One Sunday Amanda and I cooked up a pile of vegetables for lunch, so it seemed reasonable that we should have ice cream for dinner. Ice & Vice had quite a reputation. I looked it up on the internet, but it only had pictures of their crazy ice-cream (black ice cream, cones with ice cream and a slice of cheesecake on top) but no words to describe the flavors! I guess we had to go all the way to the lower east side to find out for ourselves.
The menu was overwhelming. It had so many word that I don’t usually associate with ice cream that my brain had to kick into a higher gear. It had a regular menu and a seasonal menu. I asked for a taste of Yellow — Buckwheat honey, turmeric, sunflower seed – butterscotch chip. It was so good. I was thinking of getting Milk Money — Toasted milk, sea salt, dark chocolate ganache and the Vanilla with sea salt, but that was a lot of sea salt. And so plain! I should probably get a weird flavor. So I ordered a scoop of Milk Money, a scoop of Yellow and a dark chocolate chai cone. Then I asked for a taste of Opium Den — White sesame, toasted poppyseed, lemon bread croutons. I mean, how often do you come across ice cream with poppyseeds?
Amanda ordered a donut sandwich with 9am- Vietnamese coffee with donut truffle.
This ice cream was incredible. I probably spent a full hour savoring every bite. It was so sweet and creamy, and that chocolate ganache was like little surprise bits of brownie. We realized our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we probably could have ordered half of what we did, but it was too late now!
We wandered our way around the neighborhood in the general direction of the music venue (Amanda had gotten tickets weeks ago) in search of a cocktail. We found the Meatball shop. I browsed the menu trying to decide between all of my favorite alcoholic classifications when the waiter asked in his French accent, “Do you like whiskey?” I nodded. “Do you like wine?” I continued to nod.
He presented me with a whiskey cocktail topped with red wine and told me to stir it slowly. I love when two of my favorite things can be combined! This place had T-shirts and hats for sale that simply said “BALLS.” We were entertained and the show hadn’t even started!
The show was Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive and Vilray.
Rachael (yes she spells it the unconventional way– the way my mom spelled my middle name. She wanted to name me after Rachael Jackson, a confident, outspoken ballsy president’s wife, but she didn’t want me to have to deal with a difficultly spelled name my whole life- hence she put it in the middle) loves to sing old jazz songs and her voice is perfect for it. Vilray likes to write and sing old jazz songs. Together they were a great pair. I loved how the style remained consistent as the lyrics would vary from serious to funny. One song would be a love song and then the next would be about someone having an inappropriate relationship with their ex’s mother. Amanda had seen them before but it was my first time. I loved it. I loved their silky smooth voices, I loved how the audience was silent (for the most part) as they sang, I loved the funny songs especially and I loved their banter in between.
Later that week we hit the streets of midtown once again. I’ve come to notice that I’ve slipped into writing mostly about dinner and a show in New York. Well here we go again! On Wednesday we met at La Pulperia, a Brazilian restaurant. Amanda arrived first and suggested that I order a fruity cocktail she thought I would like. She was right! And it had a tiny rose floating on top!
The meatballs were fantastic
As was the short rib pasta
We went to Shmackarys for dessert (It was a block from the theatre). This place has the best cookies. They are soft and perfect. They have clever seductive flavors like maple bacon and red velvet. I got the Bare necessities — it was an oatmeal cookie with seeds and nuts that implied it was healthier than the other cookies. It certainly didn’t taste that way.
Then we went to see Time and the Conways (featuring Elizabeth McGovern from Downton Abbey and Anna Camp from a bunch of things like Pitch Perfect and True Blood). 
In case you forgot what we look like waiting to see a show, here we are!
The show was disappointing. It was good that the tickets were cheap. Most of the characters were unlikable– the only good one was dead for half of the show. I was excited to see Anna Camp, but her performance only hit one note– the note of every other character I’ve seen her play. I was also excited to see Elizabeth McGovern. I liked her more than I liked her character. The cast was female heavy, which I appreciated. The set was really cool and told a part of the story in a way the dialogue couldn’t. I think the intension was for the audience to walk away inspired to live their lives to the fullest. Instead we walked out depressed and disappointed. I wondered if I should just stick to musicals– we’d been let down by plays more often than not recently. Little did I know that I was about to see two incredible plays in the next week…