This is a total aside, but it’s not a total departure.  We’re still talking fashion folks….but I’m also talking ice-cream.

The thing is it’s not just any old ice-cream, it’s gourmet ice-cream.  Gourmet ice-cream is created by geniuses and mad scientists in their Willy-Wonka-esque worlds of yumminess and innovation.  These inspired people are the new-kids and geniuses of the frozen nectar we’ve come to love from decades past.

I don’t know if anyone’s been watching but ice-cream has gone through a revival.  But it’s not only ice-cream….everything has been going through the Gourmet laboratory and coming out renovated, re-invented, and just plain new as seen on many popular foodie shows seen on tv.  But I’m not going to talk about all of the foods getting upcycled and recycled.  I’m only going to talk about ice-cream in general and CoolHaus in particular as the golden gem that came into my life and made me oh-too-happy on a beautiful Sunday afternoon…

How to begin….? (take a moment to visualize and initiate a cool flash-back effect in your mind of your own choosing)

 

I was on my way to see my artwork that was on tour with The Sketchbook Project when I noticed their food truck.  It had a long line and I didn’t know what all the hubbub was about so I decided to hold off taking a look-see to check out my art.  If you check out my ‘Writing Bits’ page on this site you’ll see I’ve published a couple of sketchbooks through The Sketchbook Project and they were on their 2014 North American tour having come to Los Angeles.  Yay!  It was a chance to check out my book…not only to see it myself but also to see how it was holding up on the road.

So it was with anticipation that I went up to the stand and checked out my book.  I signed up for a library card and looked me up.  In a matter of minutes my book was in my hands.

Side note:  When you check out your book you also get the one filed next to yours so you get another book to see at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So how did it look?  My book looked good.  It was so exciting to see my book and I was totally happy with how it turned out.  Only the 2014 tour books were out.  My book from 2013 was back at the Brooklyn Art Library.

I didn’t actually re-read the story like I did when I caught the Sketchbook Mobile during their 2013 tour, but I did skim it and took some time out for some pics.  It is still a page-turner.  And my art rocked.  WAY better than my 2013 work, but I chose to look at it like ‘throwback’/’retro’ art and embrace it.  I actually included excerpts of it in my 2014 illustrations.

 

 

Now for a steady stream of me reading my book.  Pure drama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now onto the dessert!  Coolhaus.  I almost left the site without going to the food truck.  The truth is I’m sensitive to certain foods because of certain ingredients that are used and I figured why bother.  This food truck will be like other food joints where I’ve left my money and my tears.  BUT the gods were shining down on me and I decided to take a gander…and with a little prayer and boldness I walked up and discovered heaven.

Coolhaus uses a predominately organic ingredients and fresh ones at that.  The options available for a broad customer base almost made me cry.  They had vegan and gluten-free options though I’m not vegan or entirely gluten-free.  Their promotion card promotes they use NO: high fructose corn syrup (love it), bovine grown hormone (a big one for me), sugar substitutes (why bother when you can have the real thing is my thought), artificial colors (super yay!), and artificial preservatives (thank goodness!).  I was so surprised and grateful that I didn’t mind standing in the long line to get a try.

 

All you do is pick and ice-cream flavor and a cookie base to make your sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the balsamic fig & mascarpone ice-cream with the lemon/rosemary sugar cookie and fell out.  It was so good.  All the foodies out there KNOW that balsamic vinegar goes well with figs and being a foodie is my amateur hobby on the side.  But what threw me was the lemon and rosemary sugar cookies!  I mean you could actually see the rosemary and I loved it.  No rosemary ‘flavoring’ at least that’s what my imagination said with a sigh…they use real rosemary!

Check out that rosemary and fig!  Whoa…..

It was absolutely great and this is where their ice-cream is like fashion to me:  the flavors and combinations offered were like couture; not just my selection…the other ice-cream flavors and cookies offered were just as stunning and innovative.  You could combine your cookies and flavors and even had the option of using a different top cookie from the bottom cookie in your cookie sandwich.  They call their ice-cream sandwiches ‘architecturally-inspired’ and as part of their history named their ice-cream sandwiches after ‘architects and architectural movements’ (taken from the CoolHaus website ‘About’ page).  You can get the sense of this from the picture I included above that I called ‘Coolhaus pictographs’.

So let’s take another look at fashion and ice-cream for fun….I had the gorgeous ‘Balsamic Fig & Mascarpone’ ice-cream with Lemon/Rosemary sugar cookies.  If I were to find an image in fashion that made me think of this ice-cream it would be the following:

I can only highly recommend this place.  If you can locate a food mobile try them out and if not check out their shop:  8588 Washington Blvd., Culver City CA.  You can check out their site here.  Here’s a little video to give you a heads-up in case you do check them out.  If you go…tell them I sent you and when they ‘Who?’ mention my blog.  Enjoy.  Until next time…travel Spritely.