We have eaten a lot of ice cream this summer.
I say this as someone who does not worry (much) about eating dessert nearly every day. I figure if my meals are mostly healthy, there’s no harm in enjoying a cookie or a bit of dark chocolate or a bowl of blackberry cobbler. But this summer, it has been (mostly) too hot to turn on the oven, even for me.
I grew up eating Blue Bell, which they don’t sell in the Northeast, and last summer we ate a lot of Haagen-Dazs fruit sorbet. But this year we are completely obsessed with Ben & Jerry’s new line of Greek yogurt, since we sampled it during our Vermont trip in March. J prefers the Strawberry Shortcake flavor and I am head over heels for the Raspberry Chocolate Chunk. I’ve lost count of the pints we’ve consumed, but the number is high.
Sometimes, we bother with bowls and portions and the ice cream scoop. Much more often, we eat it straight from the carton, sitting in the living room after dinner, reading books or blogs or watching Friends, under the slight breeze of the ceiling fan.
Because of this, I don’t treat myself to ice cream during the workday very often. (Anyway, a scoop of ice cream in a shop costs about as much as a pint at the grocery store.) But there is an Emack & Bolio’s shop around the corner from my office, and the other day I discovered a new yogurt shop on the other side of the Common. Occasionally, it’s fun to scoop up a cup of cool sweetness at lunchtime. And during one hot, humid day in D.C., as we walked the National Mall, I spotted a frozen yogurt truck and made a beeline for it. Ahhh.
Usually, when it comes to dessert, I’m a chocolate girl. But this summer I am (as you can see) all about the fruit ice cream, sometimes studded with chunks of chocolate. When I think back on this summer, I will remember (among other things) the sheer pleasure of spooning up that creamy, fruity sweetness almost every night, savoring it with my love, in our messy, breezy apartment with the windows open.
We are making the most of these warm days and humid evenings, eating fresh tomatoes and pints of blueberries and sweet, drippy peaches from the farmer’s market, and eating dinner outside whenever possible. A few (or more) spoonfuls of ice cream is the perfect pleasure to top it all off.
What are you savoring this summer? What are your favorite ice cream flavors?
cakes, tea and dreams 
One of the best parts of being a grown-up is being able to periodically decide that ice cream is nutritious and counts as dinner.
My favorite is teaberry, but it’s very difficult to find.
It’s the other way round here: usually, in the summer I prefer fruity ice cream, but this year my appetite is for chocolate flavors. But as I’m cutting back on sweets, we didn’t have a lot.
My highlight in homemade ice cream: gooseberry elderflower.
A post as scrumptious as the subject itself. Totally dig this. 🙂
I’ve been making strawberry basil ice cream at home this summer. Not too much basil, but it has a slight flavor of mint. It is such a good combination! I’m tempted to top it with balsamic vinegar syrup, like chocolate sauce. I guess it’s the savory coming out in me. You have tempted me, however to buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s… Maybe this weekend!
Yum. My favorite is chocolate peanut butter. But really, I’m equal opportunity when it comes to ice cream. We’ll have to go to Jeni’s Ice Cream next time you’re in Nashville- you’ll flip out over the flavors!
I have 3 kids and we all love ice cream. We ate a LOT of ice cream this summer from various places – frozen yogurt, too! And my husband and I aren’t afraid to eat it out of the carton in front of the tv, either.
Chocolate of some kind or another is usually my favorite, and I discovered that a rich creamy chocolate eaten with mini marshmallows on top is absolutely delicious!
Love your blog, and love that you post pictures of your ice creams, as well. I’m in love with sea salt caramel ice cream this summer; if you haven’t had any you should definitely try some. I don’t know if you have any near you, but I’m loving the self-serve frozen yogurt shops with fresh fruit toppings (FroYo, SweetYo, etc.). Thanks for sharing…
I’m all about the chocolate ice cream! I know what you mean. I’ve been indulging too much recently as well. hehe 🙂
I haven’t had much ice cream this year–I’m finding that dairy isn’t agreeing with me as much lately, which breaks my heart. But the last ice cream I had was an old-fashioned cheap-as-heck ice cream sandwich. Have you had one lately? The ice cream itself isn’t great, but the cookie! it’s exactly as I remembered, bendy and almost bitter.
[…] ate a cozy dinner at Quaint that night, followed by Scattergories, ice cream (Ben & Jerry’s, of course) and tea in the cozy apartment. And the next day, we played Ping-Pong in midtown before […]