Kind of like the Golden Gloves in baseball.

Okay classic Connecticut franchise. Well known in the New Haven area but IMHO they generally fail to live up to the hype.

I had a coffee-chocolate milkshake and Maureen had her usual kiddie cone of chocolate soft serve with chocolate “shots”. On one hand Mo thought the soft serve was tasty whereas I found my milkshake interesting but eh…nothing special. It was thick throughout but in general lacked any flavor. Maybe it was the combo but generally I found it lacked flavor and I thought it was eh nothing special.

Prices were on the high side but not crazy high. They are located in a nicer strip mall on the Boston Post Road. Somewhat typical store front, with some nice outdoor seating.

I would equate Ashley’s to the Golden Gloves in baseball…once you win it, you win it for several years regardless of how many balls you drop! E-6 Ashley’s.

It’s all in the preparation…

Branford has lots of established ice cream places but I went to a place close to home, Thimbleberry’s which is on the dock of Stony Creek. In addition to a spectacular water view, Thimbleberry’s serves breakfast and lunch and has a nice corner designated Giffords Creamery.

There are seven or eight interesting flavors, including cups, cones and shakes. There is something on the menu called a sarsaparilla float, which I will try next time. I had an espresso coffee milkshake and Maureen had a chocolate milkshake while my father-in-law Unk DaRos bucked the establishment and had an ice cold brew. Thimbleberry’s serves Giffords ice cream which is a nice rich, full-flavor ice cream product.

By far this is the best milkshake I have had and clearly it is all in the prep by owner Mikey Mac and his crew. Both shakes had a tasty flavor and a rich consistent thickness from start to finish! No doubt the Guida’s whole milk had much to do with the thickness. I would give this shake a solid five stars!

Another day, another milkshake…

I was passing through Durham today just before noon and couldn’t resist stopping at the Durham Dari Serv for another milkshake. They are celebrating their 61st year in business and a mainstay in this charming sleepy little town. This is a seasonal place but one of my favorites in the state. Been coming here for 25 years

I was second in line for the 12:00 noon opening and within ten minutes there was a line 15 deep. They make their own ice cream and it is delicious! Both hard ice cream, soft serve and frozen yogurt. Lots of flavors but I went with my second coffee milkshake with tablespoon of peanut butter this weekend, which was thick and creamy as usual. Probably a bit more peanut butter for my tastebuds but still incredible.

Nothing like an afternoon ice cream break!

We took a nice afternoon break and visited B and B Flower Shop to meet our good friends from work, Bonnie and Rich Mahmood. Located on the south side of West Haven, B and B has a nice ice cream shop surrounded by a horse barn, a small paddock for goats and donkeys, a veggie stand, horses and farm equipment. Overall a very charming and pleasant surprise.

The ice cream stand serves Buck’s French ice cream, which is a very nice, rich product. They have a variety of flavors and some interesting toppings. All hard ice cream and yogurt products in traditional wafer and sugar cones, cups, milk shakes, malts and floats. The regulars post their favorite concoctions on the wall for all to see. I had a coffee milkshake with a tablespoon of peanut butter…yum! Magnificent! Others had cones with a variety of flavors and toppings including chocolate “shots” (more on that later).

All things considered, I think this could be a nice place for a break this summer.

Here come the New Britain Bees!

Last night Maureen and I spent the evening with her cousins in New Britain to see a New Britain Bees minor league baseball game. No game is complete without a variety of baseball treats such as hot dogs, cheeseburgers, popcorn, peanuts, pretzels, beer and ice cream. Only one ice cream option is available at the Bees Stadium, Dippin Dots Ice Cream. Believe it or not Dippin Dots was founded in Paducah, Kentucky and I am pretty sure I visited the original store about 15 years ago.

Dippin Dots is an interesting concoction of a flash-frozen ice cream mix in liquid nitrogen, which actually makes an interesting combination of granular ice cream pellets. There are a number of flavors but our gang was split between chocolate and rainbow. The rainbow was both sweet and tart creating a refreshing flavor on a warm, humid night. The chocolate didn’t really work in pellets form, at least according to my chocolate connoisseur wife Maureen but the boys seemed to devour it.

Unfortunately the Bees lost the game but a good time was had by all and it was fun to hang out with Maureen’s cousin Kim and Maureen’s younger cousins who are all unique in their own ways. We had the best seats in the house…right behind home plate with the scouts. Hunter is a true-blue baseball fanatic (good boy) and a quiet student of the game. Kaylyn is bright and observant of everything going on around her and Anthony is introspective and full of energy. And then there is Jordan…no words can describe Jordy but he is a cute, intelligent lad with a big heart. Thanks for humoring me guys and going to a game. Next year we’ll do it again.

Next up West Haven.

Adequate but not top notch…

In honor of national ice cream day, but seriously every day is national ice cream day, we took Marve and Sheldon (Cooper White) out for ice cream today. We traveled to our neighboring town Deep River, which is nicely located on the southern part of the Connecticut River.

We visited the Main Street Sweet Shoppe, which has the appearance of an old town ice cream shop in the center of Deep River. Excellent selection of hard ice cream and traditional soft serve ice milk. They have three brands of hard ice cream, Buck, Giffords and Ashbury. Have to admit I haven’t heard of Ashbury and am wondering if the kid misspoke.

Maureen had a generous serving of soft chocolate with chocolate sprinkles (are you detecting a trend here) and thought it almost tasted like traditional hard ice cream. I on the other hand had the old faithful chocolate milk shake, which was flavorful but lacked consistency in the viscosity of the shake…some parts very thin and watery, other parts too thick for the straw which only suggests to me it’s all in the preparation.

The Main Street Sweet shoppe gets props for the diversity of ice cream flavors and three species of this frozen dessert, but loses points for poor preparation. As my friend Cope MacClintock would say, adequate but not top notch.

No great “shakes” in Lisboa!

Back from Lisbon with Maureen and my niece Jackie. Great trip and here is a quick review of the ice cream in Portugal.

Surprisingly no great “shakes” or ice cream, gelato, or frozen yogurt in Lisbon. These ice cream stands (see picture below) are everywhere and they sell a variety of “Ben & Jerry” flavor hard ice cream, popsicles, fudge bars, and drum sticks.

Prices in general were pretty inexpensive, you could get a cup of Ben & Jerry’s for 2 Euros at these stands. Most restaurants had chocolate or vanilla gelato on the dessert menu but hard to pass up those tasty, delicious pastries.

In fact one of the best ice creams I had was on the United flight back…a Belgian chocolate truffle.

Welcome Peyton…or whatever we call you!

It’s a winner…thank you Beth Bolen for suggesting Salem Valley Farms Ice Cream as a perfect Friday night activity. Stopped on the way home from East Haddam, where Marvin and I met our new doggie Peyton (soon to be Melvin, Sheldon, or Wilson). Unfortunately Mighty Mo couldn’t join us.

The best ice cream we have had so far and pretty sure it is the 16% butterfat that gave it that insane, rich, dreamy taste! A wide range of flavors and options. Hard and soft-serve available, but seriously why would you have the soft serve. I had a coffee milkshake that was the best taste I have had so far, while Marve enjoyed what was left of a cup of rich, dense vanilla (remember that butterfat!).

This place is out in the middle of no where but worth the drive. Expect a line. There were five cars in the parking lot when we arrived and 20 by the time we left. The last pic here is our new boy…time to fatten him up and I know where to go!

A family fun kind of place…

A pleasant surprise awaits you in Waterford at the Cowlick Creamery on the Boston Post Road. Fun place with outside seating area for families and lots of play areas for kids and private parties.

Seasonal place with a mixed selection of hard ice and soft ice cream, frozen yogurt and Italian ice. Had the old standby chocolate milk shake and Maureen had a small cup of soft chocolate ice milk with chocolate “shots”.

Hershey’s Hard ice cream and soft ice milk was really nothing special, and somewhat limited yogurt selections but the diversity was impressive. Nice, open store with some goofy decorations and lots of seating inside and a large picnic make this a must stop for families.

Adequate but not top notch!

The Pattaconk Creamery is located on Main Street in the quaint downtown section of Chester, next to none other than the Pattaconk Bar and Grill. They serve Hershey’s ice cream, which is good but nothing special.

Nice kids working the window. Numerous flavors, cones, cups and shakes. I had a coffee milkshake, which was actually pretty good…tasted like it had a nutty flavor.

Next door the bar and grill was hopping with a lively crowd out on the sidewalk enjoying an early summer, Sunday night. As always Marvin was a hit with the locals who enjoyed the big galoot.

Eight is great, eight is great!

Visited James Pharmacy in Old Saybrook tonight with Maureen. Have wanted to check this place out for awhile and well worth the trip. Beautiful setting in a historic building just off Main Street. James is also a bed & breakfast, a bakery and a bistro which serves all three meals. Friendly, helpful staff.

But as far as ice cream, they make their own fresh gelato every day, which is rich and creamy and naturally a bit pricey. I had the coffee, which is made from their own roasted espresso beans and it was insanely good! Maureen had a Stracciatella which is a white chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate shavings, although she thought the coffee was better….and I would have to agree. Check it out!

p.s. Eight is great is a cheer we would yell for my niece Jackie when she played in her high school hockey team.

Sir yes sir!

Spent the morning at Avon Old Farms watching two friends, Jackson Colehower and Jesse Walsh, graduate and about to begin their future with appointments at West Point. Well done guys! Proud of you.

We stopped on the way back home in Haddam at a local favorite, the Dairy Barn on route 81. Have driven by this place for years but decided to stop today on a cool misty afternoon.

I had my usual chocolate milkshake and Maureen had a small chocolate soft serve with chocolate sprinkles. See below, this is anything but small! Rich flavor and thick milkshake, made with hard J Foster ice cream. Both were actually very tasty and very reasonably priced.

New weight loss program!

Since the start of this quest, I am down seven pounds so might have to start referring to this as the Ice Cream Diet!

This is a nice place, great location near the shore. Nice selection of nice hard ice cream with some unique flavors. I had a coffee milkshake which despite claiming to be “best milkshake in the state of Connecticut” it was just so so. Maureen had a sugar cone with “brownie batter” hard ice cream. Good tasty ice cream but kind of a watery milkshake so a bit disappointed.

Petersen’s also offers a grill and fried seafood so I can see coming back on another Friday night…wait that’s not on my diet!

You better give him your best, he’s on a quest!

We were one for three last night trying two places in Old Lyme that were closed. So we drove by a favorite, Scoops, of our friends Jim, Denise and Renee (AKA Gaylord) Fregeau in Essex, Connecticut. Scoops is in the Centerbrook section of Essex and a bit of a legend on the lower Connecticut Valley.

Marvelous Marvin joined us last night and he enjoyed a nice small cup of soft vanilla which he some how managed to get more in his belly than on his face. But he was happy to take a ride and humor his pop.

Maureen tried soft chocolate, covered with chocolate “shots” on a wafer cone, and I had a rich, dense chocolate milk shake. And don’t get me started on “shots”, that will be the topic of another post. Scoops serves Pralines ice cream, which is a very tasty, high quality ice cream. In fact the kid serving ice cream at the counter asked “soft or hard ice cream” and Maureen said…”you better give him your best, he’s on a quest”.

Okay it may be a mixed Dunkin/Baskin-Robbins but it’s pretty darn good ice cream. Not too mention this is the only ice cream place in Killingworth but it is about a mile from our home.

Maureen and Marve took me out for ice cream tonight, not something we do often but much appreciated. I had a chocolate milkshake, my go to choice at any ice cream shop. I liken it to a plain pizza, a standard that you can compare from one shop to the next.