I scream, you scream

My Dad, who is currently working away in Katie's general neighbourhood - aka: South East Asia, sent me this retro photo over the weekend of my oh so adorable brother (pre goth phase) and I enjoying a tasty treat in some sort of European locale. And while some tastes might have changed (I can no longer pull off those straight across bangs and can't bring myself to rock the classic 80s off the shoulder look) my desire to indulge in all things frozen and tasty is a lifelong kind of love affair. Since I managed to work my way through THREE ice cream stops this weekend (hey whatever it was labour day) I thought I might share some of my favourite frozen creameries with you all. So while the calender says it's back to school time...I say while the temperature is still sitting pretty around 20ish degrees it's perfectly okay to indulge in a scoop or two.

Eds Real Scoop: At 920 Queen Street East (in Leslieville) this neighbourhood hot spot is just a stones throw away from my brother's new apartment, which might even tempt me to visit him once in while. This east-end favourite boasts ice cream, sorbet and gelato in a delish array of locally unique flavours. My personal fave? Mercury Espresso...named after the local Queen Street east espresso bar across the street.

Marble Slab: If you're willing to endure loo-ooo-ooo-ng lineups and an extremely high caloric intake then marble slab is the go to made-to-order decadence of choice. Picky ice cream eaters will love to create personalized cones as extra toppings (kit kat, gummy bears, chocolate chips, bananas etc etc) are carefully folded into your flavour of choice on, you guessed it, an ice cold marble slab. With a large variety of flavours and an abundance of 'mixins' to choose from you can be as creative as you want when ordering. Be warned, multiple toppings will top up your price point so don't get carried away. I may have once forked over around $9 for one very inventive creation.

Kawartha Dairy: This cottage country hot spot (its the Webbers of ice cream) is a new found tradition of mine. Giant scoops of Moose Tracks ice cream in a big homemade waffle cone makes enduring the long weekend traffic on the 401 seem almost bearable.

Dolce Gelato: If you're trying to be a little healthier and are into authentic Italian treats then hop on the College street car and head on out to Little Italy's infamous gelato spot, Dolce Gelato. This gelateria is full of Italian personality and offers up some of the freshest and best tasting frozen treats in the city. Your best bet here are the fruity flavours or the very popular mentha (aka chocolate mint). No matter how long the line-up is (and it gets pretty long during those humid days) a refreshing scoop (or two or three) from Dolce is definitely worth the wait. I like it so much that I wrote about it here.