beXnlog

Ice Cream Break / Pro-Treat

A$ and i had a nice long lunch at Sukhadia's last Wednesday. It's a fairly new Indian restaurant on 45th Street in Manhattan that specializes in sweets and chaats (crispety cruncheties doused in chutneys, cilantro and onion), but they also have 2 buffets and a regular menu. We both opted for the dine-in buffet, which included a delicious chaat, dokla (a cream of wheat cake with hot peppers), paratha (whole wheat buttery bread), basmati rice, dal and 3 main dishes for $10.00. My favorites were the first two but everything overall was very tasty. I've had versions of their main dish offerings prepared better at other restaurants, but not so much better that i wouldn't go back to Sukhadia's. On the contrary, i'd definitely go back to order individual chaats at the "Chaat Corner" and to get sweets. I don't know the names of many of the sweets, but i know that i've loved almost everything i've tried. They also sell pre-packaged snacks and the fried puffs to make pani puri - oh yeah!

It was an A$ day; after the library, work and a mass mailing we partook in an Ice Cream Break. She invented Ice Cream Break a few years ago - i don't recall which year - but it's stuck around at the Workshop ever since. It always occurred around 5:00PM and was completed with the consuming of either a Baskin Robbins scoop (cup or cone, didn't matter) or a Haagen Daaz bar from the deli. Ice Cream Break occurred almost every single day during hot weather, much to the annoyance of those that did not partake. For those that did, it was a satisfying moment in an otherwise harried, non-profit day.

Somewhat later, A$ invented Pro-Treat. When one was "Pro-Treat," it was time for a candy bar, pastry, chocolate-covered pretzel or whatever miscellaneous treat that one was pro. Usually, Pro-Treat didn't include ice cream, as that was part of Ice Cream Break. In addition, some coworkers enjoyed dairy products in other forms. I recall summer 2003 was filled with quarts-of-milk-chugging and the following lactose-intolerance of some.

I've been very pro-ice cream lately. I suppose it's my lone effort to combine both of A$'s inventions with a quiet summer. It's funny how certain individuals play off each other to enjoy food and the consumption of food in all its forms. I'm lucky that all of my close friends have loved eating as much as me. Or maybe it's because i judge and choose friends based on their relationships with food?

But back to the ice cream: lately i've been very fond of Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. The mango-papaya sorbet is amazing so i generally get a scoop of that, but last time i chose almond cookie in a sugar cone. It was a wonderful mix of creamy, sweet vanilla with dense, chewy cookie pieces - like cookies n cream but with almond cookies instead of Oreos. I also tried the wasabi ice cream which is flavor of the month right now. It's a pale light green, slightly sweet ice cream with wasabi powder mixed in. At first, you couldn't get at the flavor but with a bigger taste, your scalp burns and sinuses tingle like it's saying, "I'm in here, haha!" Overall, i thought a little spoonful was enough. I can't imagine someone eating a whole bowl of it!

be's started his addiction to Fla-vor-ice again, consuming upwards of a dozen per day. He's also been eating Good Humor Chocolate Eclair bars like mad, like 5 per day! Meanwhile, i'm trying to ration my boxes of Strawberry Shortcake and the new Cherry Pie, only 2 per day. Cherry Pie is interesting because the cherry filling is jammy like real pie filling, with pie-like crumbs on the outside of the vanilla ice cream. At first i wasn't into it, but it's grown on me.

All this talk - now i must eat an ice cream bar! Next up i must check out Max & Mina's in Flushing, the Lemon Ice King of Corona and pay a visit to our friends at Uncle Louie G's on 39th Street in Astoria!

posted by beXn @ 2:02 AM