Saturday, July 18, 2009

National Ice Cream Month: Princeton Ice Cream Crawl!

Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month? And that tomorrow, the 3rd Sunday in July, is National Ice Cream Day?

To celebrate, Hubby Kris and I headed to Princeton, NJ, a local ice cream haven featuring 5 ice cream shops within a 1/2 mile radius!

First, to build up our appetites, a stroll in the beautiful historic campus of Princeton University:

Bunnies everywhere!:


Princeton's charming
Palmer Square:

This mirror was originally used in the Fun House at Palisades Park circa 1933:

We chose to do a
Blend-In, hard ice cream blended with up to 3 'mix ins', Chai ice cream with Heath Bar (small $4.10):

Yum! Super creamy, a bit spicy from the Chai, with little crunchies from the blended Heath Bar:


2nd stop, Halo Pub:

Hubby is so easily amused:

The ice cream is made at Halo Farm, a nearby microdairy. Pints of high quality ice cream are only $2 at their
retail store in Trenton:

Inside the microdairy:

Halo Pub is set up like a real pub, with hand-dipped hard ice cream or several flavors of soft serve 'on tap':

Several flavors of hard ice cream can be 'creamaided' - turned into soft serve via their Creamaider machine. Also offered: 'Weakdae', a smaller sized sundae:

Kris' Coffee Chocolate Almond ice cream (1 full scoop - only $1.75!):

Can you believe this is only 1/2 a scoop of Rum Raisin? (even cheaper at $1.25):


Our 3rd stop, The Bent Spoon, was voted as one of
MSN's top 9 ice cream places in America and one of Ed Levine's Top 10 most memorable bites of 2007:

Check out the line up outside:

We love this place because they use organic seasonal ingredients from local farms. A small cup ($3.50) comes with two flavors so I chose two sorbets, Purple Plum & Lavender and Blueberry Basil:

The Blueberry Basil sorbet had intense blueberry flavor with a tiny hint of Jersey sweet basil. The Purple Plum and Lavender sorbet was a bit strong, Kris said he could still taste the lavender several hours later!:

Kris' large Spoon Sundae featuring 3 gelato flavors: Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, and Cafe Latte ($7):

And don't leave without trying their famous Banana Whip, made with only 1 ingredient - organic bananas:

The Banana Whip tasted pretty amazing, but I felt like I'd eaten 5 bananas afterwards:


Final stop, Twist for some healthy probiotic frozen yogurt:

Self Serve, $0.45 per ounce:

Lots of toppings to choose from:

New York non-fat cheesecake yogurt, with strawberries, graham cracker crumbs and little bits of mochi:


Still hungry for more? At
Ricky's Candy, Cones & Chaos, finish their 15 scoop 'Belly Buster' in 15 minutes and make their 'Hall of Fame' (more like 'hall of SHAME'):


And you can't leave Princeton without stopping at
Hoagie Haven for one of their famous sandwiches:


Shout out to
OysterCulture for reminding me to get some Phat Lady hoagie action during my visit to Princeton ($4.95 for a 'small' Phat Lady sandwich filled with cheesesteak, mozzarella sticks, and french fries, with a squeeze of ketchup and hot sauce):


I'd told Kris beforehand that I was submitting this post to the
Ice Cream Social contest, held by ScottySnacks, SavortheThyme, and Tangled Noodle.

After we'd managed to hit 4 Princeton ice cream shops in a row,
Kris declared, "YEAH...we're totally going to WIN!"
Phyllis:
"HUH?"
Kris: "You know, because NO ONE can eat more ice cream than I can!" (at this point he flexed his arms and did a Hulk Hogan pose)
Phyllis: "You thought the Ice Cream Social was an ice cream EATING contest?!"

Kris: "Um, yeah..wasn't that the whole point of doing this?"

Well, I don't call him 'Einstein' for nothin':


Phyllis, 'Before' and 'After' (as depicted by the colorful mural on the wall at Thomas Sweet):



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24 comments:

kiss my spatula said...

now that is my idea of a perfect day out! looks like i need to move to princeton immediately. :)

Phyllis said...

kiss my spatula: Thanks for your comment! We always have a great time in Princeton. Gorgeous fun blog you have!

chow and chatter said...

wow what a place I love your blog and your love of eating lol Rebecca

Sue said...

C'mon, tell the truth. You must have taken a MONTH to eat all that. You really did that in ONE day? You two are awesome! There's a little contest that happens in Coney Island on July 4th that you would be perfect for.

Great blog. Your poutine post was amazing too.

Jenn said...

I had no idea that it's national ice cream month. Let's see today's the 18th...that means I need to do some catching up. 18 scoops of ice cream here I come!!!

Unknown said...

Hmmm... I wonder if your hubby can eat more ice cream than me. I dont think he could. I work out u know! Actually, i have a theory that its not possible for me to get full on ice cream.
I have eaten so much food today. I am feeling kinda gross but i still want to eat. I am totally feeling like your after picture.
p.s. had mcdonalds mcflurry today, was nice but i feel like u had more fun than me in princeton ;P.

OysterCulture said...

Very fun - you would have beat me, as much as I'd love believe I could pull off a sampling on the scale that you did, there is no way. I loved living vicariously through you for this one and the flavors sounded wonderful.
So do tell, did the Phat Lady sing? You never said if you liked it

KennyT said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA x 10

After the poutines, u 2 still have room to eat that much ice cream in a day, WOW WOW WOW!!

You're right, Phyllis, bunnies hopping everywhere in NY, this really freaks me out.......... I won't go to NJ/NY, haha

Phyllis said...

Chow and Chatter: Hi Rebecca, thanks, love your blog too :)

Sue: Haha...luckily ice cream is hubby's favorite food and we also split everything we ate that day! And are you referring to that Nathan's hot dog eating contest - LOL!

Jenn: Sounds like you need one of those 15 scooper 'belly busters'! Have fun catching up :)

Heavenly Housewife: Ooooh...is that a challenge - Hubby Kris vs Heavenly Housewife? Hubby will TAKE YOU DOWN (he is very competitive)
p.s. I heart Mcdonalds

OysterCulture: Any foodie could have done it - the secret was pacing ourselves and switching it up at every location (sorbet and non-fat yogurt doesn't weigh you down that much) And I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I think the Phat Lady could have been Phat-er! I was expecting it to be monstrous, but it was quite manageable (at least for eating champions like us). But exactly the type of food you would expect on a college campus - messy, carb-heavy, and cheap!

Kenny: oh puh-lease! Poutine was soooo last month. We are on to bigger and better things :D
I think you would have been great on this ice cream crawl - one of your favorite foods, right? And I was going to put a warning for you about the bunnies but I didn't want to reveal your phobia to the world, but I guess you just did :)

Unknown said...

I have to agree with Kenny about the bunny thing. Hubby and I lived in a very rural part of Wales for one year and there were bunnies all over the place. They especially like to come out at night time when they thing nobody is looking. And you know whats really horrid? When the car lights see the bunnies, the bunny eyes flash (the way a cats do) and they look positively evil. I dont like bunnies!

xxx said...

oh wow! i had rum & raisin yesterday.. and adoooooh.. loved it.. went to scoops to get em.. 3 scoops rm12.. :( sad sad sad.. expensive bah.. but seriously i love icecream as long as its not malaysian made.. (sorry to say) hehe..

Teanna said...

ICE CREAM HEAVEN. I would be in so much trouble at those places! Ice cream is my #1 weakness. On a different note, I just sent this post to a friend of mine whose husband has the option to take a job in Princeton after doing a short stint in Denmark (or they can stay in Denmark). I am hoping this will swing them my way! haha!

Phyllis said...

Heavenly Housewife: Oh dear,
what's with all the bunny hate? Peter Cottontail is not evil!

Mira: RM 12! Geez, can buy 4 dinners with that! Dairy products in Malaysia are so expensive.

Teanna: LOL - bribing them with ice cream! Good idea!

amycaseycooks said...

That is my kind of day. I now must plan a trip to Princeton to try all the fantastic foods.

It goes without saying I won't need to eat for a week after my trip.

Phyllis said...

EAT!: Thanks for visiting! I always say that I won't have to eat for a week after one of these eating marathons but I'm always hungry a few hours later :)

Tangled Noodle said...

I was away from your blog for too long and almost missed this ice cream crawl! Thank goodness you entered the social (BTW, you're in my 'group' for a round-up post!)

I am so in awe of your food forays - you don't do things by half-measures, although you did order just a 1/2 scoop of rum raisin. Wuss. 8-P

Phyllis said...

Tangled Noodle: YAY! I can't wait to see your ice cream social roundup! And haha...I admit, the half scoop was a pretty sissy move. Promise I won't do it again ;p

Spryte said...

What a great ice cream adventure!!

Phyllis said...

Spryte: Hi, thanks for visiting :) Scrumptious recipes on your blog!

Hannah Miller said...

I live in Princeton and ice cream is one of my favorite parts of it! Hey and I work for the lady who made that Einstein cut out- she gives all kinds of amazing tours of Princeton, including PUB and GRUB crawls! You should check them out if you want to learn more about P-town!
www.princetontourcompany.com

Phyllis said...

Hannah Miller: So cool that your boss was responsible for the Einstein cut-out! Thanks so much for your comment. I checked out the tour site and the Princeton pub and grub crawls look awesome. Going to check one out someday :)

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