Ice Cream Diaries - 23                                                                                                                                                February 7, 2007
Hey there, it's that crazy guy in the blue apron, philosophizing at will while frantically waving a #10 scoop in the air.   I'm back from my little winter break, cranking things up to start year four.   Four, wow.  I had a nice little vacation, although it was tough to resist the temptation to open up shop that balmy first weekend in January.   If the shop wasn't in disarray from redoing all the floors, along with the fact I wasn't very mobile after having hernia repair surgery on January 2nd, I confess I probably would have hung out the open flag.   Instead, I freakishly walked barefoot on a Maine beach.  January 6th.   Weird.  Winter did finally arrive to these paats a few weeks ago, just in time for my reopen.  Average temperatures are now in the teens, the pond is frozen solid, the ground is blanketed in white, a new season of American Idol is underway, and all is well with the world once again.
I'm right now sitting at my window in the shop on a Friday night, watching this season's first snowfall.  There is often a fine line between really cool and slightly pathetic, but before you start to feel pity for me, let me defend myself.  It's only 7 pm, Elliott Smith plays on the shop speakers, I'm sipping a caramel cappuccino I just made with my handy commercial espresso machine, I'm surrounded by candy, and I'm doing one of my favorite things, writing.   Life is good.
You're probably shocked to hear from me again so soon.   I must confess I don't have a whole lot of fresh material or fancy new flavors, since I just reopened after three weeks of couch surfing.   As I mentioned, this year's winter break wasn't quite as glamorous as breaks past.   I'll spare you the gory details, but I had to have hernia fix surgery, just hours after ringing in the New Year with my Etown posse. My NYE, as you might guess, was pretty mild since the doctor didn't say, 'don't eat or drink eight hours before.  And oh, make sure you're good and hung over.'   I had a few concerns about whether my surgeon might be tipping a few, but I was good to go, mostly thanks to the 2nd annual Mt.Tom's Homemade Ice Cream First Night 5K.  A few of my friends started what we all hope will someday become a huge Western Massachusetts event, rivaling the Eastern States Expo, the Paradise City Arts Festival, and the annual Reej frozen pond streak-a-thon.  The race kicks off just after midnight on NYE, following the hokey but cool in a small-town way ball drop from the roof of the Brass Cat bar.   Participants run 5K's through the back streets of Easthampton, past merry hecklers having smokes outside their house parties, dodge patches of ice on the sidewalk, and in most cases, under some form of frozen precipitation.  It may not sound like the ideal way to spend the first half hour of the new year, but I have to say, it was pretty cool.   The first year's race had 4 runners.   This year it doubled to 8.  Next NYE, the sky's the limit!   I'm not sure if the gang planned to call it the Mt.Tom's run, but I think if I provide t-shirts and a twelve pack of Miller High Life next year, I'm in.
Pulling the conversation back to me, I had to opt for the early January date with the surgeon, since winter break is the only time I don't have to lift forty pound ice cream mix crates all day.   In any event, all went well, and I'm patched up and back in the fold.   Still taking it as easy as I can, but I'm just happy it's done.  (Hearty Surgical Hat Tip to Bre T. for helping me through that first week of convelescence.)  I must admit one of the biggest drags, besides not getting to dip in my brother's new pool in Florida and kick it with my cool nephews, has been answering the inevitable post-break question from customers, 'So where'd you go?'  I spared most the 'I got the hole in my gut patched up' story.  Instead they heard, 'It was relaxing.  I did local stuff, blah, blah.  Do you want Jimmies on that?'   You're all my extended family, so you get the straight dope.   Actually, I kindof enjoyed it.  Not the pain part, but the doing nothing part.   I returned a bit sore still but definitely better rested than any other break.   I watched a bunch of movies, read a few books, and even dusted off my four-year old manuscript and gave it a fresh pass.
Since I stayed local this break, I was able to attend the annual winter seminar of NEICRA (New England Ice Cream Retailers Association in case you forgot).    It's a mini-me of the annual convention I've attended the past four years - seminars, tradeshow with all the new toys, free ice cream and gelato samples, and talks about all things ice cream.   The sessions were more technical this time which was good for me, since I went to school for engineering and business, not food chemistry.   I learned cool stuff like what's the difference between an emulsifier and a stabilizer, and what do they do for your ice cream?   And what's the difference between homogenization and pasteurization.   If you've never been on the edge of your seat reading an episode, I'm sure you are now.   Don't worry, I'm not about to launch into an eighteen-hundred word thesis on the chemical makeup of guar gum.   But I am available for private parties.    Clown suit and balloon animals are extra.
The seminar talks are usually pretty informative, but like most conferences, it's all about the networking.  Most of the useful info I've taken home is straight from conversations with other ice cream shop owners.   Tips and tricks of the trade, new flavors, ingredient sources.   The other reason I drove to Randolph for the winter seminar was I was asked to be on the panel of 'pro's' for the Q&A session.  I somewhat nervously said yes when Bill Bryson, president of NEICRA, asked me, but the flattered side of me couldn't say no.   So I'm officially a pro now, in the big show, look at me go.   The standing room only crowd leaned forward in their seats and frantically took notes as I shared my wisdom on topics such as how to compensate for the new minimum wage, 2-fold vanilla extracts - Madagascar or India?, and how to fix a batch freezer using just a matchbook, some fishing line and your teeth. When I started to lose the crowd about twenty minutes into my dissertation on why the #10 scoop is 83% more efficient than the 8, I jumped up on the table and showed everyone my new hernia scar.   That brought everyone back in a hurry.   I don't think I made any friends on the rest of the panel, but I'm a pro, and like Bill Belichick said to Ted Johnson when he had that really big headache, 'you do what you gotta do to win.'
Thanks to three weeks of couch surfing, Netflix, and the cool new video store, Pick your Flick a couple doors down, I'm all caught up on my movies.   If you're in hibernation mode like we New Englanders, here are a few I liked...  Ghost Dog, Duma, Invincible, Superman Returns, The 40 Year Old Virgin (who'd have thunk?), Man on Fire, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Goal! The Dream Begins, The Fountainhead, and Inside Man.   Kindof a 'guys list' I admit.  What can I say, I'm a guy.
I even got to read a few books this past month.  The first was 'You've got to Read this Book', by Jack Canfield and Gay Hendricks.  It's a collection of short essays by well-known and successful people talking about THE book that influenced their life in some major way.   Some choices (The Alchemist, The Power of Now) are more intriguing than others (Don Quixote, E.E. Cummings poems), but assembled as a group it makes a good read, and introduced me to a few interesting books to add to my Amazon.com cart.   One such book was 'The Science of Getting Rich' by Wallace D. Wattles.   Written in 1910 by a guy with a name that I'm sure got him beat up plenty as a kid, it's a quick read on the familiar topic of the power of positive thinking.
The book is available for free on-line, but let me Cribb note it for you...
Step 1: Get a clear image of what you want.
Step 2: Hold that image in your mind and don't be distracted by negative thoughts and influences.  Have faith (picture me sitting alone in my shop during that first winter).
Step 3: Do all that you can do every day towards your goal.  Just focus on being creative and don't worry about the competition or your timing.
Step 4: Be grateful for all that you receive.
Further, Wacky Wally stresses that in your business you should strive to give every person a 'use value in excess of the cash value he receives'.   Danny Meyer, owner of Union Station Café and Gramercy Tavern, the top 2 restaurants in NYC Zagat's Guide, calls that 'enlightened hospitality'  -  giving customers MUCH more than they expect.   No rocket-science here, but as my friend Martha likes to say, 'Life is simple.  We just choose to make it complicated.'   Thinking of ways to make people happy with a new ice cream flavor, Santa sundae,(hat tip: Mary F.)  or a different kind of Swedish fish is infinitely more fun that worrying about whether the unoccupied storefront three doors down is about to become another ice cream shop.
The Science of Getting Rich was written a hundred years ago and unabashedly focuses on making money, but I believe it holds a pretty good life philosophy.   1.) Figure out what you want.  2.) Pretend you already have it.   3.) Work untiringly and creatively every day at it.   4.) Be grateful for everything.  5.) Give people more than they expect.    6.) And gosh, darn it, enjoy the ride.   Martha's right.
My other interesting read was 'Small Giants: Companies that Choose to be Great Instead of Big' by Bo Burlingham.   I'll spare you the full book report and share just a nugget.   Bo says entrepreneurial management requires 'the soul of an artist'.  The business itself is an evolving work of art...   There is a kind of artistry involved in creating something out of nothing based on the ability to see what everyone else is missing.   That is, after all, what artists do.  In business as in art, moreover, the end result is an experience, and the quality of the experience reflects the relationships between the direct participants, as well as the specific medium of expression.'   I just thought that was a great way to describe the cool life experience of starting and operating a business.   Your business and your career as a giant canvas to be filled, I like that...
Now that I've bored you with biz books and metaphors for an hour, let's get to the real reason I've pushed to get out a Diaries issue so soon.  I was hoping you might take a minute to vote for me in this year's Valley Advocate 'best of' poll.  You can cast your vote thru Feb 14th.   No pressure, but it would be cool if we could knock off Bart's this year...   Thanks, I really appreciate it!   For your ballet to be counted, I think you have to vote for a half dozen things, so if you're not from the area, here are some suggestions...  Best Restaurant: Tavern on the Hill, Best Hot Dogs: Nick's Nest, Best Sushi: Osaka, Best Gourmet Food Store: Blue Moon Grocery, Best Ice Cream: Mt.Tom's Homemade Ice Cream, ;), Best Sweet Shop/Confectioner: Mt.Tom's Homemade Ice Cream ;), Best Bakery: Sunrise Bakery' that should be enough... thanks again.  Really.  I promise I'll never ask you for anything again (except maybe for you to visit).
Well, I probably should get back to making those chocolate heart boxes for Valentine's Day.  It's coming up fast. Thanks, as always, for listening.  I hope all is well in your world and that you had a wicked good holiday season.   Here's to all great things in 2007!   I'm hoping to shake things up soon with the Diaries, stay tuned and stay warm.
Your bud,
Jim
Ps.  Rudy and Reej say hi.