So Much Fun!
Of all the trips we have been on this was by far the most fun because it included the ice Cream Tour and you guys know just how much I love ice-cream. To start off we drove into New York City on the way to the Jersey Shore, which was our final destination. When it comes to amazing ice-cream and milk shake treats there is no better place then New York City where all the fantastic spots reside. One of my absolute faves and the first spot we hit was Black Tap NY, they're known all over for their amazing Crazyshakes and burgers so we decided to stop in for lunch. Now mind you the night before we left for our trip I came down with thee worst flu and was more than sick, by the time we arrived in downtown Manhattan I was feeling a little bit better but still a little nauseous which was not the best, especially considering I was about to invoke on the most awesome food and ice-cream trip EVER!! It was really hard to get into it with the normal magical excitement that I usually have, hence my many prayers to feel better asap. When we arrived at Black Tap I couldn't wait to get started, so naturally we ordered the shakes first.
The location we went to on 35th Street has a milkshake bar where you can watch them make your shake, so we just couldn't help ourselves. First up was the Pumpkin Pie Shake, it was themed for Thanksgiving and topped with a piece of pumpkin pie, a yummy turkey lollipop, plenty of whipped cream and a cherry all piled atop a pumpkin pie shake, in a mini marshmallow and vanilla frosting rimmed glass. The shake tastes like a big bite of pumpkin pie, wow was it delish and right on point.
Then was the birthday cake shake, a piece of birthday cake, plenty of whipped cream with a cherry on top, all piled atop a cake batter milkshake, in a rainbow sprinkle and vanilla frosting rimmed glass. The vanilla shake is perfect because it balances the sweetness of the cake and brings it to the perfect level of yummy!
Then is the cotton candy shake for the absolute sweet-tooth diva, its a tuft of cotton candy, a lollipop, rock candy and whipped cream all piled high atop a strawberry milkshake, in a pink and pearl chocolate and vanilla frosting rimmed glass. This is the one that will give you a major sugar rush and it's so worth it!!
Next up is the Churro Choco Taco, another amazing concoction as I'm a big fan of churros especially when caramel is involved.....yah feel me?...LOL!!
It's a Choco Taco ice-cream with two extra crunchy churros, whipped cream and a dulce de leech drizzle all piled atop a cinnamon toast crunch milkshake in a cinnamon toast crunch and vanilla frosting rimmed glass. OMG my favorite by far, and I love that they give you plenty of whipped cream. definitely not stingy!!
The 5th and final shake we got was the Cookie Shake which is topped with a chocolate chip cookie ice-cream sandwich, crumbled cookies, whipped cream and chocolate drizzle, all piled atop a vanilla cookie milkshake, in a cookie crumble and vanilla frosting rimmed glass.
If you are a lover of chocolate chip cookies like Rob, then this is the shake for you.
Finally after we finished shooting the shakes we ordered lunch...lol! Yeah a little backwards but this is The Ice-Cream Tour so the ice-cream is first!! I ordered the Black Tap Impossible burger because to be honest I have been very curious see what they taste like with all the recent craze. Rob ordered the Miso Salmon Salad with a side order of onion rings.
Let's just put it this way the burger tasted like a regular burger and a good one at that, I was more than blown away. I was watching Rob lick his fingers while I was eating so the salmon and onion rings must have been great too. As yucky as I felt being sick the food was too good not to enjoy, and I'm happy to say by the end of our visit to Black Tap NYC I was feeling much better. After hours of crazy shakes and filling our bellies we headed over to a spot that I have had my eye on for some time via Instagram called The Stackery, it's located in The Lodge at Bryant Park during the colder months of the year. They have some amazing chimney cakes filled with all types of amazing fillings and hot drinks.
I ordered the Yule Want S'more (seen right) which is filled with Nutella, a graham cracker cheesecake whip, and topped with bruleed marshmallow, graham cracker and hershey chocolate. Sounds amazing right? With me it's always s'mores for the win!! Rob ordered the Santa's Strudel (seen left) and that is filled with a honey crisp and fuji apple house made strudel, topped with "Schlagsahne" cream, apple crumble and caramel. Sounds amazing as well right? They both were to die for, and just like Black Tap are aways coming up with fun holiday themed items. I recommend you follow both @BlackTapNYC & @TheStackery on Instagram for some grammable and mouthwatering shots, I know I do!!
Our next stop was at Besfren Cafe, which was not far from Time Square on 5th Ave. We were up for a little matcha and taro yumminess in a cone, that comes complete with orchids. Yes I said orchids, it's not often your cone comes with flowers and it makes for a great picture. Normally matcha isn't my favorite but we decided to give it another try and to my surprise it was quite delicious at Besfren Cafe. I really like the taste of the taro with it, I guess for my taste buds that's the secret.
Well by the time we were finished at the cafe it was starting to get dark and we still had the drive from NYC to the Jersey Shore so we headed back to the garage to get the car and headed out for the hotel. i think I had forgotten just how insane New York City traffic was until we were leaving the city at rush hour, on a Friday night. It took us 3 hours to get to New Jersey...yikes! Either way it was all made second fiddle, the relief of reaching the hotel because once the sun went down I started feeling nauseous again, which was not a welcomed feeling. I had been feeling better the good part of the day and was not happy to have that sick feeling return. We stayed at the Ocean Place Resort right on the boardwalk, in Long Branch New Jersey. What a relief it was to check in and be able to take a shower and relax, the best part about our suite was the bedroom being surrounded with views of the beach and boardwalk. We also had a huge balcony that would make thee absolute perfect chill spot in the summer months as it looked right down onto the beach as well.
I loved that it was clean, roomy and super nice. It's hard for me to relax anywhere but home but Ocean Place was so comfy it really wasn't hard to settle in and enjoy, which I thought I was going to do but my stomach had other plans. It wasn't long after 8pm that I started getting sick all over again, trust me it wasn't pretty. Thank goodness for the huge hot shower which helped a great deal. I wasn't able to get to sleep until 4am but as soon as I woke up I started feeling much better which made me look forward to the rest of our trip and hoping I was done with whatever bug I had.
They also have indoor and outdoor pools, a full spa, a hot tub and sauna, a gym, room service and a in house restaurant. We really enjoyed a couple games of pool while we were in the lobby game room. Not to mention there is a great little shopping center with all kinds of great restaurants and shops that is about a 5 minute walk from the hotel's front doors. The next morning bright and early we want down and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant and headed out to explore the area, coincidentally our last two stops on the tour were in that particular shopping center. The two spots are Coney Waffle, home of the Show Stopper Freakshake and yes it's definitely a show stopper, along with Stewart's home of the REAL ice-cream soda.
We stopped in Stewart's first, there's something nostalgic about an ice-cream soda for me, I guess it's ice-cream in general really...it invokes or reminds me of those good childhood memories, when life was good and you didn't have a care or worry in the world. You also didn't have to stress about any of the things we do as an adult like paying bills, meeting deadlines and much much more. Shoot stress didn't exist for me at that age. Stewart's has a special soft serve, it just has an amazing vanilla flavor that goes perfect with an orange soda. I sure wish there was one in my area, and check out the fun decor it's insanely cute.
After Stewart's we had lunch at a great little Greek spot across the street, I was only able to eat a lentil soup because of my stomach which did help me to feel a bit better. It was looking like a pattern was starting to form, and not a good one at least not when the sun went down. it seemed now for 3 days I was feeling better in the morning and sick at night, it was looking like I had the flu. I'm happy to report though that for the first time in days I was back to normal and finally got a good nights sleep, only after all of my Ice-cream tour stops were finished...go figure!!
Anyway after lunch we finally got to stop into Coney Waffle where we met Jason who made us thee coolest freakshake EVER!!
It's called the showstopper and wow was it piled high with everything. I picked a cotton candy ice-cream for the milkshake, then piled on top was an ice-cream cone complete with a scoop of icecream, an ice-cream sandwich, a waffle cone with 2 scoops of ice-cream, a wall of cotton candy complete with a lollipop, chocolate bar, and lots of gummy and sour candy. Note I didn't eat this shake I gave it away to a table of 6 kids that made it disappear in a matter of seconds...lol!! It was more fun to watch them devour it by far, then we ordered a churro ice-cream sandwich followed by a showstopper cone.
As you can see everything is super colorful and amazing, plus Jason was super helpful and creative which is the coolest when you're an influencer. I love working with people that enjoy being extra as F with the ice-cream concoctions!! If you're ever in New Jersey I definitely recommend them, they have a few locations in the state and an amazing Instagram account as well, check it out along with all of their amazing creations. Did I mention their ice-cream is Kosher? Yup so you know it's the best of the best.
After we ate and shot immeasurable amounts of ice-cream we headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night and enjoy the many amenities of Ocean Place Resort. I took advantage of then hot tub as well as the room service, we had a reservation to eat at the hotel restaurant the next day which was Thanksgiving. In the meantime we schmyed around the hotel and relaxed until the next morning when we ate breakfast and walked the beach for a few hours. I saw so many people walking their dog and it was at that time I really started missing Piper. I wanted to bring her but she doesn't do well in New York City, she get's really stressed around all those people so we decided against bringing her. By the time dinner came I was feeling really hungry and feeling much better so I was more than happy for Thanksgiving dinner, the hotel restaurant had an amazing buffet with carving stations and all the trimmings. Let's just say we were more than stuffed by the time we were done ....we waddled our way back to the room for a very cozy nights sleep. All in all our trip was amazing and the stay at Ocean Place was amazing, Rob and I were talking about how we would love to see it in full swing so we will be going back in spring or early summer. We are more than excited due to the great experience we had this time, I was almost sad to go home. Then I remembered it was time to get Piper which made the drive home seem soooooooo long. The roadways were packed with people driving home from their Thanksgiving travels, so it took us 6 hours to get home when it should have been 3 or 4.
We made it just in time to pick Piper up from Debondale before they closed and headed home. Have you guys ever noticed that no matter where you go, no matter for how long, that there's no place like home?
Happy New Year Everyone, I hope you enjoyed my recap of The Ice Cream tour, we will be doing many more in the future. I'm looking forward to sharing more with you in 2020!!
