Ice Cream Ireland

 One of the trickiest parts of our business is the following conflict/contradiction:

People always want new ice cream flavours, but they also hate losing flavours they like.

We’re always asked what’s new, and at the same time we’re asked constantly to bring back ice creams we’ve made, sometimes ten years ago – “Would you ever make more of that licorice and vodka ice cream I loved so much?” Some of the flavours are really best left relegated to the ice cream dust bin of history (in some cases that’s where most of the batch ended up anyway, since so few people liked it). In other cases, we do bring back flavours, such as coffee (below), at least on a temporary basis, if there is enough clamour.

In any case, this is just a lead in to the fact that we’re going to change four flavours very soon, so get them while you can! Two of them (sea salt and burnt caramel) have really resonated with many customers. However, it’s time to freshen things up a bit, so here’s what’s going to happen:

Out: Sea salt, burnt caramel, Kilbeggan whiskey, mango sorbet.

In: Real lavender, caramelised honey, lemon sorbet, coffee.

We hope you’ll enjoy the new flavours, and if you really, really miss the ones we’re removing, let me know…

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Camphill is a worldwide network of communities for people with special needs, and it’s an organisation that’s dear to my heart, since I have seen on many occasions the good work they do. Since Ireland has a very strong group of communities, we’ve always wanted to find a way to help them in some way (not just the odd fundraiser we have done in Dingle).

I spoke recently with Camphill Greenacres in Dublin, and they said they would love it if we could employ one of their special needs people a couple of mornings a week. Done! Above is Mary, and she is a very special person indeed. She’s personable and warm, and I’m delighted to say she’ll be with us in our Wicklow Street shop on Tuesdays and Friday mornings.

What was especially warming to my heart was that she arrived this Tuesday with a carrot cake she had baked herself in the Camphill kitchens (we’ll give them a donation for each cake). So, hopefully we’ll not only have Mary, but we’ll have Mary’s cake as well!

I hope if you come in that you’ll make her feel welcome, and also that you’ll try a piece of her cake. She’s very, very proud of it.

Technorati tags: Dublin, special needs, cake, Camphill

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This video makes me want to immediately catch a flight to Istanbul to eat Maras Dondurmasi (Turkish ice cream) and it makes me wonder – is it always to difficult to get yourself an ice cream ?

What do you think? Is this good craic? Are we a bit boring in the way we serve our ice cream?

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I finally got to meet our new cow, who lives in and about our Temple Bar shop. She still hasn’t been painted, and she still doesn’t speak, although we hope to have her speaking tomorrow (I’ll try to take a video).

If you have ideas of a name for her, please share!

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This is Lola, who I met in Dingle today. She likes sorbet. Raspberry sorbet, in fact. I’ve never met a dog before who likes sorbet, even though our own Ivan is fond enough of ice cream. He’d never stand on two legs for it, though, and he’d never touch sorbet.

There’s just no accounting for taste!

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I think I enjoy eating, but with little Róisín, no matter what she says, it’s a whole other level of pleasure…

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 We’re looking for sundae and other ice cream dessert ideas. If you have any suggestions of how we can improve our dessert offerings or create something new and fabulous, please leave a comment below!

It could be anything from the tried and tested to the wild and wacky (recently someone asked we make the following dessert: banana, maple syrup, vanilla ice cream, and streaky bacon).

Thanks a million!

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The thing about a family business is that the entire family tends the be pulled in, even if on a very temporary basis. Here’s my sister Deirdre, who is visiting from Germany, helping decorate the Temple Bar shop…

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