major craving for custard

Last night, I had a major craving (Major Craving… ala How I Met Your Mother) for ice cream.  I mean, like I wouldn’t be satisfied until I got my taste buds on some creamy, cold ice cream.  Guaranteed, it was 15 degrees outside, but still… I needed some, and I needed some NOW.  I blame it on the massive amounts of sweets I ate during the holidays.

As I’m sure you all remember, our most convenient go-to place, Fritz’s, is closed until February.  Luckily, Matt remembered we had a gift certificate for Blue Sky Creamery located in Paul’s Donuts.  So, we hopped in the car and headed out that way.

[Sorry, Matt’s windshield is really dirty…]

We’ve only been to Paul’s once for ice cream – back when we were dating, and very close to the beginning of our relationship.  All I remember was that they had Twix to mix into your ice cream.  And although that sounded like a winner to me, I noticed the pumpkin ice cream in the freezer and knew I definitely couldn’t pass that up!

I decided on the pumpkin with M&M’s mixed in.  So, maybe that seems like a weird combination, but that was my other craving.  (Again, blaming it on the massive amounts of more specifically M&M’s I’ve eaten in the past 2 weeks.)

 

This was BY FAR the best pumpkin tasting ice cream/frozen custard/froyo I’ve had to date!  So cinnamon-y + spicy… DElish!  Of course, not nearly as creamy, given it is ice cream and not custard, but still dang good!

Matt got my second choice – white cake ice cream with Twix mixed in.  The cake flavor was strong + spot on, and with the Twix added, was stellar!  I almost wish I would’ve gotten that, but oh, the pumpkin!  (Mine’s much prettier too, doncha think?!)

Unfortunately, Blue Sky Creamery has gone bankrupt and Paul’s is slowly phasing out Blue Sky to Edy’s.  So glad we went when we did!  Now, if only I can figure out how to get that same pumpkin flavor at home…

christmas visits

Happy Holidays and a very [late] Merry Christmas to you all!  I hope the last few days have found you happiness + good health, and God as blessed you with time with family + friends!

        

Our Christmas was wonderful!  We spent our Christmas with both sides of our family, eating until we were stuffed and having a jolly good time!  Some of my favorite gifts included a new Coach purse from my in-laws, diamond earrings from the Hubs, an ice cream maker from the bro, and my new Vibram FiveFingers from the Hubs!  (I will be posting sometime about how + why I plan to incorporate barefoot running into my routine.)

And a certain someone just so happened to celebrate his 30th birthday on the 26th!  I can’t believe I’m married to a 30 year old!  CRAZY!

And for his annual “gift” for his birthday, we headed down to Matt’s “Happy Place” – Branson!  Or more specifically, Silver Dollar City…

 

We were also able to visit a fairly new distillery about 10 miles north of Branson – Copper Run Distillery.  They make small batch moonshine, whiskey, and rum.  It was delish and of course we ended up taking a bottle of whiskey home for the Hubs.

  

And of course, no trip to Branson could be complete without a stop at my absolute FAVORITE frozen custard place!

 

Yes, I know, it’s the 3rd time we’ve been this year, but it’s a definitely treat since there is not one in STL.  Plus, we went to one in Springfield instead of in Branson… so at least it was a different location, right?!

I decided to try something new that I had never seen before.  The Askinosie WooHoo Concrete.

A wonderful blend of bitter chocolate blended to pieces with Andy’s incredibly creamy vanilla custard.  And check out Askinosie Chocolate – they have a really great story.

Matt chose to get the Boomer Bear in support of local Missouri State University.  A new combination that seems a bit weird but totally worked.  Sweet + buttery + crunchy = delish!

  

Another successful Andy’s visit.  And although they are opened through the winter (GO if you have a chance), we won’t be back until SDC opens up again in the spring.

closing time

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.  Also, unfortunately, this includes frozen custard.  Well, not for good, but just for the season.

With the range of hot + humid in the summer to bitterly cold in the winter, St. Louis doesn’t exactly provide the best climate for frozen custard stands to stay open year round.  Of course, there are those few stands that do stay open year round because they serve indoors, but the classics (Ted Drewes, Fritz’s, etc.) must come to a close come December.  Luckily, February is the typical opening date, so we don’t have to wait very long!

We decided to go on the very last day Fritz’s was open because (1) I’ve had a very busy weekend with my church Christmas program, (2) they were closed yesterday for their staff appreciation day, and (3) I wanted to get it the last chance I could so I don’t have to wait very long until February.

It was almost the trip that didn’t happen given the weather conditions:  bitterly cold (high 22* and low 6*) with gusty winds and SNOW!  But, with the store being less than a mile from our house and the fact they have a drive-thru, we braved the cold to get in my car and get some delicious frozen custard.

I’ve been eyeing their newest concrete for a few weeks now – vanilla custard mixed with pumpkin pie filling + cinnamon granola.  Seriously, my 3 favorite things all rolled into one delicious concrete.  However, I was a little disappointed that the granola flavor didn’t come out more.  The pumpkin flavor was of course amazing, but that’s all I could taste with the crunch of granola.  Don’t get me wrong through, it was still yummy!

The Hubs decided on the Caramel Apple sundae, which pretty much explains itself.

It might be cold outside, but it’s warm enough in here to eat some frozen custard!

And don’t worry, there are still a few stands that will be open through the winter, so we will definitely be hitting those up… along with hopefully a few homemade concoctions I have in mind.

But, it is a sad day to know that I have to wait until February to get my delicious Fritz’s concretes again…

thankful

I am thankful it's the weekend.

I am thankful that it is less than a week until Thanksgiving.

I am thankful there are only 2 days left of school before a 5 day break.

But, I am also thankful for my awesome job.

I am thankful for a Friday night with nothing to do.

I am thankful for the Hubs being home on a Friday night now that cross country is over.

I am thankful we had a chance to check out Sheridan's Frozen Custard for a 2nd time.


And that they had a Pumpkin Pie concrete still on their menu.


And that the Hubs let me have the last 2 bites of his Caramel Apple Pie sundae.


I am thankful that their custard was still as good as I remembered.

And for spending a wonderful Friday night with my husband.

What are you thankful for?

friday night out

Lately, I’ve been getting some slack about being a boring married couple who falls asleep on a Saturday night at 9 PM.  Although this is partially true, I was a bit offended.  It’s not that I don’t like going out… but after working with kids all week long, the weekend is kind of our time to just breathe + relax.

So, I was on a mission to prove them wrong.  We decided to have a semi-date night this past Friday.  No dinner + a movie was involved, but at least we were out of the house, right?

We started out at the Soulard Art Market for their All Media Gallery opening.  Our friend Matt is an up-and-coming photographer who was displaying some of his pieces at the gallery.  His photography is pretty awesome + unique, if you ask me.  Plus, I love going to galleries with the Hubs since he is an artist and has a great eye for amazing art + what is um, not so amazing.  But, again, Matt’s work is excellent!

[And it’s always nice to drink some free Schlafly beer while we’re out!]

Since we were out already, we figured it was a great time to hit up some frozen custard.  We drove past St. Louis Frozen Custard Factory after our trip to Dewey’s a few weeks ago and ever since, I have been wanting to try it out.

The desserts were all named different “tropical” names and, luckily, had descriptions of each dessert, which is always helpful going to a “new” place.  Of course, it didn’t take me long to decide on the pumpkin pie concrete!

The Factory’s pumpkin concrete is similar to Fritz’s in that they mix pumpkin pie mix with pie crust pieces.  I am not a huge fan of pie crust,  but the Factory’s was more of a graham cracker crust, which sweetened things up a bit.

The Hubs went for the Steel Drum-stix sundae [cute, right?] with pecans + waffle cone pieces + chocolate hard shell.

The vanilla custard I tasted from the Hubs sundae wasn’t anything too memorable.  It wasn’t bad, but we’ve definitely had better before.  Smooth, but not nearly as rich or creamy as some other places we’ve tried.

After we had our fill of custard, we headed toward home. 

I fell asleep in the car.

It was 9 PM.        

emotional eating

After writing that post last night, I needed a little something sweet to make me feel better.  Call it emotional eating if you must, but I haven’t had my silky smooth frozen custard in WEEKS!  A good cry + some pumpkin custard can make any day feel better.

And we still have a few places we need to get to before they close for the season.  [Some custard stands are outside and/or drive-thru only, where as others – think Culver’s – have indoor sit-down areas.]  One of the places I have been wanting to revisit was Silky’s.

Not only because their custard is the “world’s smoothest” [it’s pretty darn close!], but also because their pumpkin concrete is completely different than           any other frozen custard stand that I can think of.  And, you know, I must try EVERYTHING pumpkin flavored – but that’s a whole other post…

Silky’s Frozen Custard doesn’t put pumpkin pie mix or a piece of pumpkin pie in their custard.  No, they came up with their own version of the pumpkin concrete by mixing a pumpkin cookie into their deliciously smooth frozen custard.  I’m thinking it is like the Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights.

[source]

Vanilla custard + pumpkin oatmeal cookie + whipped cream… It definitely wasn’t the best pumpkin concrete I’ve had, but I did like it a lot.  The best 3 bites were the last 3 – a big chunk of oatmeal cookie in each bite.  YUM!  Seriously, if there is any frozen custard stand actually reading my blog [which is doubtful], an oatmeal cream pie a la Little Debbie would make an amazing concrete mix-in.  I’m just sayin’…

The Hubs of course came a long and broke his sundae habit and ordered a Grasshopper Concrete, with Oreos instead of chocolate chips.  [The picture was terrible… nighttime + dark car doesn’t equal good food photography].

I just love the creaminess of Silky’s.  They still top my list as one of my favorites.  Too bad they’re only open for a couple more weeks… but I have plenty of other places to try and more to get to before they close for the season!