fave ice cream spots. The reason why Brooklyn Rep Anthony Weiner likes Uncle Louie G's mint chocolate chip so much is a classic New York story: "His dad would try to cheer him up with a bowl of ice cream after every Mets loss when he was growing up," says Anson Kaye, Weiner's director of communications. "So he wound up eating a lot of ice cream as a kid." [via Gothamist]

durian at chinatown ice cream factory

NYC Durian Ice Cream at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. If you've ever been to Southeast Asia for a good length of time, your nose is probably familiar with the horrible terrible no good smell of Durian.

Just how nasty does this fruit smell? So bad that airplanes will not let you travel with it in your luggage, hotels have signs saying please do not bring it back to your room, and in Singapore it's actually illegal to bring it onto public transportation. And yet devotees like my own mother swear that once you've gotten a taste of the incomparable durian creaminess, you immediately stop noticing the odor. I can't imagine that ever happening to me, but if you consider yourself culinarily adventurous then by all means get yourself to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and try the durian ice cream out.

(I was there the other day and couldn't work up the nerve to try it, taking it as a bad sign that the durian wasn't stored up front along with the other flavors. But maybe I will be stronger next time.)

ben & jerry's pint lock

If you've ever worried a shifty roommate or coworker had designs on the Cherry Garcia you've got stashed in the freezer, Ben & Jerry's new pint lock is for you! Keep your tasty ice cream safe!