Regulating ice cream trucks.

Right about now many communities are likely hearing the jingle of the ice cream truck rolling down their streets. But some of those towns are imposing restrictions on the trucks, even going as far as to require a license to sell, as detailed here

While I can see the need for CORI checks, as the article details, what possible reason does a town have for licensing an ice cream truck? It has no storefront.
As for restricting when the jingles can be played, I fully support rules along those lines. Anybody familiar with the childish songs knows how annoying they become day after hot summer day. There has to be a better way to get a customer’s attention.

Mollie and her ice cream.

My dog, a black Labrador retriever named Mollie, recently passed away, but she left me with a cherished gift — a great memory of me her and I enjoying ice cream.
Late last month, I was trying to think of a way to get Mollie out of the house in order to break the monotony of her usual routine. However, that was difficult because Mollie’s health was starting to fail. Eventually, I figured she could handle a short car ride to get some ice cream, one of her favorite treats.
So, a few Saturdays ago, Mollie, my father and I, along with our other dog, Sophie, piled into the car a drove out to The Dairy Joy in Weston. My dad ordered both dogs each a medium dish of vanilla soft serve, knowing they would likely gobble up the whole serving. The task of feeding Mollie fell to me. Being blind, Mollie at first was unable to notice I was putting the ice cream in front of her, however, after a few calm commands to get her attention, she noticed. Boy, did she notice. Her eyes quickly widened with joy and she cocked her head to the side and began devouring the ice cream. Lick after lick, Mollie basked in the sun enjoying her dessert with her loving friend, me. I paid careful attention to making sure she did not tip her treat onto the ground, but also saw the joy in her eyes that she was doing two of her favorite things — being outside and consuming food.
That day would be one of the last days I saw Mollie. On June 12, I headed back to her home at my parent’s house at 1 p.m. By the time I arrived, she was gone. But she left behind my favorite ice cream memory.

Who said politicians are boring?

The public rarely gets a glimpse of any political candidate’s daily personal routine, but it turns out at least one has a rather tasty one — being an ice cream wizard. Democratic candidate for Massachusetts state treasurer Steve Grossman is an ice cream aficionado. I can’t do justice to Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory’s account of Grossman’s love for ice cream, so I will just provide a link

It is never too cold for ice cream

The worldwide economic recession makes some businesses losers, but other winners. Of all places, an ice cream company in Siberia (yes, the freezing cold part of Russia) is thriving.
Inmarko is selling its ice cream products briskly and is even planning to unveil new novelties soon, according to a BBC News report.
Such a story goes against the conventional wisdom that nobody is making money in this economy, but the following quote, referring to the 1998 debt crisis in Russia, explains it simply.
“Cheap ice cream became the only treat many people were able to afford, and Inmarko geared up to increase production,” it reads.
This observation captures the very essence of ice cream and its importance in our culture. It serves so many purposes, including being a cold treat on a hot day, an affordable treat when you are depressed or a way to bond with a friend after an arduous day.
Next time you are frustrated with your salary or pay, just remember, there is always money for ice cream!

Death of an ice cream mogul.

Irvin Robbins had a key understanding of the irresitable powers ice cream held over his employees. So, he let them eat all the free ice cream they wanted.
“I don’t want my employees stealing,” Robbins told CBS News.
Robbins, one half of theam that founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, died May 6, CBS News reported late last month. He left behind a legacy of the national chain, of which he sold his interests in 1967, that customers now see at Dunkin Donuts locations today.
Robbins, after his discharge from the Army, cashed in his insurance policy and built his first store in Glendale Calif. A year later, Robbins’ brother-in-law, Burton Baskin, started his own store in Pasedena, Calif. Soon after, the pair joined forces and created the chain and soon began selling them to managers as a franchise operation. Obviously, since then, the chain has grown, and the company was told to United Fruit in 1967, with Robbins working for the ice cream firm until he retired in the 1970s.
Death seems to be casting its somber shadow over so many aspects of life lately, but it should be kept in perspective. A short story is necessary to understand my point. Yesterday, I was driving in Leicester when my friend Kendrick called me and told me Tim Russert, the host of Meet the Press which airs on NBC, had died from a heart attack. I spent much of the next 24 hours reading about Russert’s death, his life and work, all the while wondering what to make of not only his death, but death in general. My conclusion — celebrate their life, don’t dwell on the fact you will never see them again because it will only make coping with the loss even more difficult.
In that case, when I die, my mourners should sit down crack open a case of my favorite flavor, peanut butter cup, and eat it until the feel bloated! My motto — ice cream is the cure for all woes!

Margie’s Candies

Margie’s Candies, which I visited in Chicago during a vacation a few weeks ago, is the one of the driving factors for writing this blog The visit gave me a chance to take in the neat neighborhood that is quickly shedding its dumpy façade for a much nicer one. Hopefully, the ice cream shop can continue to be a peaceful place for people together and highlight what one of the few simples universal truths — that ice cream is delicious!

Payment Methods:Cash

Toppings: They have them, but was unable to document the amount of them.

Rating Breakdown:

Scientific Ice Cream Sample: Pecan roll sundae served with hot fudge, a wafer cookie, and pecans..

Price Paid For Sample: $5.00

Value: I got a lot, for a little, only $5.00 covered the ice cream, hot fudge, and a vanilla wafer on top of the sundae. The dish it was served in, however, made the sample appear far bigger than it really was.

Location: Margie’s is located at a major four-way intersection in the Logan Square neighborhood of Northwest Chicago. Pedestrians can easily stroll to it by bus and good old fashioned shoe leather. Trains also run by the station. Oversized sundaes, known as jumbo ones, were also available.

Menu: Only 10 flavors adorned the menu, the number of sundaes filling out the menu’s ranks seemed endless.. Many fruit and candy-based flavors filled out the menu

Quality: The sample was excellent mostly thanks to the hard packed scoops, however, it did break one major rule of mixings. The mixings, much to my surprise, were served off to the side of the sample, instead of right on top of them. Points lost for the faux pas. The coffee and cookies & cream scoops, which survived the sweltering Chicago heat, teamed up to make the sample rather sweet. The cookies and cream did not add much of that sugary flavor, however, the coffee portion made up for that.

The visit to this shop was a long time coming, with high expectations. Prior to the trip, a friend told me that Margie’s was an ice cream “institution.” What he didn’t tell me was that institution dated back to the 1950s. Juke boxes, and other memorabilia from the era littered the shop, which crammed customers into close quarters.

Numerical Ratings

Quality: 40 out of 45 possible points

Menu: 22 out of 25 possible points

Value: 20 out of 20 possible points

Location: 10 out of 10 possible points

Final IceCreamology Total: 92 out of 100 possible points

Location: Margie’s Candies. 1960 N. Western Avenue, Chicago, IL. 60647. Phone: 773-384-1035. Web Site: none.

Tastee Freez

Breaking news: Tastee Freez soft serve ice cream is the primary cause of large numbers of obese people in Chicago.

During a recent trip to Chicago, I discovered this unique soft serve ice cream shack, located in Logan Square, drawing huge crowds of hot residents seeking refuge from the heat. Craving an easy to eat treat, my friend Jonathan and I wandered over there to wash away the mediocre Chinese food we had just consumed.

Setting foot into the shop immediately propels customers back to the era of old school soft serve. The store is shaped like a large box and looks shabbily built, like it might collapse at any moment. Adorned with 1950s décor, I can picture customers, at some point in the past, receiving door side service from roller skating nurses. The overhead lights emphasize this feeling during night time visits to the area.

Visitors, at any time of day, would notice the symbolism Tastee Freez holds in the unifying power ice cream has. Politics, race, and age can all divide Americans, but we all agree ice cream is fantastic. People of all races, shapes, ages, and languages populated the shop ordering in English and Spanish. What a wonderful fight, which showcases the best American can be. Oh, by the way, the ice cream was pretty good.

Payment Methods: Cash

Toppings: Available, but unknown number of them

Rating Breakdown:

Scientific Ice Cream Sample: Pecan Delight sundae.

Price Paid For Sample: $4.38

Value: The sample filled a large cup container, and I got quite a bit for $4.38.

Location: The shop could not be in a better location, on a street corner, near bus stops, the CTA California stop and in a residential neighborhood. Nothing stops pedestrians or motorists from getting to the shop.

Menu: I admit, I did not do a great job documenting the menu of Tastee Freez, but it was about 58 flavors ranging from pecan to other fruit and candy flavors. Stickers also littered the windows offering various sundaes. But, I was slightly annoyed when I couldn’t find the menu at first because it was hidden behind a wall near the cash register. How am I supposed to make my selection when I can’t see the menu?

Quality: While it didn’t exactly “hit the spot”, the sample was tasty (insert rim shot here!).

Perfect soft serve texture can be summed up in one word: smooth, and this sample was.

The flavor was hiding, but the richness was out in full force. Pecan sauce slid down the sample, filling my mouth with a wet caramel taste. Overall, the sample itself was rather rich.

Lookup the word “sweet” in the dictionary and a picture of a pecan will be beside the definition. The pecan strewn about the sample tried to infuse the ice cream with unbearable sweetness, but failed. The whipped cream, however, was very sweet.

As mentioned above, taste was not lacking, but I had limited time to soak it up because the soft serve melts quickly, especially in the hot Chicago weather.

Numerical Ratings

Quality: 37 out of 45 possible points

Menu: 22 out of 25 possible points

Value: 20 out of 20 possible points

Location: 10 out of 10 possible points

Final IceCreamology Total: 89 out of 100 possible points

Location: Tastee Freez. 2815 W. Armitage Avenue, Chicago, IL. 60647. Hours: unknown. Phone: unknown. Web site: http://www.tastee-freez.com/about.php

Help! The government stole my ice cream—sort of!

It seems as if every part of the world is infected with a politically correct attitude. Now, there is one more victim.
Responding to complaints that music from ice trucks is disturbing neighborhoods, officials in Bakersfield, Calif. are proposing an ordinance to restrict their operation. The ordinance would let the trucks operate for longer hours May through September and fewer during the academic year.
One word comes to mind: Please! Why does this bother residents now, but not in the 1950s and 60s when residents craved the time the trucks came rolling down their block?
Several reasons account for that, I think. As a society, we’re always looking for something to complain about. If it’s not the neighbor yelling at you, it’s the teacher who assigned too much homework.
Patience is the other reason. Now individuals don’t even have the patience to deal with the music once per day, for a few minutes. Seriously, how intolerant are you if you can’t deal with this, even when it means seeing kids happily stroll outside for a nice cool treat?
As a result, society has lost perspective, a frame of reference, and ability to prioritize issues. Society has more too lose than gain from passing this measure, and I don’t need to spell them out.

Brothers In Ice Cream

Irvin Robbins had a key understanding of the irresitable powers ice cream held over his employees. So, he let them eat all the free ice cream they wanted.
“I don’t want my employees stealing,” Robbins told CBS News.
Robbins, one half of theam that founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, died May 6, CBS News reported late last month. He left behind a legacy of the national chain, of which he sold his interests in 1967, that customers now see at Dunkin Donuts locations today.
Robbins, after his discharge from the Army, cashed in his insurance policy and built his first store in Glendale Calif. A year later, Robbins’ brother-in-law, Burton Baskin, started his own store in Pasedena, Calif. Soon after, the pair joined forces and created the chain and soon began selling them to managers as a franchise operation. Obviously, since then, the chain has grown, and the company was told to United Fruit in 1967, with Robbins working for the ice cream firm until he retired in the 1970s.
Death seems to be casting its somber shadow over so many aspects of life lately, but it should be kept in perspective. A short story is necessary to understand my point. Yesterday, I was driving in Leicester when my friend Kendrick called me and told me Tim Russert, the host of Meet the Press which airs on NBC, had died from a heart attack. I spent much of the next 24 hours reading about Russert’s death, his life and work, all the while wondering what to make of not only his death, but death in general. My conclusion — celebrate their life, don’t dwell on the fact you will never see them again because it will only make coping with the loss even more difficult.
In that case, when I die, my mourners should sit down crack open a case of my favorite flavor, peanut butter cup, and eat it until the feel bloated! My motto — ice cream is the cure for all woes!

Death of a leader

I have grown very weary of all the death I have witnessed lately, but some of those tears could be wiped away by the sweet taste of ice cream. I searched for ice cream news on Google and found a terrific article by a journalist friend of Benazir Bhutto, the recently murdered opposition leader of Pakistan. Let me reprint, with credit (Hindustan Times, 12/29/07) first segment of the story:

Sitting in my digs at Cambridge after dinner during the Easter vacation of 1976, Benazir, who had driven over from Oxford that morning with her friend Tricia, suddenly suggested we dash out for ice cream. So we bundled into her MGB sports car which was parked outside. But instead of driving towards the centre of town, she headed for the A40.

“Where are you going?” I asked perplexed.

“London! It’s the nearest Baskin Robbins I know.”
Benazir loved ice cream. She could eat vast quantities of it. In later years, her favourite became Ben & Jerry’s. Whenever I finished a particularly acrimonious interview, she would insist that we eat ice cream together. “It will cool you down!” she would laugh.

There were several interviews that annoyed her, a few that upset her and at least one that riled her. But she never held that against me. She accepted that a journalist had a job to do just as she insisted that a politician couldn’t answer every question. She always ensured that our professional relationship — as interviewer and Prime Minister or Opposition leader — remained separate from our friendship.

This story nearly brought me to tears, as many thing do. But the account shows the unique power ice cream can have. Eat it when your happy or eat it when your sad. Are you a world leader having a bad day? Have some ice cream. Are you a factory worker leaving the night shift? Grab a pint on your way home.
Some of the best times of my short life have been topped off by ice cream, coffee Oreo usually. The spoon was brought to mouth soon after sad occasions too.
Here’s to you Bhutto, and may ice cream fill your heavenly existence.