ICE CREAM MONDAY - Double-episode day - with the Raine family

'Making life a little more delicious, one week at a time'

Featuring - The Raine Family

Sadly, the Gelato store in Caloundra isn't open on a Monday night, which was my initial plan for the review. However, with deadlines due for Icecream Monday and my editor really riding me to get something in, I had to trundle down to the second rate Caloundra icecream store .... Baskin and Robbins. Rather than eat a single tub, I decided to get my family involved so I brought home a family tub of B&R's finest four.

My dad decided to leave the dinner table early than the rest of us, the cheeky man, so we had to divide the remaining half amongst the rest of us.










So my sisters and I were left with a motley collection of chocolate&marshmallow, cookies and cream, hokey pokey and butterscotch crunch. We all expected it to be a far cry from the excellence in icecream goodness we have become accustomed to (from the Milano Gelato store).


Unfortunately, the chocolate and marshmallow tasted like wheels bumping over day-old roadkill. It was jammed in on top of the rest of them so it seemed to seep through the rest of the flavours, setting myself and my sisters on a group write-off session of the rest of them.


The saving graces of the icecream experience was far and away, the cookie dough and hokey pokey however, one has to concede that they most likely didn't make those two components, so really B&R can't take the credit for them.





In saying that - there is none left in the tub now, which begs the question... how bad does icecream have to be to be inedible???

2/10

* ICM: "Ouch"

ICE CREAM MONDAY - Birthday dessert immersion therapy

'Making life a little more delicious, one week at a time'

This week's a bit of a special episode - for years I've always accosted my mother to take some sort of literary stand, to put down on paper what she's always theorising and deliberating...
Coming from a classical English and literary background, I've often found her ramblings (sorry mum) quite well constructed and informed, delivered in a manner that, while sometimes of debatable ethics, undoubtedly well constructed and hard to unseat.
I think I got my stubbornness from Mum.So after a spot of dinner for her birthday we headed down to Freestyle Tout (Emporium)... and I got her thoughts on dessert... fitting I thought...

Here's the word....


After thinking I might 'one day' go to Freestyle Tout for dessert ....for years..and yet never actually going out of my way to get there...as well as thinking..as so many of us do from time to time...all of those mature and self-righteous thoughts about the unnecessary nature of extravagant desserts in today's carb'/caloric counting lifestyle...I finally got to go, last night, for my seriously special events only dessert immersion therapy.....My companions dived enthusiastically into the Sticky Date and the Chocolate Muds and the Ice-cream Sundaes...hmmm...that coffee/ afagatto creation does look amazingly inviting....next time..and there will be a next time...

Personally, I picked the Sorbet for my toe-dip into the wild world of desserts after dark in the city.


Described as mango, strawberry and raspberry sorbets in a chocolate coated biscuit shell casing...it arrived as described! This in itself was a pleasant event- how often do we read the menu and then take delivery of something that doesn't quite match the expectation?

The first spoon full is always the clinch for me.... a tentative swipe on one side of the mountain of sorbet in front of me...hmmm....mango....hmmmm...sorbet....very very cool stuff...and YUM!....the occasional glance at what the others were doing..but...YUM...back to the plate...mangomangomangomango....YUM....a very sensual and pleasurable experience....too many words...JUST YUM.

NO...there were no leftovers...even after we all had said...'this is too much for me on my own...'...but...we all ate every single mouthfull.... YUM!

I was worried about going out for just dessert....but...ok...I get it now..I now know why there can be a line of people waiting to get into a place that just sells desserts in the middle of the night....YUM!

Freestyle Tout delivers.

Baboon Tunes!

There's something new in the air, can you smell it?
Yep, it's the new jackin' fidget/electro label Baboon Tunes!

With EP's soon to be released on Beatport and around the web, Baboon Tunes is really turning up the heat! This new attraction comes as no suprise to local artists Dmassey, Killafornia and JC Edit as the new label will be featuring their remixed tracks.

You can check out Baboon Tunes on their music myspace page, or at soundcloud.

That's all for now folks,
Peaacceee!

ICE CREAM MELBOURNE! Featuring the Madcore Crew

Ice Cream Monday

‘making life a little more delicious, one state at a time’

Welcome to Melbourne!

A city of 3.73 Million People, it is currently 71degrees farenheit and temporary home to a few noble representatives of the madcore crew.

On their remote adventures to the windy city the crew were invited by our recently relocated friends Anthea and Caitlin, to sample one of her new local ice cream haunts – 7Apples – in down town St Kilda.

Thea’s choices were the Turkish Delight (in a cone not a cup) with a supplementary scoop of the Bananna Bulce de Leche.

Admitting from the start that the Banana was chosen because it “sounded exotic” Ms Nalder went on to describe her experiences with the Turkish Delight – ‘a delightfully delicate and asthetically pleasing baby pink artistic interpretation of a classic flavour, but a little more reminiscent of the flavour of “pink fizzers from tuckshop” than true Turkish Delight’

Caitlin was the fastest of the crew to finish hers, whether this was due to a better flavour combo or that she was just ‘all over that shit’ – we’ll never know…

Caitlin went with a classic chocolate spin off – the Ferrero Rocher with a side scoop of Vanilla and Strawberry (also picked for its “pretty swirl”).

Although Caitlin mentioned that once you’ve tasted the Ferrero Gelato flavour, effectively you’ve tasted them all, she was very impressed with the Vanilla and Strawberries light flavour that ‘really complemented the chocolate’.

Tim went for a classic Snartt combination of Ferrero and Mango sorbet, and, being a man of few words… had difficulty explaining exactly how he felt about the experience… something along the lines of

“It went more like – ‘PUFF’ than ‘POW!’ – none the less, it had depth… you could say it was a 3D mango… a bit like Oliver Twist… or a similar play… left you wanting a bit more’

Nestled in close to the iconic Luna Park the St Kilda Road setting was “a good place to share with good company” according to Mr. Snartt.

ICE CREAM MONDAY - Side Dishes - EPISODE 19

Well – as of today, its been a solid 19 weeks.

Ice Cream from HERE ------------------->→ to HERE!

So we thought, in the lead up to our 20th weekday, we might take a little step to the side, branch out… and dabble in some popular side dishes…

This week – FUDGE



Before you even think of making that call before I do…
Yes – we packed that fudge… we packed it good… right into the box

The awesomely titled Fudgeyboombahs! Is located just down the road from Noosa in the sleepy little hinterland village of Montville.


It has that classic candy shop smell and besides offering almost every kind of fudge you could ever want or dream of eating, it also offered a delectable selection of assorted other confectionaries. Musks, honey roasted macadamias, the works.

We sampled 6 of the finest fudges Montville had to offer.

Starting with a staple of any sweet-tooth-type – ULTRA CHOC (think super refined dark cocoa type Chocolate – intense)
We then drifted across to the nutty varietys with a DARK CHOCOLATE MACADAIA, and MAPLENUT (Maple syrup and pecan – awwwesome)
We then balanced out the selection with another popular staple that had been adapted to its Fudgey-counterpart… TURKISH DELIGHT.

Feeling as though we had gone for our favourites and having neglected the potential gold mines of originality that birthed the entire fudge movement, we then gave the reins back to the eccentric shopkeeper to give us one of HIS ALTIME FAVOURITE, and THE CLASSIC FUDGE.

These were – MONTVILLE BLACKFOREST (a special concoction designed by the man himself, and tasting like the most perfect Cherry ripe you’ve ever eaten) and RUSSIAN CARAMEL – classic – rich – awesome.

I had intended to refer to a photo here of the items we got… however in our sugar-rushed frenzy – we ate them all… I did manage to get a photo of the box though.

Fudgeyboombahs know they are out in the range and don’t let that get in the way of a party – you can call them and have you fudge shipped overnight straight to you door – no questions asked… that’s what I call service.

CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!

Shop 12, Village Square Montville, or you can call ahead on 07 5478 5455 to place your order!

ICE CREAM MONDAY - Featuring Cptn Sean Noreiks

Ice Cream Monday

'Making life a little more delicious, one week at a time'

This week we are honoured to be joined by a man that goes by many names...

Some call him the Baker, others call him the Captain... some call him Fluffy... those people are now dead... I call him Sean... but call him what you will... the man knows food.... and this week I invited him to share with us his revelatory journey back to childhood as we took from the freezer an odly shaped icon of the 90's

THE SUNNYBOY

the following is the true autobiographic account of Sean Norieks.... read on... if you dare....

Well ahhh….

The story goes a little like this…

I was entertaining one fine summer’s eve, whilst preparing a beautiful Sherpa chicken tagine dish. Suddenly my housemate Ben promptly stated that he needed to pop down to the shops to pick up some things…

Two hours later. He returned with two boxes of Sunnyboys and nothing else…

He explained that the Sunnyboys weren’t the reason he had gone to the shops in the first place, but that dwindles into insignificance compared to the fact that SUNNYBOYS ARE BACK!! And hopefully to stay.

Having had a privileged childhood I was fortunate enough to have sampled Sunnyboys during my frozen confectionary heydays … and I must say it was regular feature on my tuckshop order, due mostly to its irregular shape… and complexity of its… frozen… deliciousness…

Staring at the newly arrived packages… I wondered… are they going to be able to recreate this deliciousness 10 years later?

Not leaving a moment more to chance I threw the Sunnyboys in the freezer… checking every 30mins on their status… nervously prodding, turning them around and replacing them to encourage the homogenous and well distributed freezing process.

….

….

….

2 days later…

The Sunnyboys were ready… whatever it is that keeps them from rapidly freezing obviously adds to the deliciousness.

Glug cola was my first choice – being a cola connoisseur in my youth it was upon first bit I was instantly transported back into my colourful short shorts with patterns on them…. riding around on tricycle convincing my brother Brett that my nearly finished Sunnyboy was better than his only just opened one… and swapping with him to experience the flavour sensation all over again…

As far as water based frozen delicacies go – this is by far the best.

I attribute this to their Flavour, Unique Shape and quirky, larger-than-life, asymmetrical, in-your-face, nonconformist attitude they are just as good ten years on as I remembered – I really hope my flatmate has to pop off to shops again sometime soon….

I give them 8/12

…mostly due to the fact that I ate 8 of the 12 he bought…

Yours truly,

Sean

ICE CREAM MONDAY w/ THE FRETS!

Ice Cream Monday

'Making life a little more delicious, one week at a time'

This week we caught up with Brisbane's very own soon to be internationally acclaimed Ice Cream reviewers.


We caught up at the infamous valley sugar-shack. ShliX to sample some of their wares.
And after a fairly intensive perusal of the options, the boys finally decided on their flavours.

Matt - Cookies + Cream
Peter - Chubby Watermelon
Maui - Ferrero Rocher
Mitchell - Red Bull

However the Ice Cream suddenly took second place as Peter caught up with his long time sweetheart and movie-star friend Isabel Lucas (yeah - the crazy robot chick from Transformers!!)

So after about 20minutes of listening to Peter trying to offer Isabel the remains of his melted ice cream (awesome by the way) we got back to business....

Unfortunately everyone had somehow managed to get flavours that

"tasted exactly like the things they were named after"

Matt's ice cream (bottom centre) was described as tasting like actual pieces of cookies were in there....
Peter's Chubby Watermelon (left)... Just like biting into that sweet darker bit of a fresh watermelon....

I had a Walnut on a date (top right) - one of my favourites by far - if you haven't yet tried it... Put it on your list of things to do before you die... right below Isabel Lucas :P

Maui's Ferrero (top left) yeap you guessed it.... just Like a Ferrero Rocher - although he did put alot of brain power into coming to that conclusion (bless his cotton socks)

However we finally hit upon a literary gold mine with Mitchell's Red Bull (bottom right)

Tasting like - a carbonated apple juice on stereoids... bam!

In an effort to get a little more from the review process than complementing ShliX for making flavours that immaculately represent the things they're named after... We made a group decision to get one more....

A bit Chai

Tasting something like a creamy doughnut....
.... but more like the type you get from woolies...
...... and with faux Chai powder (according to Maui)

The gauntlet was definitely thrown down - and we'll be sure to follow up on the ingredients with ShliX in the coming weeks.

Resting back into the lull after a fairly intense sugar rush - the boys wandered back to get ready for a gig. They're off overseas to showcase their new material for labels in LA, New York and London and will be back on Australian shores sometime in March.

We're gonna try and get an international guest review in the mean time....

Until then !!!

Peace, Love and Double-scoops!

Benny