YOU GUYS!

i know i haven’t gelato-blogged in approximately one million years, but this is BIG news and i just have to share:  Florence’s best gelateria has arrived in NYC.  that’s right, Vivoli is here. i’ll give you some time to jump up and down in excitement about that. go ahead, i’ll wait.

…

okay, we good? so maybe you’re wondering how this wondrous news come to light? well, i just opened up my daily Tasting Table email which i usually don’t even have time to glance at, but the word “gelato” caught my eye. upon reading that glorious word, Vivoli, i gasped quite audibly, and knew i had to share the love. so here we are.

i first tried Vivoli in the summer of 2001, when my family was visiting my sister, who was studying abroad in Florence at the time. i wasn’t a gelato expert at the time, but i knew it was something special, and all trips to Florence since then have been complete with the Vivoli experience. so what i’m trying to say is, this is super exciting. maybe… just maybe NYC will finally have better gelato than Philadelphia. now how about that.

there is however one small catch. Vivoli… is inside Macy’s. as in, midtown. ughhh. i was just there two days ago buying a mattress! if only i had known. still, that must be some kind of sign. of what, i’m not sure, but i do know that wading through the tourists is gonna be totally worth it and i’m going to get myself back there just as soon as i can. i’ll let you know how it goes… maybe.

i interrupt this unscheduled break in blog posting to bring you this gelato quote of the week. did anyone else catch the gelato reference in gossip girl? no? well then, i’ll just have to recap. context not necessary, all you need to know is blair said this (of course she did):

We don’t want pastries, we want gelato! It’s important for us to show how much we love Italian culture, and what says that better than gelato?

Amen, sister. but oh no, there’s more:

I will do it Dorota, you never get the right flavors anyway – no one likes pistachio anything.

this is where I have to disrespectfully disagree. because really everyone knows pistachio is one of the best gelato flavors there is, and also a very good flavors for other food items in general (oh man my dad’s cousin makes this killer pistachio cake for 4th of july… mmm)

alright -fin- that’s all i got. more soon.

xoxo gelato girl

update – this just in: i watched a few more minutes of the episode and dorota just claimed that the best gelato in NYC is in Chelsea Market, so that must be where blair went to get some. which can only mean they’re talking about L’Arte del Gelato.  sadly i’ve never had it so i can’t confirm, but i feel like this can’t be true. wouldn’t an Eataly reference be more appropriate here? also there’s a location in lincoln center which is much closer to where blair lives. come on gossip girl, get with the program!

friday was my birthday and while I did not have the opportunity to enjoy any gelato yet this weekend, I did receive this card from my pal Emily that I thought worth sharing:

How perfect is that? Its not homemade but i guess em got it in italy (?) and has been waiting for an opportunity to hand it out. It basically says “girls like gelato” and while I can’t speak for all girls, it’s definitely true for this one. Also it kinda looks like me, right? I mean it has blond hair and is holding gelato, so it is probably the closest an illustration will come to looking like me.

Anyway, happy birthday to me and happy gelato eating to all of you!

i just caught this gem of a quote watching last week’s 30 rock and i couldn’t not share with you. this comes from frank’s [italian] mother:

‘as we say in italy, “tutto quello que doverti preoccupare e scoreggiare”‘

i’m gonna let you look that up, and if you can’t figure out why that’s relevant to gelato, well… consider yourself lucky, i guess.

happy almost v-day gelato lovers!

in honor of this made-up holiday thrust upon us by greeting card/flower/candy companies that i still choose to celebrate because who doesn’t love a good fancy restaurant meal (?), i thought we could discuss this gem of a huff-po article i found last week (which is actually from december so i guess i’m behind the times). despite my being behind, it’s quite relevant for the day, so let’s get into it. the title of the article is “Duane Reade Gelato Ad Tells Women Food Is Love”.

the background: maybe you city dwellers have seen it in or around your local duane reade – i have, but i’m more of a CVS girl myself – this gelato ad boldly states:

YOU’LL START TO

FORGET HIM

BY THE 4TH

SPOONFUL.

and then there’s a picture of two pints of duane reade gelato. wait, why am i explaining this? just look at the picture here.

don’t even get me started on the fact that duane reade gelato is probably pretty terrible – we’re discussing a different issue. the point raised in the huffington post piece is just, gosh how terrible of duane reade to exploit women like that and force this stereotype upon them especially when we already have such issues with food, weight, substituting food for emotions, etc. now don’t get me wrong – I’m not some kind of anti-feminist – but aren’t we overreacting here? aren’t we missing a major fact? gelato IS love! i’m totally serious.

i love gelato. i find it very fulfilling. eating gelato in italy with my dad, my friends, my boyfriend, and even by myself are some of my happiest memories in the whole world. i eat gelato when i’m sad and it makes me happy. i eat it when i’m happy and it makes me happier. and its a real happy, not some temporary substitute for real the actual emotion. trust me. gelato is love.

so i’m sorry huff po, but i’ve got to disagree with you here. if duane reade wants to tell me that gelato is love, i’m cool with that. but i’m still gonna buy my Ciao Bella at CVS.

so eat up gelato lovers, in honor of V day. single, attached, or something in between – i don’t care. you deserve some gelato love. providing that toby hasn’t already finished my pint of ciao bella chocolate sorbet (very likely), i fully intend to do the same, tomorrow.

p.s. who caught the gelato reference on gossip girl tonight? TOTALLY relevant to this conversation. but i don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who choose to watch your gossip girl later in the week.

and just like that, i’m back. with a nostalgic gelato picture from one of my best Italian gelato experiences outside of Bologna. my and let me tell you, i am REALLY missing gelato in my life right now. i’m approximately 9 hours into a 3 day juice fast and all i can think about is sweet, delicious, smooth, creamy, gelato. don’t judge me, okay? i realize a juice fast is just some weird controlled form of anorexia but its three days and i’m in it to win it and i don’t care what you think. plus, gelato will be mine in just three excruciatingly long days.

until then, let me tell you what i’ve been up to these past few months. i ran a marathon. things got crazy. holidays happened. i had no free time. and i took an unannounced blogging hiatus. i also ate some gelato! nothing worth writing home on duesettimane about, unfortunately. just some mediocre restaurant gelato, and a couple of Talenti pints (not a fan of the almond flavor, btw). i also ate some ice cream. i hope that is okay with you, because it is with me. i also let my groupon to Love gelato lapse. doh!

so now its 2012. it’s february. and my leap-year resolution is to bring gelato back into my life for real, and share that with you. no more slacker gelato blogger here! fortunately, this shouldn’t be too difficult as there are a wealth of resources out there, especially since gelato is so big time now (but whatever i liked it before they sold it!). i’ve come to realize someone at huffington post must be a big gelato fan like me because they keep showing up in my google alerts. for instance, they recently posted this little snippet on how ice cream differs from gelato – and i couldn’t agree more.  then of course back around the holidays there was this review of Talenti’s egg nog flavor. all i have to say about that is, how come no one told me that existed? hello? friends? not only does this combine two of my favorite things in the whole world (gelato + egg nog), but I’VE MADE THIS BEFORE! last year i threw my leftover nog in the gelato maker, and wham, instant egg nog gelato. it was awesome. i’m only sorry the season is over and i didn’t get to try Talenti’s version. brooklynites, holler if you still see it floating around out there, and tell me where i can get it!

in other news, i’m also on the hunt for interesting gelato recipes, even though my gelato maker, i recently found out, may be sub-par. ugh. more on that later. i did however get a new ice cream cook book for christmas so i may try to re-purpose some of those, but feel free to send anything yummy looking my way. i take requests, and could use some inspiration.

okay you’re bored, i can tell. the post stops here. but more interesting gelato goodness coming soon, I PROMISE! sweet gelato dreams, amici.

miss me? gelato returns to your life (and mine) february 1. be there.

…that is all.