(This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Dreyer’s/Edy’s Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute)
When BlogHer asked me to write about my neighborhood in honor of Edy’s (Dreyer’s if you’re West of the Rockies!) giving away 1500 Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute ice cream parties, I wasn’t sure where to begin. There really aren’t a lot of constants around here. People come and go, friends pack up leave all the time, neighbors become passing faces in a crowd, and none of us are foolish enough to get too attached to a restaurant or bar. Truth be told, I don’t really know any of my neighbors. Sure, I watch them from my window at night unbeknownst to them, but we don’t speak to one another. And we regularly pass each other on the street without muttering so much as a hello.
New York can be like that. I think that’s why some of us like living here.
But then BlogHer wrote: “Kudos if you can include something about ice cream!” And I realized something: one of the only constants around here—like, one of the few things that has been consistent every single year since as far back as I can remember is the neighborhood ice cream truck.
Every Brooklynite can count on the ice cream truck – both when they want a cold treat, or when they’re trying to get to sleep or talk on the phone or watch a film. It’s a feature shared by every age group, income bracket, and nationality. No one is spared the distorted jingle. That jingle will fill the streets of Brooklyn long after we’re all dead and gone.
The band Fear once sang, “New York’s alright if you like saxophones.” But that’s not really the case anymore. I say New York’s alright if you like ice cream cones.
Want to Host an Ice Cream Party?
Every year Edy’s/Dreyer’s gives away 1500 Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute parties. They drop off the ice cream, the fixins and the bowls and all you have to do is show up and eat it. To win, visit www.SlowChurned.com and write a 350-word essay about why your neighborhood deserves free ice cream. (But really, given this economy, who doesn’t?)
Lastly, if you do happen to win a Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute party please invite me, because I will totally show up.
But wait! There’s more!
This next part is for me, not for Dreyer’s or Edy’s or BlogHer.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Me? In all honesty? I like the suburbs. I genuinely enjoy parking outside of a large grocery store. I like seeing stop signs instead of stop lights. I enjoy the sound of lawn mowers and savour the smell of grass. And I love cul-de-sacs. I like the suburbs (even though I sometimes state otherwise)! Perhaps it’s a grass is greener type thing, but there you have it. This city girl misses Lowes, Papa John’s, and menus with pictures on them.
So, what’s yours?
You may comment here or link to a post on your blog.
On May 29th, I will select 10 winners (at random) to win a voucher for a free 1.5 qt container of Edy’s/Dreyer’s.
Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct!
Here are the rules:
- No duplicate comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
- This giveaway is open to US residents, 18 and older
- Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
- You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Full disclosure here: I am being compensated to help promote all this, but my affection for dessert is well-known around here.
That’s it, folks! I hope to read about some of your guilty pleasures!
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My guilty pleasure is waking up at 4 AM on a Saturday when everyone else is asleep, tiptoeing out to the living room, turning the TV on very low, and watching infomercials. Sometimes a sleepy-eyed dog will join me, wondering if there’s a treat involved and a non-judgmental kitten will crawl up on a warm lap, purring as if agreeing, “Yes, yes we do need the Touch-N-Brush!”
My guilty pleasure: Crab Rangoon. I love the stuff. It’s sort of like – when I’m with others at the Chinese restaurant. I’ll pace myself and politely eat ‘my share’. If I’m ordering takeout, I’d disgust myself if I brought a mirror to watch me bogart the batch.
Bacon is a close second.
Alyssa: YOU’RE KIDDING. RIGHT?
I love you for that one.
Kevbo: how is it you can make me laugh even in comments?
My guilty pleasure is Velveeta Shells & Cheese. I cook a ton, I try to eat local, organic, no-packaged-food etc., and yet, a couple of times a winter, on a cold Sunday afternoon when no one is around to see me do it, I make a box of completely unnatural bright orange Velveeta shells and eat the whole damn thing. :)
My guilty pleasure is taking naps with my cat, Ernest. As soon as I get under the covers, Ernie climbs in and and snuggles next to me. He rolls over upsidedown and I fall asleep while petting his belly. I should probably do something more productive with my Saturday, but there isn’t much that is more enjoyable.
So not kidding! I felt so guilty, almost ashamed of my secret life, until I saw my husband looking up reviews on the Duel Saw. It was the moment I realized… how lame we really were:)
There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Alyssa. Here’s where I’ll admit to my guilt. I LOVE home shopping channels. Mainly QVC-HSN is a poor man’s QVC. I’ve never purchased anything from the network but Diamonique Day is an event in my apartment. I’ve been known to pop popcorn and snuggle up under a blankie on the couch for the entire day.
I love you people. And now you’re making me wonder if I shouldn’t be watching home shopping channels.
ummm… kelly clarkson.
seriously, nothing better than some bubble gum angst. mmmm kelllyyyyy.
My guilty pleasure is definitely TV. From old episodes of 90210 everyday when I get home from work to Ghost Whisperer to House Hunters, I love it all. I’ve been wrestling with getting rid of cable because of budget issues, but I honestly think TV is one of things that makes me happiest. I want to follow your lead and not feel so guilty about it!
House Hunters! I Do love it so!
You know, Camille. I have a post written in my head about how we lived three months without cable. I should actually write it. It IS doable. Really. Promise. It’s especially doable if you don’t live in a big city with a lot of interference. Not sure if that makes sense.
Perhaps I will finally write that post. You have inspired me.
Gulity pleasures are those things we do that we know we shouldn’t be doing, but do anyway because they make us happy. I think I’ve got a whole list of them!
a) Eating an entire pint of premium ice cream in one sitting.
b) Watching bad reality TV (especially shows like Supernanny or Trading Spouses which make me feel like my life is great in comparision!)
c) Leafing through magazines like Cosmo
or
d) Eating an entire pint of premium ice cream while watching bad reality TV and leafing through magazines like Cosmo while the baby is napping!
Egirl: When you put it that way…
I like reading People Magazine whenever I’m at the gym or a doctor’s office.
I love cheese whiz. The kind you melt or the kind that comes in those peel off tins? You know, the hot cheese or whatever?
I love tang.
I listen to conservative talk radio on long road trips.
I play the air drums when I run.
I love jalapeño poppers.
i watched the entire season of The Secret Life Of the American Teenager. (I think I’m the only person who did, too. Toby once said, “Soon, their ads are going to say, “Hey, Michele! Come buy this!”)
Milkshakes! I love to get french fries and dip them in a chocolate milkshake. It’s pure heaven. There used to be a Wendy’s across the street from my dance studio where I spent lots of time as a kid and a Frosty with fries was the perfect cure for aching arches.
Also, musicals. I’ve never met a musical I didn’t like. I’ve also never met a hip-hop dance movie I didn’t like ( Step up 2 tha Streets, anyone?).
My guilty pleasure is going to the movies by myself. I don’t even have to get popcorn and soda, although that is a plus. Now I am married and have a 3 yr old so going to the movies is a big deal and I feel guilty at the thought of going to the theater by myself. I miss the days of not having air conditioning and sneaking off to the cheap theater, pouring some M&M’s onto a small buttered popcorn, drinking an icy cold drink and taking in a movie.
Wow! I didn’t realize how many more I had until someone mentioned radio. I’m the liberalist of liberals and I listen to conservative talk radio all day at work. Neal Boortz is before lunch and Dr. Laura is from lunch until I leave. It makes the day fly! I’ve also been known to watch Degrassi and Hannah Montana alone and I’m 28 years old. The fact that I just jammed out to old New Kids on the Block on my lunch hour isn’t even a drop in the bucket of my dorkiness.
Ha! I watched every episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, too! Total guilty pleasure:) My other guilty pleasures also include tv: Lifetime Movie Network/ Hallmark movie channel…I *love* movies like”Too Young To Be A Dad”, or “15 and Pregnant”:)
So many guilty pleasures, so don’t want to take over your comments section with a list of them.
I like crappy media. Really like it. I like a lot of crap movies (Sum of Us, One Fine Day, The Skulls), crappy TV shows (Gossip Girl, Dawson’s Creek, anything on USA in the summer) and crappy formula books (I LOVE YOU JANET EVANOVICH PLEASE NEVER EVER STOP!). I went to college, my parents and grandparents and great grandparents taught at colleges. I read the stuff that’s good for me and I like a lot of that too but I also love some mindless blather. And I love a bowl of ice cream while I’m partaking, too.
Kizz: in the bad movie vein… for a while there I watched Face Off EVERY SINGLE TIME IT CAME ON TV.
Starbucks and Target. Best if the Starbucks is inside the Target, in which case I will get a cart just to put my drink and purse in. I might be there just to buy deoderant (or worse, just to wander) and will still get a cart, just to use it as a cupholder. And to lean on, for I am lazy.
A potato bagel with cream cheese. I know, this is a weird one, but I’m weaning myself off because I spend an unhealthy amount of money and contribute an unhealthy portion of my diet on bagels. *sigh* Why can’t you be more complex, my dear bagel?
By the way, that silhouette of.. Hm.. The black image above the sans serif “BROOKLYN” — what on earth is it?
ha ha ha!
Well, we have a lot of water towers in Brooklyn. They kind of represent Brooklyn to some degree. See here:
http://www.brooklynindustries.com/brooklyn/
So I changed its top to a soft-serve.
I KNOW! Silly. I simply can’t help myself anymore.
I admit it, the internet is my guilty pleasure. I hide it from my husband. When I hear the garage door opening I run from the office so that he won’t think that I’ve been on the computer all day:)
My guilty pleasure is reading this blog. I’ve got better things to do, and i know it. But it lets me pretend that I still know people like you and toby.
Hi,
Nothing better than ice cream any time of the year!!
ok, my all time favorite is to get home from work. Grab a fudge bar out of the fridge. Pour Coca-cola in a glass and add the fudge bar. Then sit back and watch reruns of “7th Heaven”
That is too funny about the menus with pictures on them. Because I always order whats pictured. Guess I need to know what it looks like.
Can I count loving CSI:Miami as a guilty pleasure? I have to watch it late at night after my husband goes to bed (thank god for Comcast OnDemand!). Even though David Caruso’s acting is so bad, and Callie shows up to crime scenes wearing 4 inch heels, I can’t help myself.
It’s even better if I’ve hid a Snickers bar in the freezer to eat while I watch :)
My guilty pleasure is puffed cheetos.. or puffed anything really. It makes me feel like I can eat A LOT for a little!! And I know this is not the way it works…… :P
my guilty pleasure is eating ice cream early in the morning before anyone else wakes up. After all anything eaten in private contains no calories
My guilty pleasure is vampire books. I’m HOOKED on them right now, and I’m not even talking about Twilight, though, please don’t get me started. I just can’t help myself. I’m easily entertained by the (imaginary) undead.
My guilty pleasures:
Watching TV when I should be doing other things: but I love House, NCIS, My Boys, Bones, anything HGTV;
Eating REAL bacon instead of Turkey Bacon (or Taken – as my dh calls it);
Twittering or surfing the internet when I know my dh needs the full internet connection to play his game on X-box (hope he doesn’t read this!);
Indulging in the ‘good’ ice cream or sherbet instead of the local store brand;
Coke (the soda stuff, not the nose stuff)
I don’t really feel guilty about it, but I love to watch weight-loss shows.
My boyfriend’s guilty pleasure is better: chick flicks. I can’t tell you how many times I have come home to find him watching Sex and the City, The Wedding Planner, The Lake House, etc etc.
My Boys? What is that, Cindy? Never heard of it! Speaking of HGTV, don’t you juts love House Hunters? Man, I could watch that show all day long, night too.
Erica, it’s adorable that your boyfriend loves chick flicks. I think Toby may be guilty of that as well.
Kerri Anne: You don’t say! I have another friend addicted to that right now. So funny.
Mihow, I came back to list two websites that are my guilty pleasures:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
http://thedailykitten.com/
My Boys is a comedy on TBS. The current season just ended, but you can usually watch the episodes online. It’s about a girl who has four male best friends, her brother and one girl(y) friend in her life. She’s a sports reporter and is not a girly girl but is cute, etc. My dh and I find it entertaining…and wish it had longer seasons.
Ooo, my guilty pleasure is sometimes putting the wee ones to bed a little early and then soaking in the tub with a good book and a single piece of good chocolate (or a bowl of ice cream!). Ahhhh….
Pulling ticks off the dog.
It’s terrible and gross, and I HATE ticks, but it’s so damned satisfying. And he’s been picking up so many of them (I seriously counted 20 I got off him when I got home from work tonight and there are more I just couldn’t get him to sit still long enough for.) But as awful as it is, I can’t stop. I scritch him in all their usual hiding places just to find one, and will bribe him with treats to get him to stay long enough for me to pull off a good haul. And so that he doesn’t start to hate me.
The disposal of them is another one. Usually we just gather a bunch in the toilet and flush them, but other times I wrap them in tape and cut them in half. It just makes me feel better, like I’ve somehow sent a message to all the other ticks. Maybe I should start impaling them on pins outside the house as a warning to all the other ticks who dare come near here.
Wait, was this guilty pleasures or gross-outs anonymous? I may have gotten my blogs confused.