photo from Coolhaus

My favorite ice cream truck that-I-have-never-actually-eaten-at is making its way to Dallas, just in time for the heat wave. I spent most of last summer in Austin staring at the elusive Coolhaus‘ website, cursing the Ice Cream Gods for never allowing my schedule to make room for a gourmet ice cream sandwich. Now it’s finally going to happen. I’m finally going to pair ginger molasses cookies (available in vegan) with fried chicken and waffles ice cream! (Don’t ask me why this appeals, but it does.)

Coolhaus also offers other funky flavors. There’s the ever-popular double chocolate chip with sea salt, oatmeal, red velvet, and potato chip & butterscotch cookies. Signature flavors like dirty mint chip and brown buttered candied bacon ice cream fill the middle between two soft cookies that have already made people in LA, Miami, NYC, and Austin swoon. Thank goodness Natasha Case and Freya Estreller, the young entrepreneurs behind this ice cream truck sensation, have decided on DFW as the fifth location for their expansion. I need something to help me survive the impending sweatfest that is summer.

Coolhaus’ debut party will be at Frisco StrEATS on April 28 from 3-7 PM. See the rest of you ice cream fanatics there??

[George's update: The local CoolHaus Dallas Truck is being run through a partnership with CoolHaus and our favorite banh mi truck, Nammi Vietnamese. That brings the Nammi Empire of owners Teena Nguyen and Gary Torres up to 3 trucks: Nammi 1, Nammi 2, and Coolhaus.]

Photo courtesy of Yogurtland

It’s National Froyo Day, which means you can get FREE frozen yogurt at any Yogurtland location between the hours of 4 and 7 pm today. I’m only posting this in case there are any weirdos out there obsessed with Yogurtland’s spoons. Yogurtland is giving out special edition collector spoons and cups that would look great in my, uh, growing collection.

NorthPark Mall
7700 W. Northwest Hwy.
Dallas, TX 75225

Garland-Firewheel Market
4170 Lavon Dr.
Garland, TX 75040

Frankford Pavilion
4520 Frankford Rd.
Dallas, TX 75287

Carrollton
2625 Old Denton Rd.
Carrollton, TX 75007

Southlake DFW
1251 E. Southlake Blvd.
Southlake, TX 76092

Montgomery Plaza
2600 W. 7th St.
Ft. Worth, TX 76107

UPITTY DATE: Mark this day down. Tim was WRONG!

I love Boxing Day, the first business day after Christmas. All of Ontario closes and we sit on the chesterfield and chow down on donuts, beer, macaroni and cheese, and watch hockey. The NHL pretty much owns Canada on Boxing Day now. They have TEN GAMES scheduled. My friend’s mum puts out (uhoot) a hellofa buffet (boo-fay). And k.d. lang always sends me a fruit cake. Go Leafs! (Q: Why don’t the Leafs drink tea? A: Because the Canadiens have all the cups.) And hello Peterborough!

Nestled in the shadows of the towering stadium of the Mesquite High School fightin’ Skeeters, sits a humble family-owned pie shop with owners every bit as sweet as their glorious cherry pie.  Dallas needs more pie shops like Scrumbscious.  Sure, plenty of places offer a handful of pie flavors, many of which are honorable in their own right, but when an establishment is willing to dedicate their lives to the creation of an American icon, you can rest assured they are going to do things right.

Choosing your slice of pie can be a daunting task indeed for the indecisive and scatterbrained among us, but luckily you are safe enough just throwing a dart at the menu board and ordering whatever it lands on (Note: do not throw darts in the store, they do not appreciate this).  I could ramble on about my favorites, the silky smooth coconut cream, the rich, aromatic fresh pecan pie, but really, just go with your gut on this one.

There's a whole slice of pie in there, people!

But what drew me here was not the simple promise of fresh baked pies.  I have heard rumors for months now about the legend of Scrumbscious’ Pie Shakes.  Sure, the concept is simple enough.  Take everything that is sweet and lovely about the pie eating experience, slice of pie + ice cream + a dash of milk, throw it into a blender and drink it all through a straw.  Not rocket science (my granny has been doing the same thing with all her meals ever since her dentures started slipping), but something magical is to be had in the humble pie shake.  The ice cream tastes sweeter, the pie still sings softly through the symphony of flavors, specks of flakey pie crust threaten to clot up the straw and end the entire experience, but magically things turn out alright, and your you can suck your joy down in a steady stream of pleasure.  A dollop of whipped cream adds the finishing touch to an already over-the-top experience, and I’m not complaining.

Any slice of your choosing can be incorporated into the Pie Shake, so let your imagination run wild.  All your favorites are waiting for you: apple, cherry, blueberry, strawberry, banana cream, sweet potato, or pumpkin. You will begin to wonder why you never thought of this million-dollar idea.  You may even begin to imagine what other goodies could be upgraded to shake form.  Cupcake shakes? Cakeball shakes? Whoopie pie shakes? Deep fried shakes? Easy there partner, just leave the shaking to the experts, and no one knows better than the folks at Scrumbscious.  Enjoy, dear friends.

Scrumbscious Pie Company

1151 E. Davis St.

Mesquite, TX

Leave it to Ben & Jerry’s