There are many fun things I get to do because I want to have things to write about on this blog. I have dragged my husband, Bobby, to all kinds of new places and he has done the same to me (when there has been a dry spell with no new content). One of the best things I get to do is go to ice cream shops. But you better believe there is something a little bit special about visiting one that is owned by a family member.
A couple of years ago, my parents visited my Aunt Pam in Florida. They told me that my cousin, Kim, had an ice cream parlor. While I thought that was cool, I honestly didn’t think I would be able to visit. It had been many years since I had last been in Florida. I didn’t foresee a trip to it in the future. But then Bobby’s brother’s son was getting married…in Florida! So we planned our trip and I started planning a way to get to the ice cream parlor.
My Aunt Pam and Uncle Domenick took us from Spring Hill, Florida to New Port Richey, right after the treated us to a delicious meal at Argento’s Italian Bistro (which is another story you’ll have to come back for). Kim’s shop is located in downtown New Port Richey. It’s a very quaint area with a nice park and lake to walk around. Kim’s shop is on the corner of the street, just down from the park.
I’ll be honest, I am a little biased. That’s mostly because she’s related. However, despite this, I will say the shop is very cute. If you go into it you will see pictures of my mom, her dad, and our aunt, when they were children. In addition there are pictures of her mom’s side of the family and her husband Mike’s family as well.
The ice cream is Working Cow Homemade Ice Cream. It is pretty good. There are a lot of different kinds of flavors. I chose the Thin Mint Crunch. It has Andes soft mint candies, Oreo cookies and obviously chocolate ice cream. I also got the Dutch chocolate ice cream. And I got it in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. When Shannen dipped the cone it was huge. I checked to make sure she wasn’t giving me a “family member” size of a scoop. She assured me she was not.
Bobby had Shannen make him a shake with the Coffee House Crunch and toasted coconut. He said it was really good. It was topped with whipped cream, coconut flakes, Heath pieces and a cherry.
Kim also has a candy shop attached to the ice cream parlor. She has drawers full of candy! She serves Italian ice desserts from this store along with the candy. You can also get hot dogs and other sandwiches there. She said that her Cubans are really popular.
We were joined by my cousin, Wayne, and his wife, Andria and Aunt Pam and Uncle Domenick. Andria enjoyed her cup of Coffeehouse Crunch. It has a strong coffee flavor with the crunch of the Heath bits. She said was it was delicious.
Wayne had a couple of different flavors. He really liked the banana pudding ice cream, which tasted just like banana pudding. Another flavor he had was the chocolate peanut butter. He described it “like biting into a cold Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.”
Aunt Pam got her favorite. It is cappuccino Kahlua with chocolate top cone.
It was a great day catching up with family I haven’t seen since I was a kid, some 35-40 years ago. But I can imagine that just sitting outside, eating one of the delicious concoctions put together by Kim or her staff would make any day a great day.
