Cheers to the 5th President of the United States!

The town of Monroe is in the western part of Connecticut in Fairfield County and is named for our fifth President, James Monroe. Sip & Scoop is along one of the main drags in Monroe in an unassuming strip mall.

They offer a wide varieties of flavors in cups, cones and sundaes. In addition they have chocolate and vanilla soft serve and a lot of toppings. And as tempting as it is, Sip & Scoop offer crepes as well!

I had my old faithful, a coffee-chocolate milkshake, Mighty Mo had a chocolate soft-serve sundae, and our boy Shelly Bean had a scoop of rich, creamy vanilla in a cup.

If you appreciate our past presidents, head to Monroe for a taste of history!

It’s a long way from Hampton

About five miles down the road from my last stop is the Stop N’ Go in Chaplin, another small eastern Connecticut town. Chaplin has multiple businesses along Route 6 and a couple gas stations but no groceries or ice cream shops.

Just to be different I went for a pint of Hershey’s Green Mint Chip. Hersheys was my grandparents favorite so this brought back a lot of memories of driving around eastern Connecticut with my ma and pa.

What to do?

On my way home from a meeting in Ashford, I needed to stop for fuel or petro and much to my surprise the Hampton Mini-Mart sold ice cream products! As I entered the door of the Hampton Mini-Mart, an ice cream freezer was staring me in the face. What to do?

Resorting to my old standby, I opted for a Klondike Bar which was nice cold with that sweet vanilla center with chocolate crunchy coating.

After I got my fuel I was on my way but not for long! 😉

Shooting stars!

After visiting with Magnificent Nicholas, we stopped in Prospect at a legendary place called The Big Dipper Ice Cream Factory. The Big Dipper has been around for 35 years or so. They make their own ice cream and distribute it to a number of places, mostly in western Connecticut.

The Big Dipper offers a wide variety of homemade flavors, with a variety of toppings and sprinkles including bunny poop! They sell four or five different cones, cups, sundaes and other tasty products. They also sell ice cream cakes, pies and cookies that look delicious.

Maureen had a chocolate-vanilla soft serve twist with chocolate sprinkles on a chocolate dipped wafer cone. The soft serve was a bit “soft” but tasty. I tried something different…the pistachio ice cream on a sugar cone that had whole pistachios in a sweet cream base with sea salt, which was good and refreshing!

If you are looking for a shooting star, head to the Big Dipper in Prospect.

Hundreds and thousands…

Our trip through the western highlands of Connecticut took us to the town of Kent. Kent is on the New York border and home to three boarding schools, which gives the town a vibrant feel. Adding to the character and vibrancy of Kent is 45 on Main.

45 has been under new management for the past two years. Gary, the owner brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to 45 and has connected to his community providing a place for all those students and locals to congregate year round.

Big Dipper ice cream is the product of choice and it does not disappoint. Maureen passed on ice cream (the shame) and had the homemade, dark chocolate nonpareils. I went with the usual, coffee milkshake with a scoop of chocolate. To be honest this was the richest coffee flavored ice cream we have had in the past seven years. Maureen, our communications director, struck up a conversation with Shelby and Gary about common names for “sprinkles.” Gary who is Scottish refers to them as “hundreds and thousands,” a common expression from his homeland. Maureen, of course, refers to them as “shots.” Gary shared with us another product of Scotland, nougat wafers and oysters, which can be filled with ice cream. Hmm, that might just be next time.

All of the staff at 45 create a fun environment and give the vibe that you want to come back and see what they are up to. I know we will be back this summer!

Sheldon’s Sunday drive…

On a Sunday afternoon we took a drive with our favorite companion, Sheldon Cooper to northwest Connecticut. We drove through the hills on a gray day and ended up in the quaint Connecticut town of Warren. Warren has a charming village feel as does the Warren General Store where they make sandwiches, prepared meals and have a cooler with ice cream!

They offer a couple varieties of pints and ice cream sandwiches. Big Dipper ice cream from Prospect (CT) provides a variety of flavors in pints and ice cream sandwiches. And they offer Cold Fusion sorbet products too.

Maureen and I shared a pint of Cold Fusion Lemon Sorbet, along with a chicken salad sandwich. Both were delicious and the lemon sorbet was a good dessert after the sandwich.

And away we go…

I am embarrassed it has been 5 months since our last post but 2025 is off and running. On a brisk spring day we took a drive south to Mongers Market in Bridgeport, an indoor flea market with vintage clothing, furniture and architectural items. After browsing Mungers, we drove to Main Street Creamery, a drive-in that is open year round.

Main Street Creamery offers hard ice cream and soft serve, cup, cones, shakes, frappes and Sunday’s. Mighty Mo started the year off with a sugar-free, chocolate frozen yogurt parfait with hot fudge, whip cream and peanuts on top. I on the other hand stuck with old faithful, a coffee milkshake with a coop of chocolate, which was rich and creamy and hit the spot!

Looking forward to 2025. I hope many of you will join us in the “knights of the round table” quest! Happy ice cream!

Like the sign says…

On a mild August afternoon I took a drive to Wentworth’s in Hamden. Wentworth’s may very well be the first place I had ice cream when I moved to the New Haven area 41 years ago.

Wentworth’s is well known for their delicious homemade ice cream and it did not disappoint. I had my usual, coffee milkshake with a scoop of chocolate and it was delicious! They offer a wide variety of flavors, cups, cones, shakes, sundaes and …cakes!

This really isn’t bad…

On the way home from the Trumbull Mall we took a diversion and traveled to Plasko’s Farm and Creamery. Plasko’s is an active farm that has a corn maze, pumpkin patch and creamery and the place was hopping this Sunday afternoon.

Plasko’s makes their own soft serve and hard ice cream and offer cups, cones, enormous sundaes and ice cream sandwiches and cakes that look delicious!

Nothing at Plasko’s seemed standard except for the tradition soft serve flavors chocolate, vanilla and a twist. There were about 15 hard ice cream flavors that all seemed to be original. My soft serve aficionado, Mighty Mo, had a twist on a gourmet cone with chocolate chunk.

I had to modify my standard and had the double chocolate milk shake as they didn’t have coffee ice cream. They did have coffee Oreo ice from but I was skeptical of that in the shake. My shake was great, rich and creamy and thick-thick-thick as Dan Connor would say from the television series Roseanne.

If you’re looking for some ice cream that “isn’t that bad” head to Plasko’s this fall.

Lots of surprises in Norfolk!

On our way home from a trip to the northwest we stopped for coffee at Berkshire Country Store in Norfolk. We have traveled through this town on several occasions but this was the first time we stopped and what a pleasant surprise.

We were met by two staff who were friendly, charming and very helpful. They had a small freezer with standard commercial ice cream products, but they also sold gelato and sorbet from Cold Fusion from Westport. They were out of a few flavors but had about six or seven options available.

I opted for the Belgian chocolate that had a rich, strong flavor that was creamy and tasty! Maureen passed on any ice cream of her own but as my official chocolate aficionado thought the Belgian flavor was insane!

If you’re passing through the northwest or out leaf peeping this fall check out the Berkshire Country Store for some gelato, a sandwich or both. I know we will be back!

Fore!

Spent a rainy Sunday afternoon on a drive to the northwest part of the State in search of ice cream and mini-golf! In the town of Canaan is a rustic ice cream place called Caddie Shack that also has a challenging mini-golf course.

Caddie Shack offers a variety of one of Gifford’s ice cream flavors plus soft serve. They make cups, cones, shakes, sundaes and a variety of hamburgers, hot doggies, and sandwiches and everything was very reasonably priced.

I had the usual…coffee milk shake with a scoop of chocolate. Maureen had wafer cone with a single scoop of fly fishing fudge! My shake had the consistent flavor of Gifford’s ice cream and was well made and thick throughout! MO’s cone was a bit in the sweet side which is amazing for this choc-o-holic!

If your out leaf peeping this fall head to the charming northwest part of the state., swing by Canaan and Caddie Shack for some ice cream and mini-golf. You can’t go wrong!

Around the world…

We are back from our trip to Japan. We started with a three-day layover in Tokyo where we visited some former students from Yale and a whirlwind tour of Tokyo with our friend Makato. After Tokyo we traveled to Okinawa for the 39th annual SPNHC meeting, which was incredible. Even a rain storm during our beach party banquet couldn’t damper the spirits of these hardy SPNHC members.

We enjoyed ice cream at a couple of places. Blue Seal, a brand that has been around Japan since 1947 and is very popular choice in Okinawa. Much to our surprise we found a Baskin Robbin’s at a mall close to our hotel in Naha.

Thanks to Erika Gardner, a friend from the Smithsonian and Lilli Cooper and her colleagues from Picturae, we found a nice small eatery near Tsuboya Pottery Street that served a delicious vanilla soft serve that hit the spot on a hot Friday afternoon of shopping with our friend Sue Ryder from the The Natural History Museum in London.

On some level this might be considered a “work trip” although that’s hard to say as I am retired. But on the other hand I have known many of these attendees for many, many years so it’s more like a family reunion.

Keep traveling, enjoy some ice cream and remember to smile!

Since 1959…

Been waiting for the chance to get ice cream in the beautiful, rural town of Lebanon and it did not disappoint. Today we traveled to the Lebanon Country Fair and our fair share of ice cream choices.

There were four options for us. The Future Farmers of America operated by the Lebanon High School, a Hawaiian “Shaved” ice, a soft serve operation and a booth selling frozen bananas and smoothies.

Since Maureen began her career in Hawaii I am very familiar with “shave ice” and her love of soft serve. The frozen smoothies were tempting as today was a bit warm.

But you know me…I have a hard time passing up a milk shake, especially one that’s supporting a local high school and the local farming community. Yup, I had a coffee milkshake with a scoop of chocolate that was thick and tasty as we toured the fairgrounds.

Connecticut has several agricultural fairs all over the state. I urge you to check one or two out and enjoy the some good local dairy products.

On the road again…

On my way back from playing golf in northeastern Connecticut, I stopped in the town of Killingly at a place that is celebrating their 20th anniversary Ra Ra’s ice cream shop. Ra Ra’s is situated near a sports complex in the town and seems to do a very good business even in the middle of the day when there were no ball games underway.

As I was solo, I had my usual… a coffee and chocolate milkshake that was made with Big Dipper Ice Cream. Big Dipper is a well known product from Prospect. They offer both hard ice cream and soft serve, in cups, cones Sundays, and shakes or floats. My shake was well prepared, thick and creamy and tasty to the last drop.

If you’re on a road trip looking for a place to stop in eastern Connecticut, we looking to check out a ballgame, stop and have some ice cream at Ra Ra’s. You won’t be disappointed.

Three for the money…

On a warm sunny afternoon I drove up to the town of Avon in west central Connecticut to meet my good friend Annette Fortin and her adorable daughter Jordan. Avon is known for many things including Avon Old Farms School, which two of my friends attended, and Dom’s. On the north side of Main Street is Dom’s Coffee, Dom’s Cheese, and Don’s Creamery.

Don’s Creamery is a craft ice cream establishment that has a wide variety of flavors, some standard and some rather unique. They offer cups, cones and shakes, along with cakes and pints. Their prices are on the higher side but it is fresh made in the store.

I had a honey latte milkshake which was well-made, tasty and with crunchy honey flakes! Annette had a cup with two scoops of honey vanilla and dulce de leche, while Jordan had a cup with pistachio, one of my faves, and honey latte. All of these flavors were simply delicious and breathtaking.

Next time you are passing by Avon stop by Dom’s whether you are looking for coffee, cheese or ice cream!