Blue Marble | Just Vanilla

🍦 WHAT: 1 Cone of 1 Scoop of Just Vanilla!
🍦 Vanilla ice cream

📍WHERE: Blue Marble
Upper West Side
2578 Broadway
New York, NY 10025

WHIT’s scale out of 5:
Creativity: 😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

📝 SHORT & SWEET: Just Vanilla from Blue Marble, is, well, just that! Just vanilla. While the flavor is somewhat underwhelming for me, I did like the texture and consistency in the scoop I had. Value-wise, shelling out $7 for one scoop is a bit on the expensive side and not entirely ideal.

📝 STORY: We were running errands up and down, and as we approached 97th street and saw Blue Marble’s storefront, I couldn’t help myself but to tell J, “I want to get ice cream there xD”. J looked at me like I was crazy for a number of reasons. One! It being almost dinner time (I think it was around 5 pm) and we hadn’t had dinner yet. For two - it’s winter and it was cold LOL. But hey, anytime and anywhere is ice cream time, right? Those reasons went entirely out the window and I happily went inside Blue Marble, excitedly thinking about my ice cream ^_^

After arriving inside, I went straight to the display case and perused available flavors, while the customer ahead of me was getting her affogato. Which looked good, but not for me today!

When it was my turn, I decided to start from basics - Just Vanilla.

It looks like a pretty decent vanilla from the picture, right?

💭 THOUGHTS: It was overall better than I expected, but not mind-blowing. I had perceived this ice cream to be sort of “clean” or “organic” in its taste, however the vanilla flavoring wasn’t like that. It was “Just Vanilla”, but not “just good ol’ vanilla”…it was just standard. And not very memorable.

I’d pass on getting it again, and move on to another flavor.

I did find the ice cream to be very creamy and super lickable. There were one or two itty-bits of ice chips in the ice cream though, but the texture was overall well-churned ice cream overall, like super thick frozen yogurt.

Also, not related to the ice cream itself, but the cone was nice and had just the right texture - crunchy without it being too crisp or soft.

ENCORE: Hold the applause for Just Vanilla. But yes to coming back to try other flavors!

———————————

Other random (architectural) notes:

Inside the storefront, they also have a display area featuring others’ merchandise like apothecary items and plushies. I like that this is a mini market.

The size of a single scoop is a tennis ball. Love the very clear graphics lol!!

Zai's Dessertery | Mac Chip Ice Cream

🍦 WHAT: 1 Cone of 1 Scoop of Mac Chip Ice Cream!
🍦 Vanilla ice cream
🔶 Macarons, various flavors

📍WHERE: Zai’s Dessertery
Upper West Side
468 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10024

WHIT’s scale out of 5:
Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📝 SHORT & SWEET: Mac chip ice cream is Zai’s signature flavor, which is fantastically gluten-free! Both vanilla & various macaron flavors could be stronger. In terms of texture, the vanilla ice cream was fine, however macaron mix-ins were a little on the hardened and somewhat crispy side. Value-wise, it’s a great deal considering one scoop is $4.

📝 STORY: We were shopping around our neighborhood, and happened upon Zai’s! Not Zai like bye, but bae! Hey baeee!! ;)

I thought about just getting bubble tea, as the sign outside advertised bubble tea among various desserts - the place being a dessertery after all. So originally I thought I was going to get bubble tea! Then we entered the space, saw the menu, and was surprised to see ice cream being offered! Therefore I decided in ADDITION to bubble tea, I would try their ice cream!

I saw cookies & cream in their selection and was about to get it - Except I noticed they had a signature flavor, mac chip ice cream. According to a placard thoughtfully placed above the ice cream display, Zai’s described this flavor as a vanilla ice cream combined with macarons that didn’t make it to the display shelf LOL.

I think that’s pretty awesome that these unsightly macarons aren’t wasted, and get incorporated into ice cream. Yay no waste!

💭 THOUGHTS: So! What did I think? I think it was alright! Overall it tasted similar to cake frosting. The macaron bits ended up being on the hardened side and was a little crispy. I wasn’t able to taste too much vanilla flavor. I’d maybe increase the vanilla flavoring so there’s more flavor overall

ENCORE: Yes! I would come back, to try other flavors! Namely cookies & cream. Or vanilla. Or both.

Other random (architectural) notes:

Super random, but as an architect I found this amusing.

I would have personally placed this signage somewhere else, maybe at the eating areas towards the back where you can take photos with it. The space in front of this wall was very little, about 3 to 4 feet - not enough to take a good selfie haha.

MUSEUM OF ICE CREAM

AHH!!! 🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦 Museum of Ice Cream!

Where do I even begin?!

STORY: After waiting nearly two months (we purchased our tickets together back in early July, apparently tickets sold out in five days!), today (as in August 27) was the day! MOIC was located on Gansevoort Street, and across the street from the Whitney Museum. (How coincidental is that? Haha).

I met up with my ice cream team there around 2:40 pm. We had tickets for 3-4 pm. The line in front of us was long, and there was a checker who would come out every five minutes or so to check in with everyone, "All here for the 3 pm, right? 3 pm? 3 pm? 2:30? Come right this way". So it seemed like a pretty informal check in. There was a couple who had just got into line behind us, and when they said they had no tickets, the checker said, "Sorry :( I'm all sold out!" I also discovered that ticket scalpers also looked at MOIC, since a friend mentioned tickets were being sold and auctioned at around $100 on eBay. 😱

At 3 pm, the line started moving. Turns out they were letting in groups of 6-8 people in every few minutes. When our group of six was let in, we walked past a photo booth that used Boomerang. Really cute!

We were greeted with the first ice cream station, which the server introduced us to the flavor of the week, provided by Chinatown Ice Cream Factory! So it seemed every week, the ice cream was provided by a different creamery. She reached from underneath where the freezer was, and pulled out several cups of ice cream, placing them on the counter.

We each took one, and here's the review!

WHAT: Taro ice cream cup!
⚪️ Ice Cream Base: Taro
⚫️ Toppings: Lychee Boba & Strawberry Cream Pocky
WHERE: Museum of Ice Cream, 1st ice cream stop

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Delicious! Looks odd with the purple and being melted, however it tastes much better than it looks! On first scoop I spooned up several popping boba, which packed a refreshing and sweet punch to the taro ice cream. Though melted, the ice cream was creamy, though not as much as I'd like it to be. One smiley was taken off for Taste since I believe the taro ice cream was subtle, and demurred to the strawberry boba that had the stronger and fruity flavor. I really enjoyed the popping boba! It was the star of the ice cream cup. The strawberry pocky? Eh. It looked pretty but tasted like an afterthought.

🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦

Yum. Immediately after eating the ice cream, our next stop was a helium candy. It is a giant bubble that you can EAT! Our server made each bubble (which measured 8-10" tall) from a pump, and the bubble was blown through a Tropicana striped straw. While it had no taste, it was a lot of fun to play around with! One of our friends played with it so much that it actually burst onto her face lol!

Next stop was a "Did you know?" station. A guy dressed in all white greeted us, and as soon as we had everyone gathered, he quizzed and briefed us on the history of ice cream.

* Fun fact: The Chinese is credited with creating the first ice cream, possibly as early as 3000 BC!

*Another fun fact: George Washington spent $200 on ice cream, which is $5000 today! :O

Next up! The Chocolate room. This was definitely a transitional space. And it was the waiting room for the pool of SPRINKLES! It was a dark room measuring about 10' x 15' wide. Dimly lit, the room had several large screens screening streams of chocolate intertwining with each other... very sensual, as a friend pointed out :P There was also a large inflatable black mattress that you could throw yourself onto. The best part of this room, was the infinite supply of Dove dark chocolate. I ate three. And took four. For later. 😜 Our group waited about 10 minutes, and then FINALLY it was our turn!

SPRINKLES TIME! We were told to take off our shoes, and with them place our belongings to the side. Oh, and no diving, please. Okay.

After a few seconds of aww, we jumped, or rather, fell right in. SO MUCH fun!! We immediately started throwing sprinkles around and wading around. It was hard to move!! And then,

"Uh oh! I think I lost my phone!"

*gasps all around*

We all quickly rummaged around in the sprinkles, and then JH found it! Thankfully it hadn't been buried too deep. We started playing around in the sprinkles, taking photos, videos... all in the sprinkles! The pool of sprinkles smelled slightly stale, and I wondered if the museum crew ever sanitizes these sprinkles... Anyway, with our group we also had a couple who was playing around in the pool. After many photo ops and throwing sprinkles at each other, our 'guide' told us we had about two minutes left in the pool and we would need to leave for the next stop. One of the most epic moments in the pool was KD SWIMMING, breaststroke style 😝 It was very funny to watch. And then we looked up, and saw our reflection in a ceiling mirror!

It felt like no time passed, and then we were told our time with sprinkles was over! Next to where we had placed our belongings was a shelf with many jars of candy - swedish fish, sour patch, you name it. All free and you can take however much you want to! My friends took a whole lot xD

We walked into the next room, where we would learn about the magical Miracle Berry - which turns sour into sweet, whatever you eat! Eating lemons afterward? It would be sweet. The miracle berry docent gave us each a tablet, which was a reddish colored and dime-sized. We had to let it dissolve in our mouths, and whatever we tasted for the next 30 minutes would be sweet.

We then got the ice cream with LEMON SLICES (interesting combination) wedged onto the cone - here's the review of the ice cream!

WHAT: Vanilla soft serve + Lemon!
⚪️ Ice Cream Base: Vanilla
⚫️ Toppings: Lemon wedge (2)
WHERE: Museum of Ice Cream, 2nd ice cream stop

Creativity: 😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Hmm. After being given a miracle berry, and letting it dissolve on my tongue, we were handed soft serve ice cream. The two color swirls do not mean anything to my disappointment, I was hoping for a flavor kick. It still tasted like vanilla though :P But good, milky vanilla! Not like those water-based soft serve, which I dislike.

Once I bit into the lemon wedges, wow! It was (mostly) sweet lemon that should have been sour! The miracle berries worked! After chewing and savoring the sweet lemon juice, I proceeded to finish my ice cream. No real flavor change, just normal vanilla. I'm not a huge fan of soft serve, so this ice cream didn't wow me that much.

I really enjoyed the lemon slices - it tasted like sweet with a hint of sour, liquid candy. As I chewed through the cone, at the very bottom in the crevice were green chocolate covered sprinkles. I really appreciate that touch!

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The space we were in while we ate the soft serve ice cream was the second to last stop, and you could see outside of the museum storefront. At that point, it was an open gallery space featuring various artwork of ice cream. There was a vendor selling all items ice cream (and the miracle berries) - ice cream earrings, ice cream jewelry, and even an ice cream phone case! I really wanted the phone case, however it's meant for an iPhone 6 :( guess I'll find one for my 5!

The very last space we visited before exiting, was what I would call the playroom. It had an ice cream sandwich swing set, a seesaw shaped like an ice cream scoop, and a playfully wallpapered wall serving as backdrops for taking photos. PHOTO TIME!!

🍦 More Thoughts

Short museum experience. It was a short museum experience. Our time slot was from 3-4 pm, and while I think we did entered just before 3 pm, we came out at 3:40 pm. This museum was so hyped up that the time we spent in there and what we saw should have been longer. At each station we were probably there for a minimum of five minutes, max ten minutes.

Connectthe room experiences to each other. Helium candy? Chocolate room? Sprinkles? Each space had its distinct theme, but I don't see them as purely tied to ice cream. Also, in the chocolate room we had nothing to do except wait and eat chocolate. If you're going to work with chocolate, do something fun with it!!

Visualize the historyof ice cream. Words will come in and out of our ears, and if we see it, we'll most likely be able to remember it more.

Highlight of MOIC to be ice cream related. Yes, the pool of sprinkles was awesome. However, I strongly feel that the highlight of MOIC should have been purely ice cream, and not sprinkles (which is a topping!! Sprinkles should have its own museum then lol). (Also, literally my only takeaway from MOIC were sprinkles in my clothes...basically as I walked out of the museum, I left a trail of sprinkles LOL).

I hope MOIC comes around again, seeing as how fun and popular it was! If it does, I sincerely hope they increase the information you learn about ice cream, to how it's manufactured, how many different types of ice cream there are, how it's eaten/served throughout the world, etc. The list goes on.

More ice cream, please! 🍦

My Magnum Creation

WHAT: Magnum CUSTOMIZABLE ice cream bars!
⚪️ Base: Vanilla
⚫️ Coated with: Dark Chocolate syrup
⚫️ Toppings:Rose petals, white chocolate crispearls, edible gold flakes
⚫️ Drizzled with: white chocolate syrup
WHERE: Magnum in SoHo

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

STORY: Happy weekend everyone! This week has been pretty crazy in terms of work, and I reeeeeaally wanted to celebrate with ice cream. I suggested this to IR, my usual ice cream partner in crime - initially we wanted to try another shop's famed & very photogenic dessert (giant ice cream cubes!! Think Klondike but cube). Sadly after checking its website and Yelp, this shop is no more. Sad face.

IR suggested Magnum as another delicious (& photogenic!) alternative - I had heard about it before, seen it on Facebook as an event, but thought it was only a one time event. Turns out the actual store in SoHo is only seasonal, and will be here for a limited time.

Walking inside, it's a beautiful & spacious space! Whoever did the interiors did pretty well. We arrived around 6 pm, not much of a line with 5 people ahead of us. While we waited to pay, we were in awe of the space. Set up like a gallery, there are display cases and booths meant for you to Instagram with your ice cream!

This is a quick breakdown of your visit to Magnum in 10 steps -

Get in line to pay
Cashier asks you vanilla or chocolate
Pay
Choose 3 toppings
Choose ice cream coating, dark chocolate | chocolate | white chocolate
Server spectacularizes ice cream bar with chosen toppings
Choose drizzle dark chocolate | chocolate | white chocolate
Ta-da!! You want to eat it, but first, Instagram. Lol.
Give your ice cream the paparazzi treatment - visit all booths
Finally eat your ice cream. Done!

Cashier took my order, first asking me if I wanted vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Vanilla!

I paid $7, if you're wondering... expensive for an ice cream bar. Which is why I valued this ice cream at only 2 smilies. Immediately after you pay, you move to the right and are greeted by a server, AND a serious plethora of toppings that you can choose three of. Fancier than the ones you'd get at a frozen yogurt place. I chose the exotic-looking rose petals, edible gold flakes, and white chocolate crispearls (weird term, but okay. we get it.). My server scooped the three toppings into a shaker (similar to those cocktail shakers in the bar, but smaller), mixed them and waved me over to follow her from the toppings area to the creation area.

She asked me which coating I wanted out of the three available, dark chocolate, chocolate, white chocolate. Choosing dark chocolate, she proceeded to open up a predip the pristine vanilla ice cream bar into its respective tub. With a fancy arm swoop, the ice cream was coated! Next she sprinkled on both sides the toppings. Finally, I requested white chocolate drizzle to finish. Watching the whole process, it's pretty cool that this ice cream bar is your own creation.

Sooooooo cool.

THOUGHTS: After taking many photos, IR and I went to the 'bar' area, and finally chowed down. Thank goodness for the ice cream coating, because on first bite I noticed inside my vanilla ice cream had already started to melt. Tasted SO good, however it was a little runny... I guess I spent too much time taking photos 😅. Taking more bites, I learned that the rose petals do not taste how they look. The rose petals are in fact tasteless, and texture-wise got in the way of me enjoying my ice cream properly - it felt like I was eating wads of paper that would stick to my teeth a few times. The gold flakes were there for show and also did not have taste. The white chocolate crispearls added a small crunch - would prefer more crunchiness.

With regards to flavor, the vanilla ice cream and dark chocolate coating were the best parts. The vanilla was pretty decent and I liked its creaminess. The dark chocolate coating was rich and thick, pairing very well with the vanilla.

Would I go back?Possibly! I love how it's customizable. However for its price of $7 per ice cream bar... I'll come back again in a while, definitely before it closes. According to Magnum's website, there are over 200,000 possibilities you can create with the options they have. Since I'm also interested in the other toppings that would add a flavor punch to the ice cream, I'd like to bump my Magnum # up from 1/200,000 to 1/100,000 😝

Something I just thought about, while Magnum has the #MagnumNYC hashtag going to spread the word through social media, Magnum could take customizable ice cream to another level if they turned this into a contest for the best designed ice cream, best topping combo, etc. It would also be cool if we were the ones actually creating the ice cream (kind of like CoolMess), dipping the ice cream and doing all that jazz with the toppings. Just food for thought!

Now a Cornell Alumni

WHAT: Alumni Swirl
⚪️ Base: Vanilla ice cream (with Cornell colored food dye)
⚫️ Swirled with: Tart cherry swirl & fudge pieces
WHERE: Dairy Bar at Cornell

Creativity: 😉😉😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Seeing the red swirls, it felt like my taste buds would get a kick out of this flavor. In several licks, I did not taste the cherry, only vanilla. Seeking flavor, my taste buds were disappointed and the vanilla ice cream base didn't have that WOW factor for me either, so the fudge chunks mix-ins became the showstopper in this ice cream adventure. The density of the ice cream is surprisingly lighter and fluffier than ice creams I've had before. A little icy, and creamy. Would prefer more creaminess though.

STORY: With this July heat even in upstate NY for a weekend trip, this ice cream at Dairy Bar (Cornell's very own homemade ice cream) was a huge relief for a mid-day snack (also happened to be the hottest time of the day). Now that I've graduated from Cornell, I saw on the menu 'Alumni Swirl' and thought it would be very fitting to try this flavor. I also decided to get a Medium (three scoops).

My server: "You want a medium in a wafer cone???" *stunned look* "...this is going to be challenging...."

LOL.

Upon receiving my cone from the server, the cone was quite weighty after having three large scoops on top! She offered me a cup in case the ice cream started dripping/would topple over. Fortunately it didn't. *whew*

There was a mother next to me who was describing the flavor Alumni Swirl to her family, and I heard her say, "Oh! Alumni Swirl! It's Cherry Garcia." Overhearing this made me slightly uncomfortable. In my mind I was thinking, Uhh... Alumni Swirl has its own description and is made by Dairy Bar, there is no need for it to be synonymous with a Ben & Jerry's flavor. It can stand alone as is.

One thing you might have noticed in the photo is the cow! There were these two plastic containers of foamy cows placed very strategically next to the cash register. One container was a Dairy Bar cow keychain, the other a larger cow that was sold as a stress reliever.

I decided to get the keychain as a souvenir :) It'll be a while until the next time I come back for ice cream here. So long for now, Cornell!

Van Leeuwen's Vanilla

🍦 Previously this week in ice cream:

While in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, my friend & I stopped by Van Leeuwen before returning home. A little background: Van Leeuwen Ice Cream makes their Classic & Vegan-friendly ice cream from scratch right out of Greenpoint

WHAT: Earl Grey Tea, Vanilla
WHERE: Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream (Brooklyn location)

Creativity: 😉😉
Presentation: 😎😎😎
Taste: 😋😋😋😋😋
Texture: 😜😜😜😜
Value: 😄😄😄
Overall Experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOUGHTS: Earl Grey Tea definitely the better flavor of the two. The tea aroma is strong (in taste) & flavorful. Vanilla flavor slightly lacking. Maybe I should have tasted vanilla first? In any case, would recommend Earl Grey Tea. Texture is a bit icy. Also FYI, value-wise it's better to get two scoops than one.