While asking a co-worker about the logistics of owning a car:
Co-Worker: And then sometimes you have to take it to Lubey Lube.
Me: Lubey Lube? Really?
Co-Worker: Yeah, to get an oil change.
Me: In Indiana it’s called Jiffy Lube.
Co-Worker: That’s it! But Lubey Lube would be a great flavor for your ice cream store.
Me: Uhhh . . . I don’t think people like to eat lube.
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Yesterday, ilikeyoulikeyou received it’s very first email! Aww. . .
Actually, it came from my friend Rachel Pfeffer who I was beyond lucky to have lived with during my junior year of college. Back then, she was a fantastically gifted artist whose pieces and installations left our campus giddy and glowing. As it turns out, not one bit of that has changed and she’s still leaving trails awesome everywhere she goes. One visit to her Etsy shop luckyduct or her blog cut paste repeat, and an 8 hour staring contest with my work computer is suddenly turned into a coolkid adventure on the wild and crazy internet. Uhhhmazing!
Clearly, Rachel has zero fear of pursuing any and all things that excite her (true story: she opened up her own ice cream store during the summer between her freshman and sophomore year of college) and she is still my don’tworry+lovelife+justmakeart role model. Maybe she would want to help me brainstorm business plans for Penny’s (aka my latest and greatest totally insane pipe dream). Hmmm . . .
.
Oh man.
That’s me.
In the Metro.
To be fair, I wasn’t dreaming when the reporter snapped my photo – I was in the middle of reading Kitchen Confidential. Clearly, I’m more famous than my chef/author/tv host husband Anthony Bourdain, but we usually deal with the underbelly of famous couple syndrome like real champs.
Ingredients:
1 taste of chicago
1 lawn sprinkler
a couple of firefly festivals
sparklers (for garnish)
1 lake house
a couple of port-a-pit meals
1 overgrown chipwich
1 extra long camp session
1 mason jar always full of fresh cut flowers
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Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and garnish with sparklers.
Keeps fresh for 3 months.
Makes (1) kick ass summer
Dear Harvey, Luther, & Rosalie,
I think you would really love New York in the summertime.
Madison Square Park is right across from my office.
It’s a really awesome hangout for you and your compadres.
Also, the Shake Shack has an ice cream treat just for dogs!
Fondly yours,
Amy
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If I build it, they will come [for the black raspberry chip ice cream, chalkboard menus, hand-painted storefront window, bright eyed babies, superb store dog, soda in glass bottles, mason jars, vintage tile flooring, and suggestion box].
Sometimes, when the air feels exciting and fresh and full of more possibilities than I can wrap my mind around, a single idea finds its way into my head and plants itself with such persistence and gumption that it consumes everything I’ve got until my idea obsession has gotten so out of control that it practically reaches pregnant midnight craving proportions.
In the past, this idea has ranged from mystery shopping to crush-o-gram [scaming] to hanging 250 super bouncy balls for, you know, the fun of it. Right now, that idea is opening up an old school, superkind, superfine, mom and pop ice cream shop in Hell’s Kitchen.
Challenges # 1, 2, & 3: I have no clue how to make ice cream let alone run a small business. Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, the economy has just reached a new level of crashandburn. Wish me luck!