Ok…I didn’t forget about the NYC restaurant weekly review thing. I did say, however, that I am lazy. I do have two very different places to review and they are both tasty! (one is VEGAN and one is certainly not!)

I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that people in NYC are sometimes a**holes. (Crap! Can I say that on here?!) Granted, you may have known this already because there are a multitude of reasons to think that. I was referring to the fact that sometimes we will be convinced, like the hipster idiots we are, to spend a ton of money on something because it’s “organic” or “green”. I am guilty of this – BUT this time, it was totally worth it. (and let’s be honest, a lot of times it IS worth it because it’s tasty and good for you but the whole time you’re eating your grass-fed burger you can’t help but think it’s so freaking expensive and how you’re kind of an idiot for buying it)

Enter the fancy, pretentious organic ICE CREAM TRUCK! If you are a NYC resident chances are you’ve seen one of these around town. The company is called VAN LEEUWEN ARTISAN ICE CREAM and they drive around town in big, yellow trucks. Recently, one of these trucks has made it’s permanent summer residence around the corner from my workplace, in front of the Standard Hotel in Manhattan. Conveniently located right off the Highline and also in a neighborhood where people have lots of $$ to spend.

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Here is a photo of their truck I found online. So last week everyone at work kept coming back with ice cream and talking about this truck. It was one of those killer 89 degree days so I took a stroll around the corner to track down the EARL GREY ICE CREAM everyone was talking about. They also have other, pretentious flavors such as: Red Currant, Ginger, Hazelnut and something called Giandujia.

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Here is my delicious, melting cone. I must say, the EARL GREY rocked my tastebuds. It was amazing. And they are actually reasonably priced when compared with other ice cream places in town:

Van Leeuwen Small: $3.95 (which was a good amount for me)

Red Mango Small (no topping): $2.95

Mister Softee Small Cone: $1.95

So despite the fact that it seems pretentious, the company is really good. They only use “paper products” made from sugar cane husks and corn husks, and they donate money to charities. Their ice cream is also truly delicious so I suggest sucking it up and getting one next time you feel like a piece of frozen heaven.

Here is their cute, yet flash heavy site: http://www.vanleeuwenicecream.com/

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Also on a completely UNRELATED note, a few of us had a Harry Potter themed dinner party to celebrate the midnight release of the the new movie Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We made things like “Quaffle Pie” and “Sirius Black Beans and Rice“. 

By far the best was the topping Jed and Elias made for their sundaes – a picture is worth 1,000 words:

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!!!!

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