Sydney Australia – Steve returns to his roots in the first of four episodes filmed in and around Australia. From the beach to the barbie, theres a lot of ground here to cover.

Steve’s first visit is to the Foodservice Australia Show at Darling Harbor on the shores the majestic Sydney Harbor.  All that is new and newsworthy in the food industry happens here, and Ice Cream plays strong part in the aussie culture. Steve visits with Sarah from Serendipity Ice Cream and Laura from Alpino Gelato, two of Australia’s ice cream companies that have stood the test of over 50 years of ice cream making.

Both companies showcased their newest and favoritest ice cream for Steve and the adoring public to sample.  Be sure to tune in next week to see the biggest pineapple youve ever laid your eyes on.

Police acknowledge that in recent years the flow of information and intelligence from the community has been reduced to a trickle.  In this initiative,  Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis hopes to build relationships in stating “It’s a chance to engage youngsters and their families in a non-crisis setting and build partnerships with good people in the neighborhoods who want a safe environment for their kids”

It’s also a chance for police to spread the word about the “Text-a-Tip” program, a first-in-the-nation program. Details of “Text-a-Tip” are stenciled all over the ice cream truck.  

So if you are in the Boston Area, keep an “APB out for the caring cops.  The initative runs through to the 6th of September

Jacksonville Florida – I guess it’s not the playground of the rich and famous, but it definitely is a playground non the less. Jackson sports some of the greatest beaches and family friendly activities around.  And if you need a good dose of the classic south, Savannah Georgia is only a couple of hours away.  We found this little gem in Jacksonville, and although its not the hoity toity ice cream stores we have filmed in the past, The Dreamette certainly holds its place in Ice Cream royalty.  Any store that can survive 50 years of  change in the marketplace is right up there in my books.

The Dreamette serves up good soft serve, has reasonable prices and the staff are as friendly as they come.  What more could you ask for?  An upside down banana split I hear you ask?  Well they even have one of those. 

Located at 3646 Post St, Jacksonville, this little walk up store is in an area that Jacksonville forgot – but you wont, after a trip to The Dreamette.

As “the first super premium ice cream” company, selected Haagen-Dazs stores are offering customers a free scoop if they verbally declare birthday greetings. 

Flavors are limited to Vanilla, Chocolate and Coffee, but hey – its free right?  These three flavors were the original offering back in 1960 which soon grew to multiple flavors or gourmet ice cream that spread to the four corners of the globe.

The offer is good between 4 and 8pm so pack up the family and get some ice cream into ya!!  For a list of participating stores – click here.

Missoula MT

 Nate McEwen lost his arm in a grinding accident at the age of 19, however he hasn’t let that event quell his entrepreneurial spirit. 

Nate now plays the familiar ice cream truck songs around the city of Missoula and instead of frightening the kids, this Captain Hook brings ice cream and treats.  “All my friends call me Captain Hook. It’s kind of a nickname that I picked up about 10 years ago, after I lost my arm in Helena and it’s just kind of stuck with us. We thought it would be fun, kind of reminded us of almost a Peter Pan-type of thing for the kids,” explains Nate.

And the locals love it.  Captain Hook Ice Cream brings around new and traditional treats and has plans to grow his business into multiple trucks.   Watch the video here

Finland

The Euromonitor research group states that as a result of the recession, families and individuals are looking for better value in the luxury goods catagory of grocery items, and hence, manufacturers are coming to the party with smaller containers.

When purse strings started to tighten in Finland in the early 1990’s, impulse ice cream sales actually increased, and many say the smaller packaging was a contributor. 

No matter how small the packaging gets – when your Finnish, your Finnish!

Le Mars Iowa

There are 2 age groups – 7-15 years and the 16 years and older.  The rules are simple.  You must pre register on June 16th at the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Museum on Business Highway 75 in Le Mars, IA.  The entry is $10 but with that comes 2 coupons to buy product at the store to use in your dessert.

“Anything can be added to enhance the dessert, but it must be edible,” the contest rules state.  “Kids have fun taking products they know, like an ice cream sandwich, and doing something creative with it,” Croston said.

The only other rules are it must contain Blue Bunny Ice Cream and it must be edible. There goes my idea for a Vegemite sundae.  As well as the acknowledgement that your are America’s next top flavor creator, prizes of $75, $50 and $25 respectively are available for 1st second and third place winners.  More prize money is available for the adult section.

And dont think that you may win without doing your homework. “At the Iowa State Fair, we’ve had flavors where people incorporate hot spices like chile pepper, and last year one had edible plants in it — a lavender lemon flavor,” Croston said. “And there are always those flavors Americans love, those ooey, gooey over the top flavors.”

Good Luck, and may the fudge be with you.  For mor details click here

St Charles MO

Blue Sky Creamery – located just west of St Louis in St Charles may have a small operation, but the folks there are cranking out over 200 pints of  ice cream an hour.

 The pints of various delicious flavors are sold through the company’s  retail store in St Charles and all around the bi state area through Schnucks and Dierbergs grocery stores.  And its not only the size of their facility that is unique.  Julie and her team have a secret patent on a machine that creates their ice cream through a liquid nitrogen process and can freeze the dairy mix extremely quickly.  This means ice crystal size is low resulting in an end product that is very smooth and creamy.  It also means that the overrun, or air in the ice cream is also a very low percentage.

You can learn more about Blue Sky Creamery by watching the video above, or at www.blueskycreamery.com

Delanco NJ

Sue entered the recipe in the Pillsbury Bake Off Competition which was judged in Orlando in Monday and the winners were announced on the Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday.  The announcement was not without controversy though.  As soon as the winning entry was announced, the world wide web was teaming with comments and reactions such as “What a Joke – A Million bucks for an overdose of sugar” and  “She opened a jar, ripped open a bag of chips, cut open a roll of ready-made cookie dough and slapped them together”

There were even suggestions that the recipe was ripped off.  Reglardless, the winner stands and all of those negative comments may simply amount to sore loserhood.

The full recipe and all details of the competition can be found on www.pillsbury.com

Atlanta GO

No –  its not because they havent’ prepred their returns yet. The Atlanta GA based company is giving away free slices of its Maggiemia Ice Cream Pizza slices to reward the citizens of the US for being diligent tax payers.

The free ice cream is on offer between 3pm to 7pm and not all locations are participating.  See www.maggiemoos.com for more details