Scoopsburgh

It’s Memorial Day weekend and we’ve made our first trip to Page’s Dairy Mart.  That can only mean one thing - summer has officially begun!  Page’s, which is located on the corner of East Carson Street and Becks Run Road, is one of our all-time favorites in Pittsburgh.  It is not, however, open year-round so you must make the most of it from about April through October. 

Here are just a few reasons why we love it so much:

- They have Kit-Kats as a mix-in for their “Arctic Swirl”.  I’ve said it on here before, and I’ll say it again - any ice cream place that has Kit-Kats is a favorite of mine. There’s only one mix-in that I love more than Kit-Kats and that’s chocolate covered pretzels!  Page’s uses a local company called Esther’s.  They don’t just give you a little spoonful of pretzels.  They are ample in their pretzel helping AND they put an entire chocolate covered pretzel on the top of the Arctic Swirl!

-Their ice cream is just so creamy.  There’s really no other way to explain it except for it’s absolutely delicious!

-They have so many options.  You can have everything from homemade ice cream sandwiches to the classic South Side Shake - it’s the best of both worlds! (see below)

Not only does Page’s have wonderful ice cream treats, but they’re historic, too!  If you go to the back of the building you can read a lot of interesting history about Page’s Dairy Mart including the fact that there used to be a baseball field behind the current location.  They have a picture of Becks Run Baseball team playing the Homestead Greys in 1913.  You can find the telephone pole that was the original location of home plate.

The next time you find yourself in the South Side or at the Waterfront, you need to add Page’s Dairy Mart to your agenda.  You won’t be disappointed!

I found this amazingly easy recipe for frozen yogurt last summer.  Finally tried it and it’s awesome!  Here’s the recipe:

3 cups of fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
4 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar (I like tart frozen yogurt so I only used about 1/4 c of sugar)

All you have to do is mix the ingredients together in a bowl.  Let it sit in the fridge for about half an hour (optional).  Then, freeze it in your ice cream freezer.  As you can see above, I have the ice cream maker bowl/attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  I let mine churn for about half an hour.  Serve immediately or for a harder consistency put in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Makes about 6 cups.  Serves 8.  Enjoy!

I miss whyamiinseminary so much that I’m watching baseball…alone…

If you ever find yourself on Route 88 in the South Hills (near Baldwin), you should check out Sugar & Spice Ice Cream.  To be a favorite ice cream place of mine, there’s only one thing you need to offer - Kit Kats.  I don’t know what chain places like Dairy Queen have against them, but they are hard to find as a mix-in for your blizzard/flurry/cyclone/arctic swirl.  What makes it even better is to get chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla!

There’s only one thing an ice cream place needs to have to make my husband happy - the ability to put a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of orange sherbet (not sherBERT, but that’s a whole other blog post) on a cone.  Fortunately this is not that hard to find as any self-respecting ice cream place has these two things.

Because Sugar & Spice Ice Cream has Kit Kats and orange sherbet, my husband and I will always be satisfied with a visit.  BUT they have so much more - 24 flavors of soft serve, pretzel cones, chocolate chip cones, ice cream cupcakes, homemade ice cream sandwiches to name a few.  They do not accept credit/debit cards, so make sure you take along some cash.  They have an outside window with picnic tables, but there’s indoor seating, too.  AND they have a candy/baking store.  Really, anything you could ever want to make your own homemade candy or anything you’d need to bake they have it here!  A container of that sugar-crystal cookie decorating sprinkle stuff for $.89!  There’s something for everyone at Sugar & Spice Ice Cream!