Let’s Go for FroYo!

Nibbles

Oh, twist my arm why don’t you?

Since today is National Soft-Serve (Ice Cream} Day, we did the next best thing and headed out to our favorite frozen yogurt place, Yoburst. And since I found out about this via the vlog prompts from Kat at Mama’s Losin’ It, we took the video camera with us on this most recent trip.

(Direct link for the feed readers: Let’s Go For FroYo!)

We generally don’t need an excuse to head to Yoburst, though we do have to remember to head that way before 9pm (I swear they stayed open later back when we first moved up here) and give up if we get a craving on a Sunday. Gotta love the South!

I mentioned in the video about heading there after getting news of Todd’s second surgery. That was a Wednesday and it was right around 5 when we stopped by. Since we’re usually squeaking in just before they close on a Friday or Saturday night, the cashier actually remarked that we were out of our usual habit coming in so early mid-week. It was then we started to wonder just how often we ate there!  A month or so after said surgery, we saw one of the surgeon’s nurses coming in as we were going out–that’s small town life for ya!

Of course, making soft-serve (ice cream or frozen yogurt) at home is pretty simple if you’ve got any sort of ice cream maker–just dish it up straight out the machine when there’s still plenty of air beaten into it and there you go! I made a delicious Limoncello ice cream not too long ago that was hard to resist in its soft, fresh stage–the only thing that saved it was that we were expecting company and I wanted to share it more with them than have it all for myself.

Where do you fall on the ice cream vs frozen yogurt debate? And what’s your favorite flavor?

Tasting Thomasville: Yoburst, George & Louie’s

Nibbles

Yoburst Frozen Yogurt

We love the toppings bar... perhaps a smidgen too much some visits.

We love the toppings bar… perhaps a smidgen too much some visits.

While we were still “camping out” at the Dollhouse before officially moving in, we gave into temptation and stopped by the frozen yogurt shop on E Pinetree Blvd (we passed it coming and going to Lowes, it was just a matter of time). It was not the last time.

While not a restaurant of the sort I’ve included in other Tasting Thomasville posts, the fact that we frequent this shop a couple times a month makes it definitely worth mentioning. From what I can tell they serve the Yocream brand of frozen yogurt (produced by Dannon) and they rotate flavors on a regular basis. Sometimes this is good (yay, variety!) and sometimes it’s bittersweet (like the amazing Rootbeer Float frozen yogurt they had on one trip).

I often opt for the Triple Chocolate paired with something else depending on the options. This last visit, after dinner Friday night, they had recently put out Pumpkin Pie, so I skipped the chocolate and paired it with Butter Pecan for a pie-flavored fro-yo-off. Both were delicious, especially topped with praline pecans and some cinnamon sauce! Todd’s favorites are the Country Vanilla and Cake Batter.

And, yes, we’re quite aware that frozen yogurt is only a half-step healthier (if that!) than going out for regular ice cream, but we also don’t care. Everything in moderation, including moderation!

George and Louie’s

Their options can be a bit overwhelming at first.

Their options can be a bit overwhelming at first.

Back into the realm of “real food” (as opposed to the imaginary sort, but you know what I mean) we ended up at George and Louie’s one evening after Todd saw they had gyros on the menu. It’s tucked back on Remington Ave (a street I’m just now getting my bearings on) and features self-seating and a walk-up counter for ordering. This threw me, at first, as we walked in about 30 minutes before closing that first time and I was a little overwhelmed by the series of chalkboards spanning the wall showcasing their southern-seafood-Greek offerings.

Crab Louie Special: obviously I made an exception to my Low-FODMAP lifestyle, but it's a saving grace that I can!

Crab Louie Special: obviously I made an exception to my Low-FODMAP lifestyle, but it’s a saving grace that I can!

That first night I went with the Crab Louie Special (when in doubt, I default to ordering the house special in a new place) which was a deviled crab cake, hushpuppies, Greek salad, and cheese grits, along with a glass of Merlot. The cheese grits were more like grits topped with cheese, so not what I think of when I order cheese grits, but other than that the meal was just perfect. The tartar sauce tasted homemade and, well, it’s hard to screw up a Greek salad but it can be done (they didn’t though). Todd got the gyro he went in craving along with an order of onion rings that he was quite over the moon about. Once we’d ordered I had a chance to look at the parts of the menu I skipped over. Items like the Greek salad topped with Fried Green Tomatoes, Fried Oysters, or Tilapia sounded especially intriguing.

French fries and onion rings---it'd been that kind of week, folks!

French fries and onion rings—it’d been that kind of week, folks!

While it can get pretty loud in there when it’s busy (as we found out when we visited with a group of friends after the Taste of Greece event was rained out, a month or so after our first visit), there’s nice music playing in the background, plenty of seating of all configurations, and umbrella’d tables outside. There’s even a drive-through if you’re in a hurry. The music was of particular interest to us, though, as we were midway through our meal when a familiar song came on: “our” song, the one we danced to at our wedding, a song from 1955 that we don’t hear unless we play it intentionally, was playing on the sound system. One of the many reasons Thomasville continues to feel more like home every day are these little touches of awesome we run into in random places around here.

We also got to talking with the owner before we left and complimented him on his atmospheric choices. And we know we’ll be back because there are just so many great-sounding things left on the menu to try!

Review | Get Slushed! and Get Happy!

Sips

It’s summer, and summer means the colder the treat the better to combat the heat. Ice cream and popsicles and smoothies to the rescue and, if you can punch them up with a little bit of finely-crafted spirits, so be it!

Back at the Plantation, our Executive Chef wanted to try a dessert he’d read about that paired tropical fruits with 3 sorbets, each sorbet made with a liqueur. Now, the thing about booze is, it doesn’t freeze. The higher the sugar content of something, the less likely it is to freeze, and since alcohol is a sugar, items with alcohol in them wont’ freeze unless you keep the non-sugary bits in the right ratio.

We got our Chambord and Grand Marnier sorbets to freeze okay, but the Godiva chocolate? Just wouldn’t gel. It probably didn’t help that the ice cream maker we had was one of those that you needed ice and rock salt to surround the tub and was on its last legs anyway, but it took all day to get anything remotely solid out of the mixture. The dessert was a success and we had enough of each sorbet to last the 2 weeks it was on the menu, but I think we were all in agreement that Godiva sorbet would not be making a reappearance.

That was my first, strongest thought when I got the chance to review Slushed!: More Than 150 Frozen, Boozy Treats for the Coolest Happy Hour Ever by Jessie Cross.

Last year or so I purchases a Cuisinart ice cream maker, the one with the freezable canister that only takes 20 minutes to make just about anything, used it a few times, then got caught up with other things. Trying out some of the recipes from Slushed! was a great excuse to brush the perma-frost off of my ice cream maker and give it a spin.

Remembering my earlier incident with alcohol-laden sorbet, I was happy to see this very topic covered in the introduction along with guidelines of how much alcohol of a given strength could safely be added to a quart of ice cream. That, right there, was worth the price of admission, folks.

We made 2 ice creams and 2 frozen yogurts and 2 frozen pop recipes, though the book also covers smoothies, novelties, gelato and so much more.

Tonic Water with Mojito Ice Pop Cubes

Tonic Water with Mojito Ice Pop Cubes

First, of course, I had to try the Chocolate Martini Pudding Pops (page 25). Instant pudding and Godiva liqueur, opposite ends of the chocolate spectrum, and man were they great together! I couldn’t get these suckers out of the molds, but they ate just fine with a spoon, let me assure you!

The other ice pops I made were the Mojito Pops with Fresh Mint (page 26). Each pop recipe made 8-10 servings so I cut mine in half (to regulate the damage to my waistline), but still had extra mix to use. Into little leaf-shaped ice cube trays the extra went and, let me tell you, as good as they are on their own, a couple of the mini cubes in a glass of tonic water or club soda and you’ve got a nice, light, refreshing drink with a very low alcohol content.

As for ice creams, we tried both the Spice Trader’s Vanilla Vodka Ice Cream (page 37) and the Bananas Foster Ice Cream (page 48). The vanilla was a typical custard-style ice cream with vanilla beans and it was oh-so-rich and good. That one lasted maybe a week (though, in our defense, it was my birthday week and we had an awful lot of cake to eat up). The Bananas Foster used no eggs, though we did have to first cook the bananas in brown sugar and butter to get that amazing caramelized flavor going. Both boozy ice creams were scoopable straight out of the freezer–a definite benefit to a little liquor in the recipe.

The frozen yogurts, on the other hand, benefit from sitting out a little bit or 20 seconds in the microwave before trying to chip away at them. The Limoncello Swirl Frozen Yogurt is light, refreshing and just tart enough to get the job done, though I wish I’d added even more lemon curd swirl to this batch. The Sex on the Bean Frozen Yogurt was, unfortunately, the only one I wasn’t truly crazy about. Something about the combination of orange and dairy just didn’t want to work for me (though I know I used to love Dreamsicles as a child, so go figure). Still, it’s not a bad fro-yo at all.

Limoncello Swirl, Sex on the Beach, and Bananas Foster

(left to right) Limoncello Swirl Frozen Yogurt, Sex on the Beach Frozen Yogurt, and Bananas Foster Ice Cream

We stopped there, but I have at least 3 more recipes I want to try out in the near future (especially the St Germaine & Earl Grey Tea Gelato, page 61) and more after that.

Compared to the other alcohol-related book I reviewed this month, this one wins hands down!

Now, if I can just figure out how to get the frozen pops out of their molds. (Definitely a first world problem.)

FTC Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of Slushed! by the publisher for purpose of review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.