I scream for Ice cream, we all scream for ice cream!
Who doesn’t love ice cream or a tasty frozen dessert? While growing up, I have fond childhood memories of my grandfather buying a small rectangular-shaped carton of Neopolitan Ice cream, three layers together, one flavor of each: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. He would open it from the middle of the carton and slice it like a loaf of bread and serve it to us, grandkids.
As kids, my cousins and I would eat Neopolitan ice cream in several ways:
- Individually – each flavor, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, one at a time
- Combining – chocolate and vanilla or vanilla and strawberry together
- Favorite first – first your favorite flavor, then your second favorite, and finally your least favorite last. For me, it would be strawberry, then chocolate, and finally vanilla.
I cherished these ice cream memories and was curious to see who else in the Local Guides Connect Community wanted to share their childhood memories and share how they enjoy eating the beloved frozen dessert.
Ice Cream Lovers Unite!
Last Saturday, on May 30th, I hosted the 1st ever VIRTUAL: Ice Cream Lovers Meet using Google Hangouts.
The five passionate Ice Cream Local Guides, including me, who participated came from 5 countries:
- North America– Canada ( @Melissa_Langlois ) & U.S.A. (Me)
- Europe – Greece (@Stella2) & Ukraine ( @JaneBurunina )
- Africa– Kenya ( @RobAo )
We covered a lot in 1 hour!
With ice cream and frozen treats, we had to quickly “show and tell” and eat them before they melted! By the end of the hour, we gained a pound (or kilogram) or two. It turned out we had a lot in common.
Our Love for Ice Cream discussion covered:
- Show your favorite types of ice cream (or frozen treats).
- Share your first Ice cream (or frozen treat) childhood memory.
- How do you eat your ice cream (or frozen treats) at home?
- What are your ice cream (or frozen treats) eating/making/buying tips?
- Best place to buy or eat ice cream (or frozen treats) in your city/town (provide Local Guides or Google Maps links).
Shared our Ice Cream Stories
I shared I usually have at least one carton of ice cream in my freezer at all times.
I love all kinds of ice cream or frozen treats, any ice cream with chocolate (can have chunks and swirls besides the ice cream itself), mint, nuts, marshmallows, or fruit. I also enjoy Hawaiian shave ice with condensed milk, Italian gelato, fruit juice popsicles, ice cream cake, ice cream sandwiches, and frozen chocolate-dipped banana, with nuts covering the chocolate.
What I brought to “show and eat” where what I can easily purchase at my local grocery stores:
- Bite-size strawberry ice cream mochi (a Japanese sweet glutenous rice ball filled with strawberry ice cream
- A Klondike bar, which is the classic vanilla ice cream bar encased in chocolate. It now comes in a variety of flavored ice creams.
- My childhood favorite ice cream–Neapolitan
Besides my grandfather’s story, my other fond childhood ice cream memory is my neighborhood ice cream truck. Us, kids, knew when the ice cream man was around because he would play “ice cream music” as he drove around the neighborhood. And like dogs, as soon as we heard the music playing, we would run outside to go to the truck to buy a frozen treat.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a neighborhood ice cream truck anymore. So, I usually buy my ice cream or frozen treats at my local grocery store. I rarely buy ice cream at an ice cream shop.
Getting an ice cream cake was for birthdays. I would also request a chocolate cake, of course, for the cake part, and the ice cream would be mint, toasted almond (vanilla ice cream with toasted almond slices), or almond royal (vanilla ice cream with chocolate swirls, and toasted almonds.
Melissa shared eating ice cream was considered “a special treat” growing up. Living in Montreal, Canada, ice cream was eaten during the summer only. Of course, that has all changed.
Melissa shared that because she is a mother of four kids, she usually makes ice cream or buys it at her local grocery store for them. Her kids only like eating vanilla ice cream, so it does not make financial sense to go to an ice cream shop.
She shared her ice cream cookbook with us and made two ice creams from it: a lemon sherbet and a Kale Blueberry ice cream. We all were very curious to know, “Does it taste like kale?” Why “kale”? Melissa said eating kale flavored ice cream by itself, without the blueberries, is bland, boring.
When Melissa travels, she enjoys visiting ice cream stores or shops. She shared she went to Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Vermont and La Pomme En Cage, a dessert shop in Quebec City, to try out their cute ice cream treats.
Rob shared when he was growing up in Nairobi; there was an “ice cream man” pushing an ice cream cart around his neighborhood. And as I said regarding hearing the distinct ringing of that “ice cream bell,” he and his brother would immediately ask his father for pocket change to buy a frozen treat. The cost of ice cream was not expensive, a few cents or pennies.
Now Rob buys his ice cream at his local grocery store. He shared when there is an ice cream sale; he likes the “Buy One, Gets One Free” deals, which are two ice cream containers shrunk-wrapped together. You get a standard flavor and a “premium” flavor for one low price.
This is different here in America because it is not the flavor that differs in price, but the brand of the ice cream itself. Vanilla ice cream vs. Biscotti cookie dough ice cream would be the same price in the States. But Häagen-Dazs vs. Nestle ice cream could be two different prices.
Jane shared her collection of Ukrainian frozen treats:
- Individual ice cream cone vs. ice cream in a bag
- Frozen yogurt
- Ice cream sandwich
- Fruit popsicle
- Frozen tiramisu
Jane shared ice cream, in general, in her country, is purchased and eaten only during the summer. It is hard to find ice cream or frozen treats during the winter months, which is not like that in the United States or other parts of the world.
For her childhood ice cream memories, Jane would buy her frozen treats at a small shop or stall at the park. The ice cream was basic, not fancy, no frozen yogurt, no frozen tiramisu.
The best for last—Stella
Stella wanted to be the last Local Guide to “show and tell” because she had a special treat for us. She lit her ice cream dessert with a sparkler! We all laughed and were very impressed by her presentation.
She shared when she was growing up; ice cream was also basic in Greece. There was not as much variety as there is now. Stella showed us her buffalo milk vanilla-flavored ice cream.
To make creamy ice coffee, Stella shared she enjoys putting vanilla ice cream in it. She likes buying handmade ice cream waffle cones and bringing them home to scoop ice cream in them for herself and her granddaughter. One of her favorite Greek ice cream brands is Kri Kri.
Stella showed us her impressive single-serving ice cream glass bowls and flatware.
If it were not for her granddaughter, she would prefer to eat ice cream at home than to go and eat at local ice cream shops.
To learn more about the history of ice cream in Greek, Stella provides us this link.
What do we all have in common?
We all eat out of the ice cream container when we are at home! We don’t bother scooping it out and putting it in a bowl. We laughed that we enjoy eating it out of the ice cream container with just a spoon!
Where do you go to eat or buy your ice cream (or frozen treats)?
Here is our Google Maps List to our favorite 12 places to buy or eat ice cream:
Do you love eating ice cream? Have a fond childhood ice cream memory you want to share? Share your country’s ice cream-eating or buying customs below.
Cheers,
Karen
Next Virtual: Ice Cream Lovers Social Meetup
If you are interested in attending, please comment below. I am happy to host again up to 9 Local Guides who want to share and talk about their love for ice cream.
My Next Virtual Meetup is this Saturday, June 6th.
The topic will be about Google Crowdsource. Joining me will be Connect Moderator @ErmesT . We will discuss “What isGoogle Crowdsource?” and our personal Crowdsource experiences, including how we are successfully combining our Local Guides and Crowdsource activities into one: Meet Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides.
NOTE: For this virtual meetup, I will be using Google Meet, with a capacity of 100 participants.
What are “Show & Tell” Virtual Meetups?
My meetups are small in size because I use the free version of Google Hangouts, which has a maximum of up to 10 participants, including me, as the host. The purpose of my Saturday 1-hour virtual meetups is for the Local Guide, who wants to fully interact, “Show & Tell” their favorite things, with up to 9 other Local Guides.
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