Wow I have so many things to share with you on this Monday morning, I don’t even know where to start lol.
It has been super hot over here in NYC to the point that I just want to stay home in my living room with the AC blasting but thankfully I was honored enough to be invited to Mamita’s Ices for a tour…(okay I hounded them uncontrollably until they asked me to come)
I decided to ask my mom to come with me because my Spanish is not that great, and I knew it would be easier with her there and of course homefries came too! I was supposed to meet with one of the owners named Javier but he had to leave on business so his sister Altagracia gave us the tour instead. One of the things that attracted me to this company was that it was family owned by 7 brothers and sisters who are from the Dominican Republic (like my family)
When we got there, we had to wait a little bit because the family was having lunch and can I just say how nice it was…it looked like they were having Christmas dinner!
We then met Altagracia who my mom knew instantly, it turns out the family used to live across the street from us! Small world.
She first showed me where they keep all the made ices….from the picture you can see how cold this freezer was!!!! ::teeth chattering::
This is filled with Milk...
I then got to see them make the ices…you may notice that all of the ices are the same color. They do one particular ice everyday and that day it happened to be Coconut. They start the process at 4 in the morning and work 7 days a week! She made me laugh when she said that on Sundays they start late and continued by saying “6 AM” That’s late???? lol
I won’t go into detail as to how they make the ices because many various companies have tried to steal their family secret.
We were even honored enough to meet MAMITA who is the matriarch of this family…she must have been in her 70’s and she was right there working along her children.
It is nice to this family live the American Dream, they started making ices out of their home and actually started to sell them at a bakery until they were told they had to stop. With the help from the Milk Industry they were able to make this dream a reality. Now they sell their Ices in various Bodegas and Supermarkets in NYC and have even gone national! You can find their Ices in Florida, Las Vegas, California, Boston, Philadelphia, and Connecticut!
I think they prove that with hard work, you can do anything! That reminds me of an IntenSati Affirmation “I want it. I want it. I REALLY REALLY WANT IT!”
I asked Altagracia if I could purchase some ices but she was kind enough to give them to me! I think she knew we were about to have a heat wave!
I have been enjoying them all weekend and love them!
My favorite has to be Raspberry Cream. It is 170 Calories, 2.5 Grams of Fat, and 5 Grams of Protein and tastes like heaven.
They also have a water ice version of this which is also just as good and only 110 calories!
My next favorite was Passion Fruit! OMG I love this one…it sort of reminded me of Guava AND it was only 150 Calories.
This next one was a close third, Coconut. It was very smooth and had a touch of Vanilla which I found very refreshing. I think bloggers would love this one because coconut always seems to be the rave lol.
The next one was Batata and I have to be honest, I was a tad hesitant to try this one since Batata is a Sweet Potato and wasn’t sure how this would translate into a ice but I was pleasantly surprised. I did notice that the texture of this one was a tad different than the others; it a little more grainy but still tasted good!
The next one I tried was Tamarind which is VERY popular in the Dominican Republic…so it only seemed right to make an ice out of this flavor. It reminded me of the Tamarind juice that my mom used to make when I was younger so eating this ice was sort of nostalgic for me.
And Finally the last one I tried was Mango which was a sneak peak! This is their latest ice and you can’t really find it in stores. The mango that they use for this ice comes from India and it full of flavor. Altagracia mentioned that it so flavorful that they had to reduce the amount they used because it was a little overpowering and I have to agree with her. Out of all the ices this had to me by least favorite (however my mom loves it). All the others had a subtle taste to them but this one was in your face! I guess they are still working out the kinks of this flavor but I am sure they will get it just right.
All in all, this was a great experience and I want to thank EVERYONE at Mamita’s for being so friendly! Buen provecho!
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So as most of you know, Friday was my birthday celebration with my friends and it was AMAZING!
We all met up at 5 Burros for din din…the wait was sooooo long that we got some drinks at the bar. But I was not a happy camper! If you guys know anything about me, it should be my love affair with Piña Colada (oh maybe I should suggest to Mamita’s that their next flavor should be PC!) and guess what…THE DAMN MACHINE WAS BROKEN! I stood there staring at the bartender as if he had a penis growing out of his head “you don’t have Piña Colada? are you sure????” I think I wanted to cry a little lol. BUT I made the best of the situation and got a Strawberry Margarita…
Mo and Carol got there before us and were already on their 2nd drink! lol
Gigi, Me, and Missy had to play catch-up!
I was already feeling a little “happy”
We were finally seated at our table much to the dismay of the people around us! They must have thought we were the damn paparazzi with all the flashing cameras lol. I think we got some dirty looks by some of the people and it didn’t help that were singing at the top of our lungs to REM’s “Losing My Religion” hahaha
Being the “good girl” that I am, I ordered the Mexican Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Missy and I shared a side of guacamole.
And I ordered another Margarita for good measure…
We took so many pictures…
After dinner we decided to go next door to a bar for some more drinks!
I honestly don’t know what we drank but I do remember that some of it tasted like Piña Colada, Fruity Pebble, and Pop Rocks! We danced and laughed so much! 9 Shots would do that to you lol.
I was very giddy (and shiny haha) by the end of the night!
This was such an amazing night! Thanks girls for celebrating my 30th Birthday with me!!!! this night was EPIC!
NOW to the winner of my Oikos Giveaway!!!!! I used Random.org and the lucky number is….
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 56 Timestamp: 2010-07-26 16:05:15 UTC Which is: Foster Fitness said... Happy Belated! I have learned that you are a kind, caring, and considerate e-friend. :) Welcome to your thirties
Congrats Alison!!!!!!! please email me your contact info =)
Have a great day loves! and also I am sorry for being so behind on my blog comments…BAD MARI!
Namaste…
