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| Designing your own ice cream. Not only fun for kids |
Every summer, when it’s getting too hot to stay at your
desk, this topic
needs to be posted. I am talking about ice cream,
the wonderful, creamy, tasty, fresh snack for summer. Who doesn’t like it?
When cycling through Milano you sometimes have the feeling
that there is a gelateria on every streets' corner. The best sign is people walking around with ice creams. Especially in
these hot days you can see from the size of the ice cream how far you need to
go to encounter one: the bigger the ice cream, the nearer you are. Sign number
one.
The quality of the ice cream should of course be tried and judged
by the one tasting it. But this is a risky business and can have disappointing
results. What if you’ve finally decided on the one ice cream shop you have
passed by so many times, you are ready to fully enjoy three creamy flavors and then – when you’ve finally decided which three you want to try - comes the
disappointment: the ice cream is too watery, flavors are industrial or too much
sugar is added. Beh! Then the next time you better go to a place where it is
loaded with people, where the line goes far out of the shop and where people
come out smiling. Sign number two.
With this knowledge it seems easy to find the best ice cream
shop when hungry for something that cools you down. Unfortunately this is not the
fact. People have different senses of taste so maybe you like a specific gelateria while your best friend rather
goes to another one. Another reason, maybe less subjective, is the influence
of publicity. Either because of a brand, a good campaign or spoken
words.
In the North of Italy (and abroad) there is this ice cream producer which didn’t need
long to become a hype. Now lines are outside their shops all the time, whether it is
a stinking 30 degrees or whether it freezes a few. Their secret? Good
publicity, spoken word (everyone seems to like it, although recently I received
some more moderate reviews) and special flavors every month which gives fans a
reason to come back regularly.
The ice cream discussed above is – until now - only reserved for the Italians and 4 other
cities in the world. It is a must to eat it when you have the opportunity. Now
I will discuss a brand which is
world-wide available but wanted to be more special. Besides the seasonal flavors
they now introduced a special Pleasure
Shop. Here you can choose one of the world famous ice creams and personalize
it. Make something basic into something very special, created by you. A must-do for ice cream
lovers.
All good, but I am usually very skeptic about these popular
events. So I rather do it the adventurous way and go and look for the more local,
family run businesses spread all over the world. And since experience enriches
you I am sure that, one day, I will be able to see the good from the bad ones
from far away.
