Something Sweet...

This is it! The place where it all began.

I walked into the Penny Ice Creamery one year ago, and was greeted with nine beautiful trays of lightly colored ice cream, spotted here and there with bright, fresh berries and flecked with unusual spices.  

The Penny Ice Creamery in Santa Cruz is the premier ice cream parlor for unique and delicious flavors.  It opened my mind and my palate to ingredients and pairings I had never heard of before, or had never though could be used in sweet treats! 

 The creativity and possibility that the Penny Ice Creamery presented has been one of the most life altering things I've experienced in my life since living at Shakespeare & Co in 2009. 

Seasonal offerings at the Penny.

I can almost recall the entire menu from my first time in, an impressive feat considering flavors at the Creamery change with the season and feature new flavors every week.

My first tastes:

Tahitian Vanilla Bean

Chocolate Sorbet

Strawberry Pink Peppercorn from dirty girl farms

Fig Leaf

Roasted Barley

Lemon Verbena from route 1

Pear Sorbet

Fresh Almond Cake, topped with Sweet Cream Ice Cream,
 Blackberry Coulis, and Honeycomb from my mom's bees!

Yum.

The next day, I was behind the counter.

Daily production at the Penny- spinning, spinning, spinning!

And thus began a year of searching for new flavors, raising my standards for all things culinary, as well as the beginning of my career as Assistant Pastry Chef!

In the open kitchen with Chef Kendra Baker.

Though this may not be the path I'll walk forever, it's been hugely character building and a wonderful learning experience, not only in the roles in the kitchen, but also in my role as a diner. 

This is only the beginning, though.

 

I'm off to taste the world!

P.S. With the exception of the honeycomb sundae, these pictures aren't mine.  

I never think to take pictures at work (nor do I have time), 

so I snagged these from news stories around the web!