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:

First stop, Thomas Sweet Ice Cream & Chocolate:

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):

National Ice Cream Month: Princeton Ice Cream Crawl!