The Popsicle edition 🍾
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we self-soothe with frozen treats. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Softly whipped cream with berries at home
You know how to do.
Tomorrow is my birthday! I’m sorry to report that it’s also Donald J. Trump’s birthday. In true Gemini fashion I have given you both a blessing (me) and a curse (thinking about DJT on your day off). I was gonna say that this is a pretty rough birthday, but then I remembered that for my birthday last year I got a nasty medical surprise so in comparison this one is pretty damn good. If this was not the End of Times, I would for sure get a Chinese Bakery Cake to celebrate; instead, I requested that my lockdown partner make one for me. In the meantime, I’m eating big bowls of berries topped with heavy cream softly whipped with vanilla and sugar, since the fruit and cream is the best part of the cake anyways. To celebrate yourself, simply fill a mason jar half-full with chilled heavy cream, a big splash of vanilla, and a spoonful of powdered sugar. Screw on the lid, and shake vigorously for about five minutes, or until it’s just set and stops making a sloshing noise. Enjoy.
So Delicious dairy free dipped double chocolate delight in your freezer
You can buy them at Whole Foods, or other (more ethical??) grocery stores.
Everything sucks right now and because my therapist encouraged me to self-soothe the freezer now contains about 5 dozen different kinds of popsicles, my ultimate childhood comfort food. It’s a whole rainbow, ranging from some homemade yogurt pops I’m testing out (see below), some red bean pops (see below), to these double chocolate delights that were a bad-day gift from a friend who knows me too well (thank you, Ice Bear!). I really like these chocolate-dipped ice cream bars (with a very Un-Sueable name) because they have a thick layer of chocolate coating on the outside and the ice cream filling is nice and chocolatey but doesn’t melt too fast. Tbh I sometimes do the ultimate evil and eat all the chocolate coating off of the bar and then throw the ice cream out*, but I really encourage you to be a better person than me and not do that.
*I’m Sorry!!!!! 🥺
Imuraya green tea and red bean popsicles (Ujikintoki Bar) in your freezer
Available at H-Mart
I’m not gonna lie, I bought these popsicles because they were the least expensive frozen dessert in H-mart’s freezer section. After dropping $10 on the infamous (and very worth it!) boba pops, I decided I needed to develop less bougie and more sustainable tastes so I picked up a pack of these green tea and red bean babies. I didn’t like these ujikintoki bars as much as the plain azuki ones (see below), even though they’re a bit more fun, with a green tea ice pop outside and azuki bean inside. You’d think that would make them better but I think I just want ice pops to be ice pops all the way through. The azuki filling is very tasty, but it’s sweet and jammy and I just crave something colder.
Imuraya red bean popsicles (Azuki Bar) in your freezer
Available at H-Mart
One day, when I have the time and the energy and the heart, I will attempt to make 小豆冰棍 from scratch (I’ve been eyeing this recipe!). Until then, I’ll keep picking up these azuki bars from H-mart (no, this newsletter is not sponsored by H-mart, they just opened a new one up near me!). They’re more on the icy side than creamy, when compared to my platonic ideal of a red bean pop, but still satisfies that craving for nostalgia. If frozen sweet bean juice on a stick is not for you, nothing to see here!
Outshine frozen fruit bars in your freezer
Available in your local grocery or pharmacy
If you are only going to have one kind of popsicle in your freezer, let it be these. These frozen fruit bars are true multitaskers: Perfect post-vomit when you can’t keep anything down; for summer days when the AC unit does jackshit; and when you want to go through the motions of eating dessert while rewatching episodes of Avatar the Last Airbender.
Cheers,
Sophie