Friends of Mathletics Ice Cream Run Version 2 - Lake Calhoun
Runner's World recently ranked Minneapolis as the 7th best running city in the nation, and I would venture to guess that it would rank pretty highly on a list of best ice cream cities as well. What's better than combining these two things and some great friends on a beautiful late-summer day? Nothing, that's what!
We started at Sonny's Ice Cream. I had a pint of cantaloupe sorbet from Sonny's a while ago and didn't like it that much, so I never made the trek out to the actual shop, which I now realize was a HUGE MISTAKE.
I sampled Toasted White Chocolate and Mango Habanero and while both were great, I decided to get a scoop of Mango Habanero. The employee called this a 'ballsy' choice. Most of the high points of my life involve impressing an ice cream shop employee, so the day was already off to a great start.
This had literally the perfect mango base. Sometimes I find mango flavors to be way too sweet, but this was exactly right. It had an incredibly concentrated and intense mango flavor, but there was some tartness and nuttiness to balance out the pure sugar content. The habanero added a nice and hot burn. I got a lot of heat on the first bite and was worried that if the heat continued to build it would be too much (especially right before running 3 miles!), but it maintained a steady yet intense heat. Also! This wasn't heat for the sake of heat; I could actually taste the pepper!!!!!!! I mean, who does that?! Sonny's only makes a few gallons of this at a time so you may have missed your chance to try this, but if they do still have it or have it again in the future DO NOT PASS IT UP! This was an easy 🍦🍦🍦🍦/4 cones.
The first run leg of the day was three miles around the southern end of Lake Calhoun. It was hot and humid, but the run was mostly downhill and we all ran comfortably.
Ben and Jerry's was our second destination. Ben and Jerry's doesn't offer a single scoop option so we decided to get two double scoops to split between 5 people, which was the perfect amount of ice cream. We got Milk & Cookie, Totally Baked (the 'flip-flop' of Half Baked), Lemonade Sorbet, and Coconut Seven Layer Bar. Lemonade Sorbet, Coconut Seven Layer Bar and Totally Baked are all scoop shop exclusives. I forgot to take pictures here (whoops), but my favorite was the Coconut Seven Layer Bar. It had butterscotch. That's hard to beat for me.
Two more people joined us at Ben and Jerry's and after a short, 1 mile jaunt, we reached Tin Fish. This is pretty much your quintessential lake food stand serving hamburgers, hot-dogs, seafood, and ice cream. They don't churn their own ice cream, and I didn't see a sign anywhere stating which brand they served. Tin Fish also serves JonnyPops. I was feeling a bit in need of real food at this point so I decided to try a Raspberries Blueberries & Cream JonnyPop.
After this experience, I am definitely a JonnyPops convert. I love that all of their popsicles include cream, but the other flavors are vivid enough that they avoid venturing into creamsicle territory. The raspberry/blueberry balance was perfect. The bright, tart raspberries took center stage, and the blueberries sweetened things up. The only downside was that this melted very fast in the heat. JonnyPops only uses guar gum as a stabilizer, so this fast melting is to be expected, but it made it a tiny bit stressful to eat. Overall, I'll give this flavor 🍦🍦🍦.5/4 cones!
 |
| Beautiful day, wonderful humans! |
Lizzy and I organized an ice cream run in late May where we ran about 5 miles and visited 4 ice cream shops in Uptown and south Minneapolis and it was a huge success! The general consesus was that we should do another one before the summer was over. (Sadly, Lizzy couldn't make it up from Iowa City for the weekend as her classes have already started - lame.) This time we ran 4 miles and visited 3 ice cream shops - Sonny's Ice Cream, Ben and Jerry's, and Tin Fish - on or near Lake Calhoun - one of the best running spots in one of the best running cities in the country! And we had, if I do say so myself, one of the best groups of people ever. Yay friends!
We started at Sonny's Ice Cream. I had a pint of cantaloupe sorbet from Sonny's a while ago and didn't like it that much, so I never made the trek out to the actual shop, which I now realize was a HUGE MISTAKE.
I sampled Toasted White Chocolate and Mango Habanero and while both were great, I decided to get a scoop of Mango Habanero. The employee called this a 'ballsy' choice. Most of the high points of my life involve impressing an ice cream shop employee, so the day was already off to a great start.
 |
| If you look closely you can see the little pepper pieces. |
This had literally the perfect mango base. Sometimes I find mango flavors to be way too sweet, but this was exactly right. It had an incredibly concentrated and intense mango flavor, but there was some tartness and nuttiness to balance out the pure sugar content. The habanero added a nice and hot burn. I got a lot of heat on the first bite and was worried that if the heat continued to build it would be too much (especially right before running 3 miles!), but it maintained a steady yet intense heat. Also! This wasn't heat for the sake of heat; I could actually taste the pepper!!!!!!! I mean, who does that?! Sonny's only makes a few gallons of this at a time so you may have missed your chance to try this, but if they do still have it or have it again in the future DO NOT PASS IT UP! This was an easy 🍦🍦🍦🍦/4 cones.
 |
| I would like to alert everyone to the fact that Sonny's serves brunch. As a proper brunch spot, it serves mimosas. Sonny's also serves ice cream. What I'm trying to say is that YOU COULD PROBABLY GET A SCOOP OF ICE CREAM IN YOUR MIMOSA AT BOOZY BRUNCH. That is all. |
The first run leg of the day was three miles around the southern end of Lake Calhoun. It was hot and humid, but the run was mostly downhill and we all ran comfortably.
Ben and Jerry's was our second destination. Ben and Jerry's doesn't offer a single scoop option so we decided to get two double scoops to split between 5 people, which was the perfect amount of ice cream. We got Milk & Cookie, Totally Baked (the 'flip-flop' of Half Baked), Lemonade Sorbet, and Coconut Seven Layer Bar. Lemonade Sorbet, Coconut Seven Layer Bar and Totally Baked are all scoop shop exclusives. I forgot to take pictures here (whoops), but my favorite was the Coconut Seven Layer Bar. It had butterscotch. That's hard to beat for me.
Two more people joined us at Ben and Jerry's and after a short, 1 mile jaunt, we reached Tin Fish. This is pretty much your quintessential lake food stand serving hamburgers, hot-dogs, seafood, and ice cream. They don't churn their own ice cream, and I didn't see a sign anywhere stating which brand they served. Tin Fish also serves JonnyPops. I was feeling a bit in need of real food at this point so I decided to try a Raspberries Blueberries & Cream JonnyPop.
After this experience, I am definitely a JonnyPops convert. I love that all of their popsicles include cream, but the other flavors are vivid enough that they avoid venturing into creamsicle territory. The raspberry/blueberry balance was perfect. The bright, tart raspberries took center stage, and the blueberries sweetened things up. The only downside was that this melted very fast in the heat. JonnyPops only uses guar gum as a stabilizer, so this fast melting is to be expected, but it made it a tiny bit stressful to eat. Overall, I'll give this flavor 🍦🍦🍦.5/4 cones!
Comments
Post a Comment