ice cream

While in New York visiting family, we tested out several different ice cream stands.  Prior to this I had always considered ice cream to be pretty similar, only to find out I was quite wrong. Most of the ice cream stands in that area of New York were either Perry's or Hershey's - both delicious for different reasons.  My favorite in the end was Boxcar Barney's, which happened to be the first one we tried. It was just too tasty. 

The Winner: BROWNIE BATTER and COCONUT, ALMOND & CHOCOLATE. The flavors were amazing and the whole experience was just fantastic.

My second favorite was The Ice Cream Shack.  I got Death by Chocolate and Chocolate Chip Cookie dough. The flavors were great, the consistency was nice and smooth and the ice cream was nice and hard.

Bemus Point had great flavor choices but it seems like they had difficulty keeping their ice cream cold, which is kinda important.  I got white lightening (chocolate with thick ribbons of mint) and cannoli which was overpowered by the mint chocolate but very tasty.

Our last place ice cream stand is:

Big Tree was probably my least favorite, the flavor wasn't all that great. I got Eskimo Kisses which just didn't measure up to the other flavors I tried.  

If I ever get back to Jamestown, I know where I'll be headed back to!

risd museum

Sunday afternoon my little sister and I walked over to the Rhode Island School of Design museum, just down the street from my sister's house.  It was hot outside but luckily the short distance and air conditioning made it alright.  The museum has quite a variety of things, mostly typical of big museums along with a few unique items.  One thing that is short-term is the Dandy exhibit which follows the rise of the "dandy" as a persona and figure throughout history from its conception and base.  It was interesting and it was neat mostly to see the original clothes and feel swatches of the material used.  

Cameos feature in this mirror design (Pendleton House)

Another unique feature of the museum is Pendleton House which is a fully restored 20th Century home which has been preserved (and restored) to what it would have looked like in 1905.  It was beautiful and you can just imagine what it would have been like to live in such a home.  In the main part of the museum, there is also a "grand ballroom" which is covered wall to wall and ceiling to floor in large paintings.  Its purpose is to emulate the grand salons that occurred throughout Europe during the 19th century.  It is fun to sit and admire all the paintings and pick out your favorites.  Two other things I liked I've posted pictures of.  Hopefully you can pick out your favorite items the next time you visit Providence!

clamming

A few days ago my sisters and I went clamming in Narragansett on a little stretch of muddy land at low tide.  We had so much fun that we did it again the next day and even got some more tools to make it a little easier.  We steamed the clams and ate them dipped in butter each night and they were so tasty. If you ever go clamming, look for the harder packed sand - the softer sand doesn't usually have any clams.  Secondly, look for small holes in the sand.  The larger ones are usually duds, but the smaller ones are promising.  The areas including mounds of sand are also good indicators.

Some of our clams

After we went clamming our second time, we got clam cakes - pieces of fried dough with small pieces of clam inside.  They were delicious!