A Tale of Two Caramels

Truthfully, I'm not a huge caramel fanatic. It's nice, but not my usual go-to flavor in the ice cream realm. And yet of late, I've found myself intrigued, seduced, perhaps by the haunting caramels I tasted at Rockpool.

On my first visit to Bi-Rite, I spotted the Salted Carmel flavor. Could the flavor of those transcendent Rockpool caramels be found in frozen form? I had to find out. I loved the salty note, and though they warned that this ice cream was particularly soft due to a high sugar content, I found the texture a bit disappointing in its abouttomeltrighawayness. Still, no complaints about the flavor.

My recent trip to Ici had me sampling three flavors. I hadn't realized just how difficult it is to hang onto three spoonfuls of samples at once (or how D managed four!). Their Burnt Caramel was luscious. And the texture was truly that of an ice cream. Paired with their Chicory offering, it was a heavenly cone. And as D and I walked down the street with our ice cream treats, I hadn't the faintest idea of where I was walking or that we were talking. The ice cream was that good.

Fauxberry Tourism

Four days, three shops. Sadly it's been several months since the Pinkberry control tasting, but I did stumble upon Harmony yogurt mere days after my Pinkberry experience, so I'm using that as my comparison. None of the local flavors has that special Pinkberry zing, but in a pinch, I'd visit Harmony for a tangy frozen treat. I tasted the plain yogurt flavor at each locale to be fair.

Harmony (San Carlos) - It's cold like pinkberry, smooth, and yogurty without being artificial. The shop is also pleasingly clean. I happened upon this while driving to a meeting, did a double take, and then stopped for a snack. I'm starting to like it plain without any fruit toppings. Thumbs up.

Fraiche (Palo Alto) - I didn't love the extra sweet note in this yogurt.

Papamingo (Berkeley) - It starts with an exceedingly tart note and ends with lemon. Not my favorite.

Someone Else's Garden

Of Timpani and Marshmallows

At the symphony on a recent evening, I was again struck by how the mallet one uses to strike the timpani resembles a marshmallow ready to be roasted over a fire.

My Kind of Sandwich

Sandwiches of the ice cream and cookie variety. It was a bit of a struggle to get the ice cream into sandwiches without incurring giant ice cream thumb prints, and that the cookies were still a bit warm made for extra squishiness. Will see what they taste like frozen. I suspect I will find the giant chocolate chips in the cookie too hard and the cookie itself stone-like. But it's a start.

Where are the cooling racks?

I haven't the faintest idea. It's a bit difficult for me to fathom how I've misplaced two half sheet instruments. In the meantime, I'm cooling cookies on plates, which results in less-than-flat cookies not optimal for stacking. Yes, they're chocolate chip.