Things are happening (and other stuff too.)

Well, we’ve just returned from what is sure to be our last vacation in a looong time. I’m calling it the Mini Ice Cream Tour of the Northeast. We consumed ice cream from Little Baby’s Ice Cream, Capogiro (okay, that was gelato…and we went at least three times), The Franklin Fountain, Arethusa, and the Farmer’s Cow. Most of our ice cream eating was done in Philly, the city we moved from, and the reason we opened an ice cream business. For some reason, there are way more ice cream joints in the northeast than down south. When we moved here, we were stunned (surprised? some other word?) at the lack of ice cream parlours in our new town. So when Yoni decided grad school wasn’t for him, it seemed only natural that we’d fill the ice cream void in Durham. Now that we make ice cream for a living, it’s interesting to go back to the places we used to frequent and see if they’re as good as we remembered (mostly, yes!)

Our first ice cream stop was Capogiro, which is actually a gelato shop with quite a few locations in Philly (and quite an online shop, if you want gelato shipped to your door!) We wished we’d thought ahead and emailed the owners so we could talk shop, but we were poor planners. Still, Capogiro has some of the nicest employees ever and we chatted them up about the business for a while. I got my old favorite, gelato con brioche:

We also made a trip to The Franklin Fountain (check out their website, seriously. There’s hours of fun stuff on there.) Being back there reminded me that whenever our customers ask what my favorite flavor is, I avoid telling the truth – vanilla ice cream in hot fudge sundae form is, in my opinion, ice cream perfection. So of course that’s what I got. Mr. Parlour was a wee bit more adventurous and got the Mt. Vesuvius; a sundae with coffee ice cream, hot fudge, malt powder, brownie pieces, and whipped cream.

I think that’s my “how am I gonna eat this whole thing?” face. Don’t worry, I did it.

Our last ice cream stop in Philly was at a place that’s opened since we moved away; Little Baby’s Ice Cream. We got the speculoos ice cream, which we ate too fast to take a picture of. But I did take a picture of their “pay it forward” board, because I like the idea and want to use it in our shop! Folks can come in and pre-pay for someone else’s ice cream. Check it out:

The rest of our ice cream eating was done in a tiny town in Connecticut, where we got to try ice cream made by former Manolo Blahnik executives (crazy!)

Now we’re back in town, and construction on our space has officially started. No, we still don’t have an answer to the “when are you opening” question, but at least now we can say SOON. We can’t wait to start serving up ice cream (and lots of other treats) in our shop!