Right Ici, Right Now

Dude, if you are ever in the Bay Area, and you like ice cream, you've gotta go to Ici on College Ave in Berkeley. It is a tiny, adorably sweet ice cream and candy shop where they make everything in-house and do some unusual flavors. Stuff like caramel-butternut ice cream sounds gimmicky until you try it, and you don't care how trendy it is because it transports you to another planet. The naturally creamy-caramel taste of roasted squash translates nicely to frozen yumminess, and when mixed with the extra (subtle) carameliness of actual caramel the end result is just really deep and gorgeous and nuanced and unexpected. Ici does pints, and they're great to pick up to bring to a gathering because for one thing pretty much everyone loves ice cream, and then also the weird flavors get people talking and tasting and thinking.

Ici Ice Cream, 2948 College Avenue, Berkeley, 510.665.6054


photo shamelessly lifted from their website

Sherry!

Sherry seriously needs to make a comeback. A lot of people view it as a grandma drink (not that there's anything wrong with that!) or think it is cloyingly sweet and gross. In fact, many sherries are dry and have a beautiful complexity on par with great precision cocktails, without having to bother mixing up a cocktail (plus you can buy it at grocery stores in Oregon). I don't know much about it but it's one of my favorite things to drink. I like amontillado sherry, a fairly dry style but not as bone-dry and sour as fino. Amontillados take seriously 30 seconds to unfold and progress through their notes on your palate, going through tart, raisiny, soft-butterscotchy, and sometimes a sort of savory curry-ish note. My favorite is Lustau Amontillado, mostly because it's readily available and I can never remember the names of any others. I gave a bottle to my mom and we had it for a late-night snack paired with onion-pear kugel, which was a good match and felt fabulously grandmotherish.

My Groceries, Myself

Nine p.m. groceries: different from Sunday afternoon groceries. It's personal and it's just goofy. Everyone in line at New Seasons is who you'd see there on Sundays getting their Nancy's yogurts and heirloom apples - white, middle class, thirties, vaguely outdoorsy or creative, locavores. Here is what we are buying. The guy in front of me: fruity pebbles and a gallon of milk. The guy behind me: soppressata. Me: tube of Pillsbury cookie dough, tea, dried cranberries. Yeah, I don't know either.

Planned Parenthood Benefit at New Deal

There's a benefit party tonight at New Deal Distillery for Planned Parenthood. They're calling it Sexy Tuesdays, which I think is simultaneously embarrassing and cute. The $20 entry price gets you food and drinks from Gilt, Teardrop Lounge, New Deal, Saint Cupcake and others. Fun and delicious! I'm curious to finally check out New Deal's space too. 

Sexy Tuesdays


Tuesday, December 7


6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.


New Deal Distillery,
1311 SE 9th Ave., Portland