Move over gelato, ice cream is back! There is a huge ice cream renaissance happening in Seattle right now. People have been raving about Molly Moon’s in Wallingford ever since it opened in May. With such unusual and tempting flavors as Balsamic Strawberry, Cardamom and Salted Caramel, it’s no wonder why. Full Tilt Ice Cream, which just opened for business a couple of weeks ago, is definitely on my to do list. How can you go wrong with pinball, ice cream and Mexican popsicles? I don’t even know what a Mexican popsicle is but I know that I must have this summer. My only problem with Full Tilt is, how on earth do they expect me to choose between Mango Chili and Blackberry Cinnamon? I guess I’ll just have to order a scoop of each!
Robert and I are lucky enough to have our very own neighborhood source of ice cream awesomeness: Half Pint Ice Cream. The gal that runs the show is sweet as can be. She comes up with some great flavors and makes every attempt to incorporate sustainable and local ingredients into her ice cream. Although, Half Pint doesn’t have a permanent location in the hood, you can find her selling ice cream at the Capitol Hill Farmer’s Market every Sunday morning (she is also at the Lake City Farmer’s Market on Thursdays from 3 – 7 pm.) Get there early because this ice cream goes quickly.
Four different flavors of ice cream are offered each week. Classics such as Rocky Road and Mocha Almond (featuring coffee beans from Victrola) are offset by slightly more unusual offerings like Chai Vanilla and Mexican Chili Chocolate. I really lucked out on opening day of the farmer’s market. Toasted Coconut, one of my all-time favorite ice cream flavors, was on tap that week. I took a pint home and savored its creamy coconut goodness over the following days (okay, it might have taken me more like a day and a half to polish it off.) This week, although tempted by another personal favorite – Pistachio – I ended up being won over by the Lemon Basil Sorbet. As was everyone else it turns out. Each person in line with me, after tasting a sample of the sorbet, immediately proceeded to order a scoop or two. Not for the faint of heart, this sorbet has a very intense, tart lemon flavor. Every once once a while you even come across a delicious little piece of lemon zest to chew on. The basil flavor, while not overly pronounced, adds a nice refreshing quality to the sorbet. Yum! I might need to make it my goal to become an ice cream connoisseur this summer.