On my last day of mobile freedom (I had surgery on my foot today and will be confined to crutches for several weeks), my mom and I took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday and wandered around Princeton.
I love ice cream. Who doesn’t? In the past whenever I found myself in Princeton craving ice cream I would choose between a blend-in at Thomas Sweet or a cone of Halo Farm ice cream at Halo Pub. Both are good, but recently, I have made a revelation in the world of Princeton ice cream and I am now OBSESSED with the Bent Spoon. This is the epitome of artisan ice cream. The flavors are absolutely explosive, and did I mention extremely creative, and the texture is somewhere between real Italian gelato and ice cream.
Some of the flavors I have tried so far this spring are blood orange mascarpone, blood orange sorbet, chocolate, cookies and cream, coffee, dark chocolate, raspberry, ricotta, and lavender mascarpone. I’ve sampled a few more (mint julep and chocolate earl grey – both AMAZING), and there are still more I want to try (rhubarb and vanilla sea salt caramel). I may follow their twitter account to get updates on new flavors . . .
This time I went with strawberry mascarpone on top and ricotta pistachio on the bottom.
How AMAZING does that combination sound? My mom went with lavender mascarpone on top and mocha on the bottom – also absolutely delicious. The lavender mascarpone is a MUST TRY.
I can’t get over how good these two flavors were. The strawberry mascarpone had the perfect strawberry flavor. You could tell that they used REAL strawberries (plus I saw the huge vat of whole strawberries behind the counter ready to be put to use). It was not extremely sweet like strawberry ice cream can be, and the mascarpone mixed in was divine. As for the pistachio ricotta – absolutely perfect. The sweetness of the ricotta combined with the nuttiness of the pistachio with a saltiness to both of them – it was just such a delicious partner to the smooth creamy strawberry mascarpone. I am in love.
So as we were sitting on a picnic bench enjoying our ice cream, this elevator popped up out of the ground in front of Ann Taylor like something out of Harry Potter.
The reality was much less glamorous – it was used to move some trashcans around. But still we thought this was pretty cool to witness! Easily amused I guess you could say.
After ice cream, we did some shopping and saw Maleficent. I had read a good amount of positive press about the movie, but I was a little worried my expectations would be too high and that I wouldn’t enjoy it that much. I was completely wrong – I loved it. I thought Angelina Jolie was brilliant and so perfect to play this role. I honestly could not imagine any other actress portraying the character as well as she did or bringing as much depth to the character and story. The entire film was visually stunning, I enjoyed the twists on the classic story, and never once found myself bored. I would absolutely recommend seeing it.
Anyway, after the movie my mom and I found ourselves back in Princeton where we ventured to my favorite eating establishment – Teresa’s Caffe. My favorite dishes have evolved over the years from penne all’arrabiata to linguini vongole to the pizza perfetta. I love going to Teresa’s because I enjoy the creativity with the ingredients, and I trust that I will have an excellent eating experience.
My mom ordered the Flying Fish draught beer, and I ordered a glass of the Sangiovese (Villa Campobell, ’08, Chianti Riserva). The bartender described the wine as light bodied with a dry oaky finish – just what I was looking for to enjoy with my pizza.
I ventured away from my usuals and ordered the rossa pizza, which comes with tomato sauce, mozzarella, bielesse pepperoni, castelvetrano olives, and oregano. 
Perfect crust – not too thin, not too thick, with just enough crunch – and a wonderful combination of toppings, especially the addition of the oregano.
My mom went with her favorite – pizza insalata. It is a white pizza topped with salad that includes mixed greens, chicken, red onions, tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette. The crust on this pizza is thick enough to cut a slice and fold it in half to keep the salad in tact. Delicious. 