An Ice Cream Please, Hold the Corn
My obsession with ice cream dates back rather far—like, to the womb. When this bun was in the oven, my mother made so many trips to Steve’s Ice Cream for vanilla frappes that the employees gave her matching Steve’s t-shirts for us to sport once the stork finally dropped me off—all 9+ pounds of me. (Must have been before frozen yogurt hit the scene.) So naturally, one of my favorite things to do is scout out ice cream, and fortunately, Beijingers love it. In a city where summer temps can push into the 90s, there is no shortage of places to grab a bottle of cold tea and an ice cream pop.
If you’ve dined in a Chinese restaurant in America, you might think the Chinese sweets department is limited to pineapple chunks and fortune cookies. While it’s true that cakes, cookies, and pastries are not very prevalent, ice cream pops abound here and satisfy my periodic dessert cravings.
On a hot day, one of my favorite sights is the photo of a girl in a bright yellow “Abercrombif & and Titch” t-shirt smiling at me from the side of one of the city’s ubiquitous ice cream freezers. I’ve worked my way through most of the flavor options and have a recommendation if there are any U.S.-based ice cream novelty makers reading this—more hidden treats! My favorite pop to date, the cookie surprise (as I’ll call it since I can’t read Chinese characters), presents itself in an unassuming way. Covered in a standard crunchy chocolate shell, it looks similar to a Nestle Crunch ice cream bar. Inside though, the thing is a non-stop party of layered goodness. The fun starts with a large chocolate chunk on top and continues right on down to swaths of cookie, something gooey, and something yellow (which doesn’t sound appetizing, but is. Just go with me on this.)
While cookie surprise is a champ ready for export, the strongest contender for most unusual, hands down, is the corn pop. The pale yellow ice cream surrounded by a thin, rigged wafer legitimately looks like an ear of corn on a stick, and tastes like just like the butter that would drip down your arms from a piece at a summer barbecue. It is decent for the first few bites, but pretty intense to finish. Don’t forget to floss afterwards.
What corn ice cream mention would be complete without a bean ice cream mention? (They’re great together in chili after all.) Next up on the tasting list is something that looks remotely like a cousin of Pizza the Hut from the Mel Brooks classic, Spaceballs. A volcanic eruption of shaved ice topped with beans, fruit, and/or something gelatinous, it should be interesting. I’ll keep you posted.
Now, to gather all the people I know who like a scoop of bean-corn vanilla next to their chocolate chip cookie dough…
UPDATE: While this little beauty on the right may resemble a pile of cat vomit, it actually tasted awesome. Who knew that when red beans cheated on rice with ice, an equally delicious food would emerge. We could identify the red beans and shaved ice, as well as two kinds of tapioca balls and that flan-ish top hat, but the other ingredients are a mystery. A delicious mystery.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Hey girl…. this was hilarious!! I have one question: How much does the cookie surprise throw you back? I am amazed at how cheap the beer and noodles are, so I am now very curious about these cold treats!
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Less than $.50! I’ll bring you a few home—they’ll do well on the 14-hour flight.
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