A surprise at the lake…

While running our typical Saturday morning errands today we took a diversion and drove north through some beautiful farm land in North Guilford. As we were driving Maureen pointed out a farm stand and an ice cream cone that caused me to take an abrupt turn to Lake Side Farm Stand.

A cute place that is a working farm and has a nice country store that serves ice cream year round. Their ice cream is a Hershey brand that uses local dairy products to make their ice cream. They have a wide variety of flavors, all the basics and some crazy concoctions. Maureen had a coconut chocolate chips with almonds on a sugar cone, while I had a scoop of maple walnut on a sugar cone. Both were fantastic on a warm fall day.

If your looking for a break and something different to do visit the nice people at LakeSide Farm Stand for a cup, cone or shake. I know I will be coming back!

Opened 24/7!

My good friend Laura Miller-Cozean recommended this new place for ice cream in the quaint village of Chester and I must admit it is fantastic.

Honeycone Craft Ice Cream is three weeks old and if I had to bet it is here to stay. It sits nicely on Main Street, next to the Pattaconk Bar & Grill and just down the street from Pattaconk Ice Cream. The staff is friendly and welcoming with staff dressed in Halloween costumes. While we were eating our heavenly treats, their was a steady stream of customers coming and going.

On first glance it looks like all the basics are present but their ice cream is anything but basic. Maureen had a chocolate dipped sugar cone with chocolate orange ice cream which had a rich, creamy chocolate taste with an orange finish. Since I could not have my traditional milkshake I opted for one of my faves—maple walnut in a cup. The maple walnuts are sourced locally with a splash of maple syrup from a Middle Haddam (Connecticut) sugary. Because the picture on Facebook looked so good, we bought an ice cream sandwich with ginger molasses cookies and pumpkin spice ice cream for dessert.

As we were sitting outside enjoying these treasures, one of the owners stopped by and asked our opinion and told us they will be opened 24/7…eh year round, which is just fine with me. If you need a fix this winter head to Honeycone in Chester.

Fore!

Today Maureen and I took a nice “Sunday Drive” to the north central part of Connecticut in search of ice cream, mini golf and Mo’s quest to visit a historic site in each town in Connecticut. I would say we were three for three today in the quaint Farmington River town Canton.

We have enjoyed a nice Covid diversion this summer by seeking out mini golf courses all over the state. Matterhorn Mini Golf in Canton is only six years old but truly a stand out with an interesting and challenging layout, staff who speak in character and add a bit of flavor to the site.

Also a nice surprise was the soft vanilla ice cream with multiple swirl flavors. I had mint swirl flavor and Mo had (drum roll please) chocolate swirl flavor. I’m sure there are other ice cream places in Canton but nothing will have quite the charm as Matterhorn Mini Golf.

Fore!

No coffee!

Maureen and I spent a couple hours touring the Naugatuck valley this afternoon on her 169 town quest to visit a historic place in every Connecticut town. Along the way today we drove through the beautiful rural town of Bethany, which has many stables and horse farms to see. It also has Billy’s Ice Cream & Marketplace on Amity Road.

Billy’s is a nice quaint place that is more than an ice cream shop. They serve a product from The Big Dipper, which is an ice cream shop in nearby Prospect, Connecticut. They have a wide variety of flavors and all the basics…cone, cup and shakes. They offer hard ice cream and soft serve and also sell ice cream cakes and gourmet ice cream sandwiches.

With no coffee ice cream, what to do. I went for a chocolate milkshake with hard ice cream while Mighty Mo went for soft chocolate on a sugar cone with chocolate sprinkles. The shake was nice and thick and smooth on a hot 90F+ day while Maureen enjoyed her soft chocolate on a water cone.

If in the area I strongly recommend a stop at Billy’s. You won’t be dissapointed!

Just as smooth as it gets!

Enjoyed a nice July day driving around northwestern Connecticut with my buddy Jim Fregeau. Along the way we stopped at Rich Farm in Oxford, a beautiful small town on the north side of the Naugatuck valley. Rich Farm is a working dairy farm that has their own creamery. Cards on the table this was my fourth or fifth visit to Rich Farm and it hasn’t disappointed yet.

We arrived about 15 minutes after they opened and the line was 25 deep. Full Covid protection in place and all customers and staff wearing masks and practicing social distance which was nice to see. The ice cream place is a nice rustic building with multiple windows, which sits adjacent to a beautiful barn with two large silos.

Take out only but they have quite a few benches and tables to enjoy this “rich,” creamy delight. They have a wide variety of flavors, all the basics and some special concoctions, cups, cones and milkshakes. I had the old standby…coffee milkshake with a scoop of chocolate. My shake with absolutely delightful. Jim, who is the biggest non-stop comedian on the planet, had a vanilla chocolate swirl milkshake which he described as “real smooth” and tasty.

Once known for being one of the least expensive places around I was surprised to find the prices to be a bit high for the serving size. That said I would not miss out on a visit to Rich Farm!

Now open!

On my way back from a trip to Watertown, I stopped at Carvel Ice Cream in the center of town for a treat. I was joined by my good friend Lynn Jones, aka LynnJones.

Carvel is a well known chain throughout the northeast United States. They serve their own hard and soft ice cream and have a whole bunch of fixins.

Miss Jones had an Reece’s peanut butter cup sundae while I had a coffee milkshake with a dollop of chocolate soft-serve ice cream on top. I have to admit it…it was better than I thought. The chocolate soft serve floated on top and added a nice twist.

Carvel in Watertown was completely following Covid-19 procedures for Take-Out. They had six-foot lines on the sidewalk for spacing. Ordering was from a side window protected with a plastic window and credit card machine outside. Pickup was around the corner. And the staff were friendly and helpful and other guests were enjoying an outing too!

Just to be clear…zoom on the cell phone camera is a good thing!

Two thumbs up…

Enjoyed a nice two hour hike at Bigelow Hollow State Park in Union with my good buddy Bill Colehower. Bigelow Hollow are was a place my brother and I would visit with grandparents when we were kids so this trip brought back a lots of memories.

After our hike we drove over to an iconic Union restaurant, the Travelers that had a unique specialty…bring a book, take a book. The Travelers offers a nice menu and ice cream by the cup and as milkshakes. Bill passed on ice cream but I had a very nice, rich, creamy and thick chocolate milkshake. The Travelers serves Giffords ice cream, a nice commercial high-quality product. Despite the Covid-19 precautions the staff was friendly, pleasant and helpful.

Although Billy boy passed on ice cream he tried my shake and broke out into a big grin and gave me two thumbs up!

A Sunday drive…

Spent another Sunday afternoon driving around Connecticut with Maureen in search of historic places, town greens and interesting sights. Drove toward the quiet corner in search of three or four new towns for Maureen’s search of Connecticut’s 169.

The eastern side of Connecticut is charming farm land with red barns, rolling hills and plowed fields. Along the way we drove toward Sterling and saw a sign for Ekonk Turkey Hill Farm Ice Cream and decided to take a diversion.

Tim, Coffee ice cream in a cup. Only had cups, no cones and limited choices. Nice gifts and selections. Fun place.

Chocolate Reese’s pieces in a cup

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells…

Twas the night before Christmas…wait wrong season.

Needed to get out of the house today and drove to East Hampton, just over the Connecticut River. A beautiful small town known for bell manufacturing in its heyday.

At the recommendation of my friend Lourdes Rojas, we ventured out for a placed called Chatham Creamery. Part of a strip mall just off Main Street, Chatham Creamery was open with two young fellas behind the counter. They created a nice drive-thru around the back with a posted menu and tele number for call-ins.

They serve Giffords Ice Cream, a nice commercial product that is rich and creamy and extremely tasty. It’s been a long winter and I’ve been dying for a milkshake and I wasn’t disappointed. I had a coffee milkshake with a scoop of chocolate. Maureen had Moose Tracks which was vanilla ice cream with fudge swirl and mini peanut butter cups.

This was the first of the year and won’t be that last. Jingle all the way!

Nothing to write home about…

Not as many ice cream shops as I would have expected. Scoop is a nice place on a popular corner of Golden Street and South Great George’s Street. Stopped after a nice dinner with our nieces.

Scoop is a small takeout joint with a couple benches inside and out. Limited number of flavors and toppings but decent quality, creamy ice cream. Maureen had mint chocolate ice cream in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone, which Mo said the cone was the best part! Charlotte had two scoops of chocolate that she said was good, while Jane managed to keep a scoop of hazelnut on a waffle cone. No coffee ice cream so I went with the mint chocolate milkshake that was bland, tasteless and poorly prepared…thin in places, kind of thick in others and kind of grainy. Overall nothing to write home about.

An oldie but a goodie!

Spent Saturday with my good buddy Jim Fregeau touring the Town of Stafford, my home town, and stopped at Shady Glen in Manchester on the way home for some refreshing ice cream in a classic ice cream parlor if I have ever seen one. On the surface Shady Glen is right of the 1950s with striped yellow and white wallpaper, counters with laminate and cozy booths. The place was hopping and had the feel of yesterday.

Shady Glen has an interesting menu including typical diner food and an impressive ice cream selection. They make their own ice cream and had about a dozen kids working behind the counters that were attentive and entertaining.

I had my standard, coffee milkshake with a scoop of chocolate while Jim had the signature cherry vanilla milkshake. As you can imagine both were delish with a rich and creamy taste. What ever they are doing, I wouldn’t change a thing! The only I would change is add one of their famous cheeseburgers the next time I am in the area.

Nothing to write home about…

Not as many ice cream shops as I would have expected. Scoop is a nice place on a popular corner of Golden Street and South Great George’s Street. Stopped after a nice dinner with our nieces.

Scoop is a small takeout joint with a couple benches inside and out. Limited number of flavors and toppings but decent quality, creamy ice cream. Maureen had mint chocolate ice cream in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone, which Mo said the cone was the best part! Charlotte had two scoops of chocolate that she said was good, while Jane managed to keep a scoop of hazelnut on a waffle cone. No coffee ice cream so I went with the mint chocolate milkshake that was bland, tasteless and poorly prepared…thin in places, kind of thick in others and kind of grainy. Overall nothing to write home about.

N.B. I just realized I still had this and didn’t publish this from last July. Tim

169 or bust!

As part of Maureen’s state quest to visit something historic in each of Connecticut’s 169 towns, today we spent time driving around Hartford, Wethersfield, Newington and West Hartford. We ended our junket on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford at a popular ice artisan ice cream place called Milkcraft.

Milkcraft is a small-batch creamery that only uses local dairy products from New England farms. All their ice cream is made daily at each establishment. They use liquid nitrogen infused mixing bowls to chill their dairy mixtures that produce their soft ice-cream product.

Since there isn’t a milkshake option I went with the Bourbon Breakfast, Madagascar vanilla cream with corn fakes and Whistle Pig bourbon. Maureen had a scoop of their signature chocolate. Both of us had our ice cream on their signature “bubble cone” which is a Hong Gong caramelized waffle cone made to order.

Maureen enjoyed her single scoop of chocolate on the bubble cone. The chocolate was rich and creamy and this a unique way to make “soft” ice cream. On the other hand the Madagascar vanilla, corn flakes with Whistle Pig Bourbon was tasteless and rather boring. I found the waffle cone interesting but coming directly off the griddle it melts the ice cream, which is soft to begin with.

Milkcraft has a few shops around Connecticut and worth a stop but don’t surprised if your disappointed. I guess artisan ice cream isn’t my thing.

This place is totally legit…

Okay I know this isn’t an ice cream shop but it’s worthy of the attention. I have been coming to the Palm Springs area for almost 20 years and despite all this area has to offer I have failed to find a really good ice cream place. That ended this week.

Grill-A-Burger (AKA Gorilla Burger) is a hamburger restaurant but not just any burger joint. They make the most insane burger combinations you can imagine, all beef hot dogs, tangy-sweet coleslaw, and an amazing selection of fries.

And I should know. I have patronized this place for the past five years and in fact visited it twice on this trip. I had the Blu Job (blue cheese) on a pretzel roll which was probably the best burger I have ever had. My nephew, true blue Chicago lad, had the Chicago dog which was as authentic as the super green relish would suggest and elicited the comment “this place is totally legit.”

I even posted on Facebook my countdown dates with a tip of the hat to my fave eatery in the valley. I was shocked when we visited Grill-a-Burger last Friday and I was greeted by name. Apparently the owner saw my post that we had “landed” at Grill-a-Burger and offered Maureen, my nephew Jon and I milk shakes. And much to my surprise these were incredible. Thick, creamy and delicious. No doubt the best ice cream product I have had in the Coachella Valley.

If you live local, or are traveling, check out Grill-A-Burger in Palm Desert. You might come for a burger but you may just leave talking about the milk shakes. I know I am ( but ah I’m also talking about the burgers)!

Happy Thanksgiving Grill-a-Burger!

Our blue ribbon niece.

Spent the afternoon with our niece Jackie who is an animal science major at UCONN. Not only does Jackie have a job at the horse barn she is also an award winning calf trainer. Yesterday she won first place in her division at the cattle show.

Since we were at UCONN this was a great opportunity to checkout the UCONN Dairy Bar. It’s been years since I last visited this place and it did not disappoint. Despite the 48-degree temperature there was a line out the door when we arrived. They have all the basics and some unique creations. The placed was pack and the line long but the students behind the counter were hopping. All of their ice cream products are created locally in an on campus Creamery.

Jackie had a sugar cone with chocolate fudge ice cream and a side of gummie bears. Maureen went for a two-scoop sundae with coconut chip and chocolate fudge, although it was light on the chocolate chips. As usual I had an extra thick coffee milkshake with a scoop of chocolate. I think we all agreed the ice cream was rich and creamy and good to the last lick.

There’s a good reason families from the northeast part of Connecticut flock to the campus and a lot of it has to do with this Creamery. For us it was a chance to see our blue ribbon niece!