Milford Dairy Bar

June 24, 2017

Milford Dairy Bar, Milford, PA

Seasonal

Okay, Milford Dairy Bar is a first for me – and ice cream shop with live music played in their outdoor music pavilion- sort of like a coffee house but much better.  A  schedule of the acts is posted on the shop.

The service, via a walk up window, was friendly and quick.   There were so many flavors of homemade ice cream I had a difficult time deciding  –  I knew that I had to try Neon Mint Chip, but I let the server choose my second flavor, and she suggested Strawberry. The Neon Mint Chip was “neon” colored Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream – bright pink today -creating and interesting contrast with the paler pink of the strawberry.  We enjoyed our ice cream relaxing at a picnic table listening to a band  – life is good!

 

Milford PA was filled with live music today, creating a true party atmosphere.  It was a special treat to see my friend Diane  playing her Irish flute in the Tara Minstrels (she looks better playing the fife).  But the what actually brought us to Milford today was hiking in the Delaware Water Gap National Park – one of the most visited national parks in the United States.  We hiked the Hackers Trail with a nice waterfall and the Cliff Trail with wonderful views.  These trails were wide, easy to follow and scenic.  I love the Delaware Water Gap.

 

City Green Strawberry Festival

June 10, 2017

City Green Strawberry Festival, Clifton, New Jersey

This festival is one day a year – sort of like Brigadoon

I love strawberries!  So do a lot of other people based on the turn out for the City Green Strawberry Festival this weekend!  City Green is an urban farm in Clifton, NJ with a mission to teach others how to design and implement urban farms for nutrition and fun.  Throughout the year City Green has numerous special events to accomplish their mission including the Strawberry Festival in June – which includes goat petting, chicken watching, activities for children, tours of their organic farm and a farm stand selling the crops grown there – I bought savory (which I never tried before), mixed greens and onions. The farm stand workers even gave me instructions on how to use the savory (I sauteed it),  The day was wonderfully organized, the workers, interns and volunteers enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and the weather perfect -all this made for a great day.

And what would a strawberry festival be without strawberry ice cream?   City Green supplied Sip and Swirl in Little Falls (a place I need to try) with the strawberries, and Sip and Swirl turned them into smooth, very strawberry ice cream – (definitely  the best tasting way to get our “five-a-day” fruits and veggies!).  We sat on benches enjoying live music while we ate it.  Now I have to wait another year to get that great strawberry ice cream again.

Pittsburgh Ice Cream Company – (Market Street Grocery)

April 22, 2017

Pittsburgh Ice Cream Company at Market Street Grocery, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Open all year

This is the first time I have been in Pittsburgh – and it is an interesting city.   Three Rivers Park has great walking paths right along the rivers, with numerous sculptures (including one dedicated to
Mr. Rodgers).   I am not sure how far the paths go, but we saw serious looking bikers on them, so I assume they go pretty far. The University of Pittsburgh has classrooms decorated for different nationalities in their Cathedral of Learning (worth the trip!).  Downtown Pittsburgh has some really interesting architecture, such as the PPG Industries glass buildings (I guess they should not throw stones), a street fair and a Pittsburgh Ice Cream Company counter located in Market Street Grocery.

Market Street Grocery is a  small, compact shop with a lot of good-looking food, groceries, baked goods, a coffee bar, a wine bar and an ice cream counter,   We skipped the coffee, baked goods and groceries, but enjoyed both the wine and the ice cream.  The wine bar is located in a comfortable room in the back of the shop – we happily sampled various wines here.  But the best feature of the shop was the Pittsburgh Ice Cream Company counter!   We were told the ice cream was made downstairs, which I assume they meant literally.  Their website says their ice cream is “fun and funky” which is an accurate description.   I had Peanut Butter and Jelly and Strawberry Peach Sangria.  The sangria ice cream had a sweet flavor and a texture that was almost a mix of a Italian ice and ice cream, it was very enjoyable.  I assume the sangria came from the wine room in the back of the shop.  The Peanut Butter and Jelly ice cream was a more traditional ice cream flavor and excellent – to me there can never be too much peanut butter in peanut butter ice cream!  This was some of the best tasting ice cream I have had!  We ate outside in the market square where we could enjoy live music and people watch.  There is a small amount of inside seating and as well.

Holsten’s

May 29, 2017

Holsten’s, Bloomfield, New Jersey

Open all year

Today is Memorial Day –  a day set aside to remember the men and women who died defending our freedom thus and enabling us to do fun things like write ice cream blogs.  I feel a great gratitude to them and their families – in a way words cannot adequately express.   Thank you to all the service men and women who defend us everyday – and thank you to their families.   You are all appreciated.

Following a parade, and a visit to the beautiful rose garden in Brookdale Park, we visited Holsten’s in Bloomfield, New Jersey (I wonder if they considered calling it Holstein’s instead?)  Upon entering the shop, three things grabbed my attention – the beautiful chocolate candy counter, the fabulous looking ice cream bar and a plethora of stuffed animals.  I assume the stuffed animals were for sale, but we so wanted to set one on our table to join us for lunch.  The back of the shop has a cafe/restaurant adorned with more stuffed animals and plaques for all the Reader’s Choice and other awards they have won over the last few years (well deserved).  Seating is in comfortable booths, which gave the place a fun atmosphere. The service was a bit slow, but fortunately we were not in a rush.  The restaurant offers sandwiches and burgers  (nothing fancy, just good food)  and ice cream (more fancy, also good food).  The ice cream is home made, creamy and tasty.  I had a coffee sundae with Rum Raisin and Coffee Chip ice cream.  The flavor, especially of the rum raisin was superb, as was the presentation.  This place is worth a visit!

Frozen In Time

May 6, 2017

Frozen In Time, Livingston, NJ

open all year

This is the first ice cream parlor that I have been in
(to my knowledge) that was the site of a TV show – in fact, 3 episodes of “What Would You Do?” were filmed here – April 16, 2012, June 5, 2016 and June 26, 2016. To be honest I have never seen (or even heard of) this show – but I found them on You Tube after we left.  It is definitely the same place!  I am not sure if I would be so proactive if I saw someone being picked on, but it was heart warming to see how many people defended the “underdog”!

Frozen In Time in Livingston, New Jersey features Italian ice, flavored coffees, frozen yogurt (their specialty) and Hershey’s ice cream (the only thing I was interested in!).  I got Raspberry ice cream and Banana Cream Pie ice cream.  Don probably got Chocolate Chip like he always does.  The shop had plenty of comfortable seating at tables as well as lots of outside seating at picnic tables.  We had a nice chat with the owner where he described what it was like being the site for filming a TV show.  We had an interesting and fun visit!

Cafe a la Mode

March 19, 2017

Cafe a la Mode, Warwick,New York

Open all year

Growing up in Orange County New York, I have been in Warwick many times – three of my daughters were born there.  It is a delightful town with beautiful homes on large lots and a downtown that is pleasant to walk through.

Cafe a la Mode is one of the first shops upon entering Warwick, NY from the south.  It  is charming, with a large porch that would be an enjoyable place to eat in warmer weather – today is cool and overcast, so we opted for inside.  Seating is divided into a waitress service room and a counter service room.  We chose the counter/fountain service.  They offered a wide array of sandwiches and grill items of which we did not partake – and a great ice cream counter of which we did partake.  (I am amazed that the website of a place named “a la mode” does not mention ice cream – especially considering  the selection).  As we perused their flavors, the counter server informed us that the ice cream was Perry’s – made in New York, and that there was no such thing as “bad ice cream flavors” (my kind of guy!)  After sampling a few flavors, I chose Deep Sea Treasure (vanilla ice cream with sea salt truffles and caramel swirl) and French Roast Coffee – an excellent choice I must say!  The ice cream had both a great flavor and a great texture – I particularly enjoyed the Deep Sea Treasure.  We sat at a large rectangular table to enjoy our ice cream with other patrons near by – a totally enjoyable experience.  This place is worth a visit!

Crabby Dick’s Creamery

May 20, 2017

Crabby Dick’s Creamery, Delaware City, Delaware

If water vistas are your thing, the Michael Castle Trail starting in Delaware City, Delaware is a good place to visit!  It runs along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal which has  great water vistas – birds, tug boats  pulling/pushing barges and pleasure boats.  Today we biked  the trail, which is paved so it was a an easy and fun ride (except for the head wind coming at us for the 15 mile return trip!).  As is usually the case, we had to follow up a nice bike ride with some nice ice cream.

While I cannot be sure, I assume “Crabby Dick” refers the a person rather than a part of a person.  Crabby Dick’s Ice Cream Parlor  is a small shop that features Potts ice cream.   I got Espresso Chip – my favorite,  but first I had to try the Root Beer ice cream because I never had it before – tasted pretty close to the real stuff!  The ice cream scoopers were very friendly and even managed to convince us that we needed to get a cookie – and I was glad we did – espresso chip ice cream on a homemade chocolate chip cookie was fantastic!  They even offered to take our picture for us – and chose the best angle to take it at!  Seating was outside, but a short walk away allows one to mosey along the waterway while enjoying their treat.