What is gelato?

Well, for me, it's a small adventure. I've never had gelato before but the ice cream shop down the street sells it so I figure I'd try it.

It's right next to the grocery store and I walk there three or four times a week. One of the advantages of our new house is that the block we're own is bracketed by traffic lights which allows me safe crossing every couple of minutes, which lets me get to the side with sidewalks. Down the street a ways is a patch of lavender that is helping me deal with my mild bee phobia. People in this area like their bees (I'm not so sure I would like them. There are bee collecting bags hanging off many of the trees. No, I'm sure I wouldn't like to be packed into a bag with a bunch of other bees - of course, did I mention my mild bee phobia?)

The Glacier Ice Cream and Gelato shop is a very friendly place. Since they are the ice cream specialists, I asked one of them the other day if they knew how to stop brain freeze - that agonizing headache that results from eating your ice cream too quickly. He recommended pressing my tongue to the back and roof of my mouth. That works pretty well - not perfectly but pretty well.

They have a wide selection of flavors.

My brain tries hard to make gelato have gelatin in it, but I'm told that it doesn't. Gelato just has less butterfat and more sugar than ice cream. The texture is a little different. Being from the South, the "less butterfat" thing isn't a draw for me.

Honestly, in a blind taste test, i don't thing I could tell the difference between gelato and ice cream, which does not detract from this ice cream shop - it's a great place. It just means that I'll always err on the side of a milk shake. I'm pretty crazy about milk shakes - add the butterfat.