Carmela's

Today, we had the whole family together in one place (I might explain why later.. keep watching) and when we were done doing that thing I'm not ready to tell you about yet, we all decided to go to this new ice cream place that just opened up nearby. All of you SoCal readers take note! So LW, GG, The Tweedles, The Hubs and myself all drove on down.

The place is called Carmela's Ice Cream.   It's a small shop, certainly not a national chain like Baskin Robbins so I wasn't sure what to expect.  We walked into this cute little shop and the first thing I notice is a big chalk board on one wall listing the ice cream flavors.  Pretty straight forward right?  It's an ice cream shop after all.  It was the names on the board that threw me.

Salted Caramel
Brown Sugar Vanilla Bean
Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nib
Mint with Cacao Nib
Cucumber Sorbet
Cardamom

Cardamom?  Really?  Cucumber? Huh?  And what the heck is a Cacao (pronounced kuh-kah-oh) Nib??  We aren't in Baskin Robbins anymore people.  Toto.. where's Auntie Em?  Anyone else see those ruby slippers?  Glenda? Is that you?  I was immediately intrigued and I'm not afraid to admit it, a little nervous.  I think the really nice guy behind the counter could see my trepidation and readily offered up taster spoons of whatever we wanted.

First up, The Hubs got a taster of the Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs.  Cacao Nibs are peeled and crushed cacao beans and taste chocolatey/nutty.  They're super yummy, so don't let the name throw you off.  I tasted a bit off of his spoon and was in dark chocolatey heaven.  The nibs even crunched a bit giving it a fun texture. The Hubs immediately announced he would take THREE scoops of the Dark Chocolate.

This photo stolen from Carmela's website.  Please don't sue me!  I forgot to take photos, I was too busy eating it!

LW got a sample of the Brown Sugar Vanilla Bean.  I tasted a bit off of her spoon and was transformed into a creamy heaven.  It tasted similar to a regular vanilla bean ice cream, but had a warmer flavor mixed in from the brown sugar.  The Hubs then announced he would take THREE scoops of the Dark Chocolate. 

GG then got a sample of the Mint with Cacao Nibs.  Surprisingly, this wasn't green like you would imagine most mint ice creams are.  It was a lovely white with dark nib bits mixed in.  I snagged a taste of this too (are we sensing a trend here?) and wow.  The mint and mix of the chocolatey tasting Cacao Nibs was subtle.  It felt very fresh and light.  Can ice cream feel fresh and light? Why yes, yes it can! The Hubs announced again he would take THREE scoops of the Dark Chocolate.

And finally, I got my very own taster spoon of the salted caramel and I melted away into bliss.  Forget all those chocolatey, minty and vanilla-y heavens, salted caramel is as dreamy as the name implies.  

Another stolen image.  The front is the mint, behind that is the dark chocolate again and behind that I believe is the salted caramel.  YUM!  Again, please don't sue me.

The Hubs, making sure we were done with samples, announced again that he wanted THREE scoops of the Dark Chocolate with Cacoa Nibs.  LW went with the Brown Sugar Vanilla Bean (along with both of The Tweedles).  GG and I both followed the hubs down the Dark Chocolate route but with fewer scoops. All of the ice creams are made using farmer's market produce and clover organic milk on site.  They come in these cute cups (or cones but we got cups) that look like they're probably biodegradable. 

And then, before we left, GG asked for a quick sampling of the Cardamom.  And well, since I had already tried all the others, I tried that one too.  WOW! That's all I have to say.  That, and I announced I would get Cardamom next time!  Then right before we were about to leave, the very nice man behind the counter told us that tomorrow they were going to have Strawberry Buttermilk flavor.  Apparently, every few days they like to mix things up and swap out flavors.  So now I might have to get Cardamom AND Strawberry Buttermilk tomorrow.

I feel like I might not be losing weight any time soon.

Seriously.. Thoughts?

ps.  This is not a paid advertisement.  The only person on their staff that knows me is the very nice man behind the counter who probably only remembers me as the weirdo blond lady who kept stealing her family's taster spoons and drooling.  I just found this place to be too cute and too yummy not to share.  You can check out their website here: http://carmelaicecream.com/