Summer 2012 — “The Inspired American Summer” — star three new Limited Edition flavors (Juniper & Lemon Curd, Wheatgrass, Pear & Vinho Verde Sorbet, and Plum Sake Sorbet), the recently released Limited Edition flavor White House Cherry, new frozen yogurts (Grapefruit), and a cast of Perennial favorites (Backyard Mint, Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk, Lemon & Blueberries, and more)!
Above: organic, fair trade-certified vanilla beans from Uganda's Ndali Estate.
When it comes to making vanilla ice cream you have a few choices: use artificial vanilla flavoring, use vanilla grown in Madagascar (which produces most of the world's vanilla), or use something extraordinary.
In Uganda Ndali Estate cultivates what we consider the finest organic vanilla on the planet. Since 2007 we've used Ndali Estate vanilla to make Ugandan Vanilla Bean ice cream, and now we use Ndali Estate vanilla in any ice cream that calls for vanilla.
Why? Flavor and aroma. The real thing, the labor-intensive thing that requires pollination by hand and nine months on the vine to ripen, packs a knockout punch.
BBC Radio 4 recently traveled to Uganda to report from the fields of Ndali Estate (the first-ever fair trade-certified vanilla farm in the world) to shine light on the growing market for extraordinary vanilla. It's a fascinating story of the crop and a peek into the lives of the men and women who cultivate, harvest, and process one of our key ingredients.
Above: A Thing Called Divine Fits, the new album featuring Like Ice Cream.
Given that our business is ice cream, we pay attention to everything that deals with our reason of being.
Dead center today is the sweet new tune Like Ice Cream by Divine Fits, a trio featuring Britt Daniel (of Spoon), Dan Boeckner (of Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs), and Columbus' own Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks).
As catchy as catchy can be and sunny but not blindingly so, Like Ice Cream is part of the band's great debut album, A Thing Called Divine Fits, which is out today and in heavy rotation here at Jeni's headquarters.
Check out the NPR piece about Divine Fits here, check out a recent live version of Like Ice Cream below, and if the band comes to your town, get out there and say hello to our friend the drummer for us.
Above: Divine Fits' sweet tune, Like Ice Cream, live in Austin, Texas.
Above: Don't blink or you'll miss Team Jeni's rider Daniel Antoon, who battled it out during the grueling Tour of the Valley this past weekend in northeast Ohio.
Team Jeni's put the hammer down this past weekend!
Daniel Antoon (above) did battle in the Tour of the Valley in northeast Ohio, rode through what he described as a "pain cave," and managed to finish 12th (out 300 finishers), while Kari Hutson (below, center podium) took first in both the C and B races at the Cap City Short Track Race Sunday in Dublin, Ohio.
Keep up the great work, racers!
Above: Team Mama Mimi's/Kenda's Jillian Hall and Team Jeni's Kari Hutson and Ginger Ballard on the podium following the Cap City Short Track races Sunday in Dublin, Ohio.
Above: Polka dots turnin' heads: the ladies of Team Jeni's at the recent Stony Creek mountain bike race.
This past weekend, Team Jeni's competed in the Stony Creek mountain bike race on the edge of Detroit.
Mighty rider Patrice Lehocky (second from right, above) wrote this report on her blog:
"We had a 3-women 12hr relay team, coed 12hr relay team, and 2-man 6hr relay team. The course was fast and fun, smooth single track, wide bridges, super fast gravel, quick hills. I accidentally got off track on the first lap and did almost 16 miles instead of the 10.5 or so, but it was a fun lap and I finished it in 1:33. The next two were much harder than I would have ever anticipated, I definitely didn't intake enough (barely any) calories in the 2 off-hours between laps. My next laps (10.5 miles) came in at 1:16 and 1:12. Yeesh."
Patrice, may we suggest eating some of the ice cream you took to the race to share among all the racers? We can't think of anything better to replenish your energy stores.
Gnarly conditions out there in the woods, but pints are the reward at Team Jeni's HQ.
A very mountain-bike approach to replenishing the energy reserves: A bottle of Rogue Dead Guy Ale, two pints of Icelandic Happy Marriage Cake, and a can of the green stuff: Mountain Dew.
Our pints making quick friends this past weekend in Michigan.
The timing couldn't be better. Just off of her James Beard Award-winning jag to NYC, Jeni will be a featured guest Saturday, May 12 during the Ohioana Library's 6th annual Ohioana Book Festival, which celebrates Ohio's authors.
The festival wil ltake place from 10 a.m. to 4:30 at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center, 546 Jack Gibbs Blvd., near downtown Columbus and the Short North. Organizers promise live music, food carts and trucks (Jeni's Street Treats truck will be there!), exhibits, fun-loving crowds and, yes, "books—lots and lots of books!"
Admission is free; no tickets or advance registration is required.
We're proud to sponsor the Benefit for Ohio’s Wildlife fundraiser to bring awareness and resources to Ohio Wildlife Center, Ohio’s premiere animal rehabilitation facility, where some 5,000 animals are treated every year.
The evening festivities will get under way at 8 p.m. and will include:
the work of Columbus artist Matthew Richard Barnes
music by Buckles and Boots and Post Coma Network
a retro-style late-night show hosted by adventurer Coyote Peterson and Columbus emcee extraordinaire/man-about-town Johnny DiLoretto
appearances by the guests of honor, live animals
Tickets cost $15 ($25/couple) and V.I.P. tables are also available by emailing [email protected]. (If tickets remain the day of the event they will be sold at the door—cash only.)
Prior to the evening festivities, make sure to bring the young ones to Critters for Kids, which will begin at 4 p.m. and feature balloon animals, arts and crafts, live music, and Gate Dave's Safari Adventures.
Tickets to Critters for Kids cost $10 per family (cash only please) the day of the event.
Comprising musicians who draw inspiration from an array of genres, the music collective We Are Columbus Ohio embodies the deep musical talents of Ohio's capital city.
This week, the bands and performers that make up We Are Columbus Ohio — which we're proud to sponsor — are heading to the great South by Southwest music and film fest this week in Austin, Texas.
If you're in Austin make time to check out the We Are Columbus Ohio showcase and 1 p.m. Friday March 16 at the Treehouse Pub, 501 E. 6th St., 78701 (512-473-2121).
And if you're in Nashville, catch MazaBlaska(featuring guitarist-singer and Jeni's Fulfillment Team member YoniMizrachi) at 1 p.m. Sunday March 18 at our scoop shop in East Nashville. The band, returning to Columbus, will play a special acoustic set on the patio. So, stop by and try the new ice creams (and your old favorites) and hear some great Columbus-bred jams such as this:
Looking for something fun to do this week in Columbus, something that doubles as a great cause?
Gather your friends for happy hour cocktails during Mid-Ohio Foodbank's Operation Feed Day, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday March 1 at Backstage Bistro at Shadowbox, 503 S. Front St., in the Brewery District.
Jeni will be on hand for the event, which officially launches Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s Operation Feed campaign season.
Operation Feed, Mid-Ohio Foodbank's community-wide food and funds drive, is one of the largest collaborative hunger-fighting efforts of its kind in the nation. One hundred percent of the dollars raised through Operation Feed Day go toward providing food for neighbors in need (a $10 donation pays for 30 meals).
In addition to an appearance by Jeni, Operation Feed Day will include Johnny DiLoretto of Fox-28's Good Day Columbus, former Buckeye and N.F.L. player Roy Hall of D.R.I.V.E.N. Foundation, Mid-Ohio Foodbank President & CEO Matt Habash, and music by the soul/pop band Wonder Twin Powers.
Admission is free and a donation to Operation Feed is much appreciated.
ON THE MENU:
Drink special of the night: The Limelight cocktail (50 cents from each will be donated to Operation Feed).
The Shadowbox Happy Hour: $2.50 domestics, $4 specialty drinks, and half-price appetizers and pizzas until 6 p.m.
Great prizes: Shadowbox tickets, items from Columbus Alive!, and more.
Above: Jeni Britton Bauer, who recently presented Snowville Creamery's Warren Taylor with Slow Food Columbus' inaugural Snailblazer Award.
Jeni isn't always dreaming up new ice creams. Last night at Heirloom, the great restaurant in the Wexner Center for the Arts, she was on hand to present Snowville Creamery's Warren Taylor with Slow Food Columbus' inaugural Snailblazer Award.
The award, says Slow Food Columbus, "is designed to draw the public's attention to an individual or organization within the community whose dedication to sustainability and to transforming the food system captures the spirit of Slow Food."
Below is Jeni's presentation speech, which Jeni wrote yesterday morning. The speech sums up why we continue to work hand in hand with Snowville to make all of our ice creams and frozen yogurts with their grass-grazed cream.
Above: The great Columbus-based singer-songwriter-guitarist Lydia Loveless.
We took time yesterday to break bread with Lydia Loveless, a woman whose music we couldn't love more. Lydia was kind enough to share a diner lunch with us at Phillip's Coney Island in the Short North (and ice cream at our Short North shop).
Over fries and BLTs (and Hawaii 5-0's gun play on the TV) she talked of getting to know our nation's highways and taverns, broken promises to herself to exercise after long drives and nights, constantly scrapping to sell tickets and T-shirts, and never seeing a city's "sites" other than its gas stations and its nearest Denny's.
"One day, I swear we at the same Denny's twice, which was ridiculous," she said. "People are always giving you great places to see and go and drink and eat, but you just can't. All your time is spent playing, driving, and sleeping."
Not that she is complaining and not that she'd have it any other way.
Lydia, 21, has spent the past several months on the road playing songs from Indestructible Machine, which was released last year by Bloodshot Records, the Chicago label that's put out stuff by everyone from Ryan Adams and Neko Case to the Old 97's and Justin Townes Earle. She speaks her mind both in person and in every song.
Of Lydia's new album,allmusicguide wrote, "If you're someone who seeks out the place where punk rock, country music, crafted songwriting, and raw, immediate, visceral garagey rock & roll meet, look no further," while popmatterscalled the record, "Nine rounds of haymakers without a weak link."
Lydia is headed to South by Southwest next month in Austin, Texas, and until then she'll play a string of shows. Check herefor all details and catch her while you can.
Above: Singer Lydia Loveless and Jeni in the Short North shop Wednesday afternoon.
Above: the sweet Lydia Loveless merch table built by Lydia's husband and bass player, Benjamin Lamb. When you catch Lydia on the road, make sure to pick up some goods, including her new album, Indestructible Machine.