Custard + Itailian Ice = Rita's..DUHH:)

    

   A couple weeks ago I went to Rida's. It is located on Irby Street in Florence, SC. This was the first time I have been to Rita's, and when I moved to Florence it was actually the first time I ever saw a Rita's. I was really curious what italian ice and custard would taste like together so I had to try it out. When I walked in I first noticed the loud employee, then the menu, and lastly I got to taste my treat!     

        As soon as my friends and I entered the shop the dark, tall, bald man shouts "welcome to Rita's". This man was extremely friendly, and seemed overly exctied that we have arrived. He first asked us if we ever been to Rita's, my friends were like "yes", and I was like "no". Because of my response he started scooping different flavors of itailian ice on a tiny spoon so we could do some taste testing. The flavors were great, and it was hard to narrow it down to one flavor, especially when there were so many menu items to choose from.

     The menu had things such as itailian ice, cream ice, Misto shakes, Blendini's, frozen custard, Gelati's, and Slenderita's. I knew what some of the items were, but others I was clueless. I have never heard the words Blendini or Gelati until I visited Rita's. The Blendini is just itailian ice and custard mixed together, and the Gelati is itailian ice and custard stacked on top of one another. I got a Gelati and it was fantasitic.

      When I made my decision to get a Gelati the employee said firmly, "good choice", and seemed a little excited for me. I picked strawberry-banana flavored itailian ice, and vanilia flavored custard. At the bottom of the cup he put itailian ice, and then vanilla custard, and then more itailian ice, and then topped it off with more vanilla custard it a cute spiral that resembled whip cream. When I finally got my Gelati and tasted my first spoon full I realized this is way better than regular ice cream. It had a good combination of fruity and milky flavor. The italian ice was not crunchy either, it was more slushy; and the custard was really creamy. So over all it was delicious!

      Rita's was a great place to get a treat, and I will probably visit again! The workers are friendly, the menu has a big variety, and every flavor is delicious. I could never go wrong with picking Rita's. Rita's slogan definitely fits its standard: Ice-Custard-Happiness.

What is That?



     This week I went to Hobby Lobby. It is located on David H. Mcleod Boulevard in Florence, South Carolina. This is actually the first time I have ever been to Hobby Lobby because my friend London took me here to look at craft supplies. I was not intending to get ice cream here because it is not an ice cream shop, it is an arts and crafts store, but when we got to the ice cream isle I was estatic to try the new flavors. The ice cream isle had fun flavors, sweet toppings, and the people in the isle was looking at me like I was crazy.

     I was really suprised to see that this store had ice cream, and even more suprised when they had a variety of flavors. They had "poppin pink cotton candy", "blueberry rush", and "sour electric lemonade". So, of course I picked "poppin' pink cotton candy" because pink is my favorite color. When I reached my ice cream from the highest shelf I could not wait to put the toppings on.

     When I got to the toppings section of the isle I really did not know where to start because there was to many toppings to choose from. They had spiral sprinkles, glittery icing, big colored marshmellow puffs, and bubble gum balls. I had a hard time choosing so I just picked two toppings, I got the spiral sprinkles on top, and the bubble gum balls at the bottom of my cone. I could not wait to take the first taste.

     When I started to take my first taste everyone around the store looked at me with confused eyes. I had no idea what these people were looking at so I just continued with the taste test. The taste of this ice cream was disgusting the taste melted in my mouth like toilet paper. I thought I was getting a good deal because of the size of the ice cream, but obviously it was only on sale because it was horrible. After a few more second tastes an employee came to me and told me I was going to have to leave the store for licking a pinata.

     I have made the decision to never go back to hobby lobby for ice cream because the flavors were horrible, the toppings were hard, and people could not mind their own business. I have warned all of you to never get ice cream at hobby lobby because obviously they need a new "hobby" besides ice cream! Oh yea, does anyone know what a pinata is?



Cold Stones Creamery!!!

     This week I went to Cold Stones Creamery. It is located on Palmetto Street in Florence South Carolina. I actually have never heard of this place until my two friends London and Whitney took me there. When I entered the ice cream shop I immediatley noticed the colorful decor, the friendly workers, and the huge ice cream box.
     Cold Stones Creamery is decorated perfectly. The color scheme is red, black, and white which went great with all the furnishings. The tables and chairs are exactly what I would imagine in an ice cream shop. The tables are round and tiny with just enough room for an ice cream to sit, and the chairs have a rounded seat with a rounded back that gives the room a vintage look. In the corner sat a freezer filled with ice cream cakes, cupcakes, and tubs of ice cream for people "on the go".
     As soon as I walked through the double doors the workers shouted "welcome to Cold Stones", and that is when I noticed that the service would be great. All of the workers were smiling and had a great attitude. Their uniforms consisted of a red viser, a red t-shirt, and black pants; one thing I noticed was missing was a name tag. Overall these ice cream servers were "A" quality.
     When it was my turn to tell the server what I wanted I had so many choices to choose from, so it took me a while to make up my mind. They had over 25 flavors of ice cream to choose from and to top it off they had over 35 toppings to choose from. So when I finally made up my mind about what ice cream to get, I got cheesecake, chocolate, and coffee flavored ice cream with graham crackers mixed in. I got it put in a chocolate and peanut dipped cone because I had to make it look fancy, and the cost was only five dollars and twenty-seven cents. I believe I made a great ice cream creation because the taste was amazing.
     This ice cream place is pretty good. They had a great environment, fantastic service, and amazing ice cream. I probably will go back to Cold Stone's, but first I must visit some more ice cream locations!