Showing posts with label Pazzo gelato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pazzo gelato. Show all posts
Comfort Carbs - Sweets
I'd like to end this comfort carb series with my favorite sweet treats in the neighborhood.
This gingerbread at Starbucks Coffee Company should be ubiquitous, but actually shows up during the end of year holiday season. Once in awhile I find it during the year.
It's very moist, nicely spiced gingerbread with a sweet, slightly tart icing and candied ginger.
The simplistic appearance of this cookie masks the taste explosion once you bite into it. I found this little darling at Four Cafe in Eagle Rock, in their bakery case. And they sell out fast, as this cookie is insanely popular.
This beautifully white, shortbread cookie comes in Brown Butter Lavender flavor. It's all at once buttery, floral, sweet, salty with a perfectly crumbly texture. Outstanding!
Once again, it's a shortbread base with a perfect blend of sweet and tart. It's another treat that tells me it's summer (and makes me happy it's summer).
No sweet list for me would be complete without ice cream, the ultimate comfort sweet treat. Once again I am very, very fortunate to live near both Fosselman's Ice Cream shop, the Fair Oaks Pharmacy & Soda Fountain and Buster's Ice Cream & Coffee Stop - all serve Fosselman's fluffy ice cream.
They rotate in unique flavors like ube, young coconut, horchata and others. My standby is the chocolate dipped strawberry to the right on this adorable double cone.
And finally for gelato, and the non-dairy version of those flavors, Pazzo Gelato in Silver Lake usually carries a gorgeous red, strawberry dark chocolate chip sorbetto. Last time I went, they served up this gorgeously pink raspberry chocolate chip sorbetto.
So whether you are in the mood for a baked or frozen treat, wonderful choices abound in the neighborhood.
Popping Boba and Other Cool Summer Treats
Recently we've had a couple of really hot summer days. A couple of friends came down to San Gabriel in order to have some shaved ice, Taiwanese style, a foot massage and dinner. |
| Mango Snowy at Pa Pa Walk |
I'd heard about Pa Pa Walk and their enormous shaved ices quite some time ago, but when I had enough people to share it with, it always got too late or we were too full.
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| Pa Pa Walk's fantastic sign |
After the long wait, it did not disappoint. The Taiwanese style ice is shaved finer than usual, giving it that "snow" consistency. It's drizzled with condensed milk and surrounded by sweet and tart mango cubes. The fluffy, creamy, fruity concoction is a home run.
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| Strawberry Chip Sorbetto |
Another summer favorite is Pazzo Gelato's strawberry chip sorbetto. So fragrant of fresh strawberries, gorgeously red and flavorful.
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| Coconut Water Slushy |
It washes down their spice food really well too.
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| SinBala - shaved ice |
SinBala offers the less finely grained shaved ice where you can choose 5 flavors to add in. In this case we chose: lychees, boba, almond tofu, small red beans, condensed milk.
It's a harmonious and multi-textured combination. The shaved ice also contains sprinkles of brown sugar to sweeten it.
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| Bin Bin Konjac - Popping Boba poster |
But there's more to the Mango Snowy story. After our snowy and foot massages, we put our names down for a table at Sin Bala, one of my Chinese food favorites in Arcadia.
At Bin Bin Konjac, the coffee/tea/dessert shop next door, we saw this poster for popping boba. I ran in to get a cup, but saw a sign at Sin Bala saying no outside food and drink were allowed.
So I planned to come back for popping boba.
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| Bin Bin Konjac - mango green tea with yogurt popping boba |
My initial thought was the boba would have Pop Rock candy in them or something crazy.
But actually, I ended up ordering a mango green tea with yogurt popping boba. The choices are any beverages on their menu with either orange or yogurt popping boba.
Yogurt boba was supposed to work better with milk teas and orange with clear teas. But I broke the rules and got yogurt with non-milk tea, fearing orange would be too sweet.
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| Bobas in dish |
When I got home, two pearly bobas were taken out with the big boba straw and placed into a dish for investigation.
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| Boba elasticity |
Chewiness is the quality I most enjoy in boba, rather than the soft and mushy type which abounds. These had a lot of elasticity but they burst in my mouth before I could chew.
You can see some of that give when I pressed down on it with a straw.
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| Burst boba |
Finally, after enough pressure is applied, the boba collapses and out squirts its filling, yogurty in this case.
The "skin" or casing has a slightly bitter taste which can be strange but once I got used to it, it sort of tempered the sweet mango.
Overall regular, firm boba will remain my boba of choice. This was still a fun and refreshing summer beverage experience.
Try it out and see how you enjoy popping boba.
