mr. tony, the bear & the best gelato ever

ice cream trucks aren't as they are in the states with all of the good humor ice pops and treats. ice cream trucks here are filled with homemade gelato, sundae toppings, fruit, chocolate, liquor, and real whipped cream. no artificial ice pops with gum-ball eyes here.

my parent's neighborhood has fallen in love with mr. tony, the neighborhood ice cream man. he's from sicily and makes the best italian gelato. and he's super friendly. and funny. and also what other ice cream man do you know that hands out free shots on his route to all his favorite customers? anyway, since i became pregnant, mr. tony has called beau his future customer. he finally got to meet him today and absolutely adored him. beau was pretty fond of him as well as he got his own free baby cone.

beau agrees, once you've had a taste of mr. tony's gelato, you can't settle for anything else.

all my love,

E

keeping cool with a former barista

i used to be a pro coffee drinker. i also used to be a professional coffee drink maker. like it was literally my job. thank you, cinnabon.

so the other day, when i was scrolling through facebook and i saw that someone had posted "copycat starbucks (bottled) vanilla frappuccino" that had an odd recipe, i was like. no. who is doing this? stop.

there's no need to put sugar in with coffee, milk, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. don't do it. there's an easier way. you just need espresso, milk, and ice. if you want a flavor, just buy the flavored syrup from the grocery store.

so you want a bottled vanilla starbucks frappuccino? check this out.
fill a glass or, ahem, camelbak (i was this person) with ice. fill it until theres only two inches left in the glass with milk. put one or two shots of espresso in the glass depending on how strong you want it & two pumps of vanilla syrup. it's perfect. it's fast. and it's easy.

you want an iced mocha?
same recipe only skip the vanilla syrup and use chocolate syrup instead. or white chocolate syrup. that stuff is good.

you want an iced latte?
same recipe. hold the syrup.

iced caramel macchiato?
same recipe. instead of vanilla, use caramel sauce or caramel flavored syrup.

and if you don't have an espresso machine? fill half of the bottle or glass with coffee, then add milk and the syrup. it's so simple.

share the knowledge because there's some poor soul out there sifting 5 tbsp of cocoa powder into 1.5 cups of coffee, 6 cups of milk, 4 tsp of vanilla extract, and a half cup of sugar. who even uses measuring cups anymore? oh, and they're gonna have to wait to drink it because "refrigerate before serving." and it only tastes the best when it's fresh. how inconvenient. save them.

all my love,
E