A Mother's Day Worth Making the Trip For
Raspberry Vanilla Bean ice cream with a SweetAmbs cookie on top
From 1 to 3 this Mother's Day, Sunday May 10, Amber Spiegel (@SweetAmbs) will be giving away beautiful, hand-decorated lemon cookies when you get a scoop of ice cream, the first 50 of you, anyway. We made a Raspberry Vanilla Bean ice cream together that we think pairs best, but you get the cookie with any flavor. You also don't have to be a mom, but I strongly encourage you to give the cookie to your mom. Here's why this one means something.
There used to be a bakery in Woodstock called Julian's. My mom and dad ran it. They met at the Bear Cafe, my mom in the pastry kitchen, my dad on the line. My mom trained at the Culinary Institute of America. My grandmother still remembers me at two or three, barely visible below the counter, looking up at whoever walked in, my little voice saying "how may I help you." Maybe I was born to do something with food. But when I finally started making ice cream, she understood it immediately and has been helping me since the beginning.
So has my wife. She was there from day one. She's the final word on whether a flavor ever makes it to the menu, no matter how good I think it is. She used to stay up with me until sunrise making ice cream (back when we did that) after we'd already been scooping all day. If you like a flavor, it's only because it got her approval.
Amber trained at the same school as my mom. A mother of two herself, she has built something extraordinary, but what drew me to her is that she spends her days teaching people how to make beautiful things. Generously, patiently. I think that's too rare.
A portion of proceeds benefits Family of Woodstock, where I volunteered on the crisis line when I was 15. When a mom in our region doesn't know where she's sleeping tonight or how she's feeding her kids, Family of Woodstock is who picks up the phone.
The Raspberry Vanilla Bean flavor runs through May 24, but the cookies are very limited.
See you this Sunday. Get in line early.