#graeter's

So I have family in Cincinnati, and so at one point we visited them and tried Graeter’s ice cream. And it ruined ice cream for me forever. Until now, because it’s in grocery stores everywhere now. (My entire family exploded when we learned this).

Maybe you’re thinking “This post is dumb, I [already have an ice cream I like/don’t even care for ice cream that much/don’t trust some rando on tumblr’s opinion on this].”

Let me assuage those fears. 

“I already have an ice cream I like”

Graeter’s is better. It’s so creamy that I sometimes get mad at it, staring at it, willing it to reveal its secrets to me. HOW can it be so creamy? I physically cannot comprehend it. Its flavors are all magnificent. The famous one is black raspberry chocolate chip and it’s the most gourmet shit you could imagine on an ice cream cone, but I’m not sorry to say that my favorite flavor is just chocolate chip, the one in vanilla ice cream. Because the ice cream is so sweet and so flavorful. People hate on vanilla ice cream but that’s because it’s not Graeter’s. 

The real crazy thing about Graeter’s is the chocolate chips, which aren’t chips so much as dark chocolate islands in an ice cream sea. The chocolate is smooth and melts in your mouth and tastes like what the perfect chocolate Roald Dahl described in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sounded like. Instead of putting in regular chips of the stuff, they pour melted chocolate into the ice cream and stir it around to break it up, so the chunks are big and vary in size and sometimes it doesn’t get broken up and you get a GIANT massive chunk of chocolate and thank the Lord. 

“I don’t even care for ice cream that much”

Then you have refined tastes. A lot of ice cream is meh. Try Graeter’s instead. 

“I don’t trust some rando on tumblr’s opinion on this”

Do you trust....Oprah Winfrey?!?!

NOW THIS IS MY KIND OF ASK. 

Graeter’s Peach 

Graeter’s Cookie Dough Chocolate Chip

Jeni’s Brown Butter Almond Brittle

Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip

Graeter’s 

@anonsally

What flavors did you get? (I am in the ice cream fandom! Perhaps I need to make a pilgrimage to Ohio for the extra-good ice cream.)

I got Darkest Chocolate and Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk! 

For our first free weekend in Cincinnati, I insisted we experience one of the best amenities of a city—THE ART!

I love art, and I think I have for most of my life. I spent hours in my room crafting, I took a summer art class at Little Egypt Art Association and for my birthday last year I picked the St. Louis Art Museum to celebrate the day. I love picking out prints to hang on the walls that I have an immediate reaction to. I like to research artists, styles, movements and particular prints. There is something so relaxing and fulfilling about just looking at pretty things. I love the connection when I just look at something and know that I love it. I might know why, or I might not, that is the beauty of beauty.

On Friday, we ventured to the Cincinnati Art Museum. It was a great rainy day activity. It wasn’t as extensive as the St. Louis Art Museum, but they still had cool pieces, including some from big names like Picasso, Monet, Rothko and Matisse.

They had a mummy, which is always my favorite part. It is such a mind trip to think that there is a body still inside and that someone created such a detailed and beautiful cast around it. Plus I love learning about Egyptian history and culture. They also had a few swords and armory, which is usually Brett’s favorite part.

I love looking at each piece and thinking about who created it and why. I like picturing what the piece looked like in its original environment.

One of their special exhibits included Up at Bat: Warhol and Baseball. I love Warhol. We have 3 different prints of his up in the apartment. They had the famous Warhol print of Pete Rose and one of the original Campbell's Soup Cans. Sadly, we couldn't take pictures in that gallery.

Brett and I stopped at the "Collaborative Masterpiece" station to create something of our own. I drew the cards to draw the roads and people. Brett drew the card to draw the mountains.

On the way home, we couldn't resist a stop at Graeter's. This is the famous ice cream shop that has locations all over the city. Besides ice cream, they also have a full bakery. Their ice cream is the creamiest I have ever tasted, and their unique flavor combinations always give you something new to try. My favorites are the black cherry chocolate chip and the mocha chocolate chip. I also tasted one of their bonus flavors of the summer, Cheese Crowne, that tasted like sweet cheese, but was surprisingly delicious.

With love,