Spring Ice Cream Tour Part B/New York City

New York City Amazing!!

Ok so let's talk about our stop in New York City, for the next part of this year's Ice Cream Tour. Since we were in the midst of a pandemic flying was not the first choice, so we put our Florida ice-cream tour on the back burner until things get a little more normal, or we get vaccinated. (which at this point I'm happy to say we finally are) Putting everything into perspective we decided to make it a road trip, so this is why we chose New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Now I know New York was part of our last tour, but think about it, New York has always been the hub of amazing eats, no matter how many times I go and how long I stay, I always leave feeling like I wasn't able to even touch on the many amazing places available. That way we would still be able to go to tons of new places, only visiting the favorites a second time. We arrived in New York on a Monday at just after 10am, hoping to avoid the weekend rush. I had no idea that it would be a quarter the normal amount of people. Usually the streets are packed with bustling people, on their way here and there, and the streets jam packed with cars. Not this time, it was definitely a different vibe because of the COVID situation, to be honest I can't say it was horrible because it made it so much easier to get around and see everything. When we arrived we checked into our hotel StayPineapple, it's the only place we stay when we go to New York.

(For 15% off your StayPineapple stay use the code "Dana")

(For 15% off your StayPineapple stay use the code "Dana")

All of the employees are always so welcoming and helpful, not to mention it's super comfy, clean, and pet friendly as heck. They provide dog beds, bows, and pet accommodations as well as human. The hotel also has a colorful and artsy vibe, with a pineapple theme all throughout that will make you smile from ear to ear. It's the one hotel where we feel completely at home whilst away from home. The New York location is on 36th street, which is so convenient and in walking distance of Time Square. It's also in close proximity to so many restaurants, stores, and fun entertainment spots. They also have other locations all over the US. Which is why whenever we are traveling I look to see if there is a Stay Pineapple in the area, because they are literally our first choice. 

(For 15% off your StayPineapple stay use the code "Dana")

Once we unpacked, were rested and showered, we headed out to find a late lunch and scope the general area, which led us to The Sugar Factory. Another fun spot, with amazing freakshakes, and colorful food. They have rainbow sliders and rainbow pancakes, as well as plenty of candy, which is what they are known for. Since we weren't super hungry and planned to eat dinner later, we ordered a turkey club to split, which came sided with fries. Can I say that turkey club was delicious, along with the huge order of fries, it was more than enough for both Rob and I. Once we finished eating our sandwich, we ordered a few freakshakes to shoot and share with you guys. 

The first one is the Princess Make A Wish (the pink one), it's a delicious white chocolate dipped milkshake glass, that has been covered in pink sprinkles. The shake itself is made up of vanilla ice-cream, blended with vanilla sauce and rainbow sprinkles, then it's topped with whipped cream, a marshmallow wheel, a white chocolate Kitkat and a pink frosted cupcake with a birthday candle. The other shake is the Giggles Snickers. It's a chocolate dipped milkshake glass, covered with snickers and pieces of rainbow sprinkles. The shake itself is made up of cookies and cream ice-cream, blended with toasted peanuts, then topped with a caramel waffle, whipped cream, and sprinkles.

Which one would you choose?

In the shot below we have the Cookie Monster Make a Wish. It's a chocolate dipped milkshake glass, covered in chocolate chip cookie chunks. Then the shake itself is made up of cookies and cream ice-cream, blended with vanilla sauce, then topped with whipped cream, a blue glazed donut, chocolate chip cookie and a blue frosting cupcake, with a birthday candle. Aren't they gorgeous? I just love the presentation of The Sugar Factory freakshakes. 

Next up is the Campfire S'mores. It's a dark chocolate dipped milkshake glass, that has been dusted with graham cracker crumbles and covered in Hershey bar chunks. The shake is made up of chocolate and coffee ice-cream, blended with espresso, toasted marshmallow, Virginia Black Wiskey, then topped with a 7 layer S'mores cookie. It's super dramatic and over-the-top like all of their milkshakes, which is what I love about The Sugar Factory. You can get all of their milkshakes with or without alcohol, to make it a Boozy Milkshake!

After we finished eating a shooting it was almost 3pm, so we decided to go back to the room for a couple hours until dinner. I would say it was about 8pm when we decided to head back out for for some amazing food from Thep Thai, one of my favorites. There is such a classy vibe, from all the sleek decor, and matching serving dishes. I also can't forget to include the bar, which is where they make the best cocktails, oh.my.goodness they are more than beautiful by the way. Each one is garnished with a flower, fruit or both, and they are mixed to perfection. Not overly-strop and bitter but refreshing and tasty, theres noting better than a cocktail you can't get enough of. 

Whenever we are in the area we stop in for dinner, and it's always good. The Wonton Soup and Pineapple Fried Rice are divine, the fried rice comes served in a fresh half pineapple, that they hollow and make into a bowl. We also love to order the Chicken Satay, which is very flavorful and tender, it also comes with some amazing peanut sauce. As always the meal was perfect from start to finish, we left very full and happy as we made our way back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. The next morning we woke up pretty early to get a head start on the day, we wanted to shoot a couple style shots with the walls we found. The first was a fun, pink, floral piece, that worked perfectly for the new Adidas, bomber jacket, that I had scored especially for the trip. 

Shop this look here -> "DanaStargazerTruitt"

Once we were finished with the style shoot, we headed to Surreal Creamery, what a cool spot that was. All of the items they put out have a fun and playful twist. They pair all kinds of amazing flavors and treats, like soft serve ice cream and bubble tea. The shot below is (left) Brown Sugar Bubble Tea with Earl Grey Vanilla Soft Serve, garnished with a couple chocolate wafer straws. Then the other one (right) is Taro Bubble tea with a Matcha/Taro Swirl Soft Serve, garnished with a butter wafer cookie. They were both not only beautiful, but amazing flavor-wise.

 

Then there was the Strawberry/Almond Swirl, garnished with whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, marshmallows, two butter cookies and teddy graham cookies. Talk about amazing, each one I tasted was better than the other. This is another MUST-TRY spot!! 

They have a few locations in New York, we stopped into the 2nd avenue location which happened to be right up the street from Tipsy Scoop, which is known for their amazing liquor infused frozen treats. Now I have to be honest, I thought the ice-cream would taste bitter like the liquor. but wow I was so so wrong, you literally couldn't tell because it tasted amazing. This is such a cool spot, and they also have more than one location in NYC. They also have sorbets, which were also outta this world delish. Even Rob was eating away and he's not a sweets person like me. He rarely does more than takes a taste, so I was pretty surprised to see he ate almost the whole cup. 

Shop this look here -> "DanaStargazerTruitt"

After we left Tipsy Scoop we started wandering around looking for some lunch. As always there are a million and one places to eat, so we just decided to grab a slice of pizza, then head back to the room and relax for a few. The sky was clear with zero clouds and the temp got up to 75 degrees so needless to say we got some sunburn, mix that with a day of walking and we were exhausted. We spent the rest of the evening in the hotel, aside for coming out for dinner. The next morning started off much like the one before, early morning style shoots, then around 11am we headed to Black Tap to grab and shoot a couple of Crazyshakes. They were a tad messy but delicious as always. 

I ordered two of them, and sadly because of COVID they were not in the usual milkshake glasses, they were being served in the plastic to-go cups. There is the (above) Cookies & Cream Supreme which is an Oreo milkshake, in a chocolate frosted rim covered in crushed Oreos, topped with a cookies and cream ice cream sandwich, crumbled Oreo, lots of whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle. Then there is the (below) Strawberry Shortcake, its a strawberry milkshake in a vanilla frosted rim, covered in crumbled cake. Topped with a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar, a pink and white twisty pop (or in my case pink rock candy), tons of whipped cream, strawberry drizzle, crumbled cake and a cherry on top.

Needless to say I made a serious mess on the sidewalk with the strawberry one, but oh well it was more than worth it, because as always the milkshake itself was just fantastic. After we left Black Tap and started heading back to the hotel, but along the way we stopped into Milk & Cream Cereal Bar which is one of my faves. They are always doing a fun collab of some kind, last year they were doing something with Care Bears. Wow were they some cute sundaes. What they are known for is mixing cereal into soft serve ice-cream, and wow is it good. This is another spot I stop into whenever I am in New York. Here is the Care Bear's one from last year's trip, soooooo cute right?

After eating dinner and returning to the hotel, we woke up early the next morning because we decided to stop into one last place before we headed off to Connecticut, it's a great spot called Stuffed Ice Cream, and wow did they blow me away by making an ice-cream cone with hella scoops on it as you can see below....lol! They have so many amazing flavors in every bright color you can think of. They also sell stuffed ice-cream donuts that will blow your mind.

It's always a ton of fun to find and explore new shake and ice-cream spots, especially in a new city. Since New York always has new spots popping up weekly, it’s always an overturning wealth of fun places. I have a huge mater list of all the great spots I have seen while gazing Instagram, I have a folder for each state, and even some countries. We will be leaving for Walt Disney World on the 16th of May, so I'm more than excited to shoot all the Mickey themed treats for the 7 days we'll be there. I've been compiling a list of everything I have found online and Instagram so far. Well there’s only New Jersey left, which I’ll be posting in the next couple weeks. Keep an eye out so you don’t miss the last leg of our Spring, 2021 Icecream tour!! 

Also if you ever want to see unposted or unseen footage of all these amazing treats or trips just follow me on my Instagram or Pinterest at @DanaStargazerTruitt, both platforms have their own unique content.

To check out the last Ice Cream Tour just click here-> "First Annual Ice Cream Tour"

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The Ice-Cream Tour 2019

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!!

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