Kiddie Sized Perfection

Kiddie sized chocolate snowball with marshmallow.

I guess this is one of those signs that an era has truly passed.

We closed down main operations of Jays Shave Ice at the end of 2006. For the next four years, Jays Shave Ice operated during the Artscape festival in downtown Baltimore. 2011 was the first Artscape that we missed in eleven seasons. I was just tired.

The company is still technically called "Jays Shave Ice" but the shave ice component is no longer our focus. And while we've been focused on coffee for nearly five years, I knew that a turning point had been reached when I stopped by a friends snowball stand for a yearly taste of the flavors I had known for so long.



The perfect way to enjoy vanilla soft serve.

Quite simply, after you've operated a well-regarded shave ice company, most of the stuff that passes as snowballs and syrup just isn't up to scratch. Everywhere I turn this summer it seems that I'm surrounded by people serving a lower quality product that isn't fit for consumption. I know that's a bit of an arrogant thing to say but it just tastes terrible.

Hence my stop at Kavern's Tastee Zone in Catonsville during my market tour this week. Here the ice is shaved and fluffy. Not as fluffy as our old product but as close as I'm going to get without hauling out the gear and doing myself. I sat there and made a little glutton of myself.


A kiddie sized canteloupe snowball. Lovely.

A kiddie sized chocolate with marshmallow - originally a combination I thought was disgusting, it wasn't until about 2002 that I really got into it after trying it one cold winter. For me, everything is a kiddie size. I never ate the medium or large shave ices we made, it was just too much. A kiddie size was perfect, just a little bit to when the palate and satiate the desire. Today, much of the same.

Between courses was a cake cone just barely filled with vanilla soft serve ice cream. That was truly my secret delight. Just enough ice cream to fill the cone. A balance between crispy cake cone and icy vanilla dairy. Perfection.

Lastly, a kiddie sized canteloupe snowball. I don't know why, but canteloupe become one of my personal favorites. I had to have it.

And that was it. Just a few bites and I was on my way once again. Until next year...

Almost Banana Banchee

Chocolate Pudding Snowball.


Years ago, we used to make our living off of freshly shaven ice and fruit-flavored syrups.

The front tires on my Sonoma have been oscillating lately and it's starting to get to me, causing me to make a stop at the local Good Year tire for a looksee. Seven minutes later, I'm back out the door with the knowledge that they can't re-balance the tires to eliminate the oscillation, but they can relieve me of $770 for a set of new tires. I'll wait.

To soothe my tire woes, I make a stop at the neighboring SnoAsis snowball stand - our old nemesis. Once the reigning King of snowballs in Timonium, we gave them a good run for their money ten years ago. Today, they're still the King, albeit with a smaller kingdom, and using the same ice and syrup supplier that we used.

My secret favorite snowball from them is the Banana Banchee. Banana syrup with evaporated milk. Simple, sweet and creamy, for me it's a must. However, as I'm standing in line, the lady in front of me is ordering a blitz of something called Chocolate Pudding. Chocolate syrup with evaporated milk - sounds enticing and after a few moments debate, I decide to give it a go.

It's not bad. The chocolate and the cream go together but the ice is still a bit crunchy. I'm not a crunchy ice fan. Give me smoothly shaven ice as fluffy as snow and that's perfection. This one is still short, but at least it's something and doesn't require me to go out, freeze ice, make syrups and pull out equipment just to satisfy a craving.

Banana Banshee

The Banana Banshee Snowball from SnoAsis, our former nemesis.

I guess it's ironic that the owner of arguably the top shave ice place on the East Coast would find himself at a former competitor eating a snowball, but that's just what happened today. Nice, hot weather, paired with nothing in particular to do on my last summer Sunday afternoon in Baltimore and the sudden urge for a snowball led me to our former nemesis, SnoAsis.

These cats have been in the snowball business for 32 years and they're still going strong. When we started Jays Shave Ice, they were the dominant player in our area and they changed some of their practices because of us. From things like air conditioning for staff, to frequent buyer cards to 11pm closing times, their changes were acknowledgments of our encroaching on their territory.

In the end, when the lease for Jays Shave Ice ran out in 2006, I decided to move on and pursue coffee, leaving SnoAsis the dominant player once again.

Truth be told, my favorite flavor of theirs is the Banana Banshee. I don't know how I stumbled upon that flavor ten years ago (or more) but it's one flavor that I've kept to myself, and even though we had all the components to make the Banana Banshee at Jays, I never put an iteration of it on our menu - I think because I was keeping it to myself.

It's really quite simple. Take some evaporated milk, pour it over the ice then top with banana syrup, et voila! you have the Banana Banshee.

Of course, the ice isn't the same smooth silkiness that Jays was known for, but for a once a summer indulgence, it will suffice.

Giving the Gift of Ice Cream

The book I've been waiting for.

My aunt is a highly-regarded chemists who has had a hand in developing some of the significant food advances in the past forty years (Equal anyone?). Along with her commercial research, she spent quite a bit of time researching and deducing the finer points of broccoli and was featured in the Wall Street Journal back in the 1990s.

During my youth, this meant a never-ending parade of unique and interesting foodstuffs from her day job - none of which struck my fancy more than the box of blueberry muffins she would bring with her from Marshall-Fields. Those were the hallmark of my youth and the barometer against which I hold all other blueberry muffins. So far, none suffices.

As I got older and opened Jay's Shave Ice, things started to come together. Instead of sitting around buying other peoples' product, why not manufacture our own? My aunt was a big proponent of this and after a couple of years, I decided that our volume had reached a point where it made sense to do so. Soon, I was in her Massachusetts lab trying not to drown in a sea of food science.

Being of the artsy set (read: slacker), I worked very hard to avoid science in high school. Chemistry was cool when you got to do experiments, but was otherwise boring. Physics was just too mentally physical. Instead, I pursued the arts and creative fields. But now that I was embarking on food manufacturing, I was woefully unprepared.

There I was, in Boston and swimming hard. The lessons were fast-paced and high-flying. My aunt and uncle are serious chemists. They know their stuff inside and out, and I was the elementary level chemistry student trying to understand concepts and designs they took for granted. It was mind-boggling but exhilarating, all at the same time.

We worked on a myriad of syrup formulations, each with minute differences in formulation but, sometimes, major differences in flavor, texure or mouthfeel. We were working with industrial hydrocolloids and chemicals to formulate a syrup with the right properties of mouthfeel, texture, "clingy-ness" to ice particles, viscosity, flavor and shelf life.


More science than you ever thought went into frozen milk, cream and eggs.

I toured and tasted flavors from a variety of flavor houses. The assortment of offerings are dizzying. One flavor house had 225 variations on cherry alone. Two Hundred Twenty Five flavors of cherry. And, if you didn't like any of those, they would formulate your own recipe of cherry. Amazing. At McCormick's research center, they showed me how they could take a strawberry and breakdown it's aromatics into chemical compounds in a gas chromatograph and then re-create that aroma by compiling the essential chemicals in the specified ratios. Who knew?

During the day, we would test and experiment. Late at night, I would peruse their library and read. One of my favorite books in their collection was the 1977 Third Edition of "Ice Cream" by Wendell S. Arbuckle of the University of Maryland. It's a detailed manual on the manufacture and production of ice creams.

At the time, we had just started to move into offering soft serve at Jays Shave Ice. I had always wanted to make our own ice cream mixes but we just didn't have the capability to do so back then. I just wasn't ready.

About two years ago, I decided that it was time to start thinking about soft serve ice cream. Problem was, I had just closed Jays and the soft serve machine went into storage.

Fast forward to modern day and I'm asking my aunt about ice cream formulations, specifically for soft serve. I want to know how a soft serve mix can churn in a machine day-in and day-out without the mix breaking down into butter, like it would in a batch freezer. She promised to send me some information.

Not long after, a brown box arrives at the house. Inside is the Arbuckle book on ice cream and it's better than I remember. It covers the usual stuff like ingredients, flavors, emlusifiers and stabilizers but, more importantly, there's an entire chapter on "Soft-Serve Frozen Dairy Products and Formulas." Happy, happy, joy, joy!

I will report back later as things develop.

Nicaragua: Semi-Finals and Cupping Comp

Judges Vanessa, Castalia and Alirio.

It's another morning in Managua and after another hotel buffet breakfast our little crew is back in the HiAce van towards the Galeria Santo Domingo.

Day Two of the Campeonato de Baristas means another eleven competitors fighting for six spots in the finals. As with anything here in Managua, things get off to a later than expected start but once we're rolling, things move rather smoothly.


Salome prepares under the lights.

Quite simply, the experience, knowledge and competition savvy of the Nicaraguan competitors is about four years behind that of the United States. Yet another day filled with stemmed glassware, vanilla ice cream, ice, blenders and all sorts of flavored syrups in what we would consider to be very large servings.

Amongst some competitors, we seem to be seeing the same serviceware. I can't count how many times I've seen those stackable foodservice espresso and cappuccino cups these past two days, but they seem everywhere.


Getting Serious: Tech Judges Juan Carlos and Erika, Head Judge Cleofas, Sensory Judges Vanessa, Julio, Rouki and Frank.

What it means is that the competitors are sharing amongst themselves - evidently, some are "sharing" more than others when, allegedly, a fight broke out in the competitors room when one competitor wanted others to "share" their cups a bit more than they knew they were sharing.

One of the disconnects I experience as a judge is the disconnect from the baristas. For baristas, competition is an opportunity to learn more about the craft, meet new friends and spend time with old ones. The very nature of judging means that you're sequestered separately from the competitors and it's that camaraderie of craft that I think is missing when you're a judge.


Giving her all during the preliminary round.

Meanwhile, we're chopping away through the competitors, tasting drinks, evaluating technique and trying to quantify it all in a manner that can help the barista competitor prepare for either the World Barista Championship or next years' championship.

For me, I want to impart as many thoughts as possible and I'm cramming as much as I can into the limited space on the scoresheets with the hope that I can sit down with the competitors and go over their scoresheets to review, consider and prepare for the next round.


Taking a moment to consider the scores.

Sadly, the reality is that competitors are typically too disappointed that they didn't make the cut to take the time to review the scoresheets. I understand. You've just been cut, the wound is still fresh and it's tough to look at what you've done wrong, much less absorb it and consider the next competition, which is about a year away.


Cleofas and the six finalists: Diedrich, Rebeca, Salome, Alberto, Lesther and Miguel Angel.

Back to the competition space and it's time for the Finals Announcements. The Finalists are (in the order of performance tomorrow):

- Rebeca Ramos
- Alberto Mayorga
- Lesther Balladares
- Miguel Angel Zamurio
- Salome Corea
- Diedrich Moreno



Cupping Championship

As the competitors head off to prepare for tomorrow, Brent, Rouki and myself venture over the cupping competition and give it a try. For the competition, they're using the Cup of Excellence form - which I don't understand. After getting a quick and dirty lesson in CoE Cupping from Rouki, we're off.

Quite frankly, cupping competitions are downright frightening. There are twenty-one coffees to cup and identify. The competitors are flying through the samples and I'm struggling. I'm stressed. You have to write down the details of the sample, then smell, taste and whatever else is necessary while marking the score sheet and moving along at the proper pace. I'm freaked, and sweating my ass off. I'm starting to crack.

The competition starts off with one sample of each coffee. Each competitor will smell and taste the coffees and make notes regarding. Then, all of the coffees are cleared away and three samples of each are set and the coffees are cupped blind. The competitor to accurately identify all of the coffees wins. Since we're just interlopers, I jump out of the way because I can't keep up with the pace -it's relentless.


With Rouki, Castalia, Brent, Alirio and Martha.

To top it all off, a crowd has gathered and the television camera lighting is like a roaring fire on my head and I'm covered in sweat - both from the lights and the stress of my cupping inadequacies.

It's getting late and we're hungry, so we decide to ditch the competition, gather our friends, head to the hotel to change and then off to dinner.


Christmas has arrived at Galerias Santo Domingo.

Finally!

After years of procrastination and months of just languishing, I've finally gotten off my ass, finished and released an updated website for Jays Shave Ice and a new website for The Spro. It's amazing how hard it can be to update and redesign a website. The Jays Shave Ice site hadn't been updated for two years and The Spro site went through three versions before I settled on this one in March.

In fact, I built most of the Spro's website in March and then it just sat there, in my hard drive while I procrastinated obtaining the username and password that I had forgotten over the years for the webserver. Dumb.

Anyway, enough excuses. Check out the sites if you have a moment and let me know what you think. I'm not a flash-oriented person. I want the sites to load quickly and provide the right amount of information without the muss and fuss that so many companies force you to endure.

sprocoffee.com

jaysshaveice.com

Not Quite Shave Ice

The Banana Banshee and Blumenthal.

Ironic that the first post after I announce the G9 would be accompanied by another iPhone photo, isn't it?

On Thursday, I blew the tire on my GMC Sonoma and ended up changing it in the dark with Jackie coming out to check on me every few minutes. Too macho to accept her offers for help, I trudged along in the bleak darkness.

Yesterday, I took the damaged tire to the local Good Year dealer for a repair. While waiting, I decided to visit our old competitor: SnoAsis - the long-standing snowball stand on Padonia Road in Timonium for a taste of their Banana Banshee snowball.

To the uninitiated, snowballs, shaved ice and shave ice are all the same. Au contraire, mon ami. There is a big difference and it's all in the ice. True Hawaiian-style shave ice (no "d" in "shave") is extremely fine in texture. Like snow with no chunks or chips of ice in any form. The snowball (or New Orleans-style shaved ice) that they serve at SnoAsis is nice but there's still bits of ice pieces in the snowball. It's slightly crunchy. And there's nothing they can do about it.

The problem is in the actual machine used to shave the ice. The machine is designed to accommodate a 6" x 6" x 12" block of ice horizontally where a hand operated plate pushes the block against three fixed blades mounted on a disk spinning at nearly 1,000 rpm. The texture of the ice is determined strictly by the amount of pressure the operator places on the ice block. Push lightly and the texture is soft and fluffy, but production is slow. Press harder and the ice comes out like a blizzard, but it gets chippy and crunchy. You can guess the amount of pressure a typical operator places on the block during a rush.

To me, this variable in the machines' design is a major flaw. Too much possibility for inconsistency in ice texture. Too easy to press harder and make it crunchy. It's a great machine for the average snowball operator but not ideal for one truly fixated on quality and the pinnacle of fluffy ice texture. In other words: It's not the machine for me.

But in the heat of the moment, it's a decent enough alternative. Some shaved ice, a bit of evaporated milk and banana syrup and all is good. But sixteen ounces of the stuff is just too much. Too much to eat and in this heat, at least a fourth of it has melted, rendering it useless. Of course, placing the snowball in a paper cup that offers no insulation doesn't help either.

At least I've got the words of Heston Blumenthal to while the time away while waiting for my tire to be repaired.

Surviving Artscape

Sunset on Mount Royal Avenue.

It's over.

After much heartache, anguish, sweat and tears, Artscape 2008 is now finally over.

This years' event was a scorcher. We must have hit 95F on all three days, and it wouldn't surprise me if it had spiked to nearly 100F - that's 35C and over for you metric readers. Luckily, the humidity was relatively low so while it was hot, the lack of heavy humidity didn't keep the crowds away.

Over the years, I've found that the secret mix for shave ice is warm temperatures and low humidity. Anywhere from 80-95F is fine, as long as the humidity doesn't stick to you and weigh you down. Once the humidity rises, people just want to stay home in their air conditioning. I can't blame them 'cause that's exactly what I want to do.


Sally listens to a customers' tales of woe.

This years' Artscape team brought together both newcomers and seasoned veterans. Big Tony was back for his ninth consecutive Artscape in the pivotal spot of iceman. Other Jays Alumni included Derrick (taking time away from working at Levi's), former manager Sara (home for the summer while attending Duquese) and barista sisters Sally and Hanna (both taking time away from another coffee shop and a stained glass studio, respectively).

Coming along for the ride for their first Artscape were Sara's friends Isabelle, CJ and Alan - as well as barista Allie (on loan from The Spro).


C.J. just barely hanging in there with cheap-ass Viva.

Days at Artscape are grueling twelve-hour days of nearly non-stop battle against a sea of customers. Friday is a relatively light day where customers come and go, on and off until about 7pm. At that point, we start to zoom and shave full-bore until the police shut us down at ten o'clock. Over the years, it's become a necessity that the police come to shut us down because at 10pm, the line is easily 10 to 15 deep and if we closed, we'd have a riot on our hands. At least when the police come, people grumble but they eventually give in to their authority.

Saturday is the busiest of the three because it's the longest. Throughout the day, the line rarely shrinks below five people. By four o'clock it's at least 15 deep and stays that way until the cops come again at 10pm.

Sunday seems worse than Saturday and that's because the people come early and the line is never less than ten people - and this time, they're coming in from three different directions. From about noon, it's nonstop.

The interesting thing is to see my crew at the end of the day. Chatting afterwards with Sally, Hanna and Allie and they look calm, relaxed and ready to do another six hours. In fact, Sally and Hanna a riding their bicycles all the way back to Hampden. The girls are real killers. They're ready to rock, or go out drinking, or ride a few miles in the heat.

The boys on the other hand look completely wiped out. Finished. Done. Kaput. CJ looks like he's going to puke. I ask them if they're coming back tomorrow. No way, they don't need the money that badly.

In a sad way, it reinforces the theory I started developing while running Jay's Shave Ice: that girls work harder than guys. Seeing the two sides of my team on Saturday night and one can only guess. Of course, I know plenty of guys who work their asses off and are ready to party after a twelve-hour day. Good thing Tony, Derrick and Allie are still up for a round of drinks at Woodberry Kitchen after.


Mom and Dad bring a little civility with their umbrella.

A crew from the Kleenex company is onsite promoting their new kitchen towel called Viva. As far as absorbent kitchen towels go, Viva kicks ass. It's supple, it's soft and absorbs quite a bit of liquid. My crew loves it. They're hawking it for Kleenex because they like it so much. They even give us a Viva dispenser for people to use. I'm cool with that.

But the cheap fucking bastards came by towards the end of the day Sunday and swiped the dispenser back. Bastards. Hey Kleenex, if you're gonna ask us to give out Viva samples and do your work for you, at least give us the dispenser to keep for our staff. They were supportive if your product - until now.


Isabelle, Allie and Derrick work the crowd.

Throughout the weekend, we have people who stop by to visit. Friends, neighbors, suppliers, acquaintances, fans and people who just want to know what happened to Jays Shave Ice and when will we be opening a new location. Everyone is greeted with a friendly smile and warm greetings. But what I don't get is the one person who stopped by in the middle of a rush and walked right into the middle of things to chat with me - getting in the way of my shavers. WTF? Even my closest friends don't do that.

I don't get it. Does this person just not have any sense? Just make yourself at home, dude. Why don't you lie down on the barca lounger while you're at it and ask my staff to pour you a mimosa?

I try not to embarrass people unless I can't avoid it, so I invite this person over the side and out of the way. I mean this person is standing literally behind my shaving line (and there's only enough space for one person to stand on that line). For the next ten minutes, it's blah blah blah about coffee and the coffee business. Christ, doesn't this person see that coffee is the last thing on my mind this weekend? Can't you see the thirty people in the fucking line? Don't you think I have better things to do than listen to you bitch about how you own your own business but want to hire people so you don't have to work? Jesus, I work for a living. I don't bitch about it. I've accepted that this is the life I've chosen.

Luckily, Ben from the television show Ace of Cakes comes by for a chat. I've known Ben and Heidi since before he was a television star and it's always good to see him - not to mention that it gets me away from listening about coffee. It's funny because some of my staff notices and recognizes Ben from the show and there's a buzz in the air because of it. After Ben leaves, they want to know why he was hanging out and how I knew him, It's funny like that. To me, he's just that guy Ben with the cool girlfriend and La Cimbali in the kitchen. To my crew, he's a real-life rock star.

Of course, the aforementioned coffee guy is now hanging out on the front line, trying to chat incessantly with one of my crew - undoubtedly about coffee. Never mind that the line is still thirty deep. Ugh.


Isabelle, Sara and Allie.

Artscape is like waging war. It's logistics. Getting all the materials in place at the right time. Screw one thing up and it creates a domino effect that can wipe you out. Three days and it's a five-figure game. Make the wrong moves and it hits the company's bottom line pretty darn hard. But do it right and you can pay your staff a nice wage, and maybe buy yourself that chamber vacuum sealer you've been thinking about.

But it has to be right. Fall short of inventory and you're shutting down early facing lost revenue. Too much inventory and you've got to eat it. The balance has to be just right. For this years' Artscape, we'll consume roughly two hundred gallons of syrup and nearly two tons of ice.

Then there's the matter of personnel. Too few and you can't produce enough to make a profit. Too many and the labor eats your profit. Saturdays require at least ten people working non-stop for twelve hours. It's killer work and only the best will survive the ordeal. And have to be honest: sometimes I wonder if I'll survive it myself.

But it's over now. And I've got a dark suntan to prove it.

Back to the bar at The Spro.

The Dread Week Roberts

The Jay's Shave Ice booth from the truck at Artscape.

A few people have asked me if I've been excited about Artscape, our little company's biggest weekend of the year. To be honest, for months I dread this week. So many things to do, so many things to organize and get in line - it's excruciating. This will be our ninth Artscape and it's just painful. The first couple I organized and learned how to put it all together. Then for a few years, Polly and Al took care of organizing it all. Since 2006, I've been back at the helm and hating every moment.

Okay, maybe I'm just being dramatic. Truth is, I'd prefer to be sitting in a hammock, sipping margaritas with a girl way too young for me by my side while two minions gently fan us with big, feather fans. So much for the hammock, margaritas and minions with fans - at least I can have the girl.

But really, I dread the whole process until this evening - after everything has been put in motion and the booth is setup and ready to go, now is the point where I start to enjoy doing Artscape. Tomorrow, our crew comes together to wage the war of ice and syrup once again, while wrestling with hot weather and what the City of Baltimore tells us will be up to 2 million attendees over a three day weekend.

Like war, waging Artscape is a delicate balance between heat and humidity. Too hot and humid and people stay home. Too cool and people want to buy something silly, like coffee. Over the years, I've found that low humidity and a temperature between 80-90F is just right. Everyone comes out, has a great time and buys more shave ice.

And it needs to go right. I've got five digits invested already.

Of course, the skies could open and dump buckets of rain and ruin me. Or a freak tornado could wipe the entire site out and I'll be crying on Skid Row.

Barring those series of unfortunate incidents, you'll find us this weekend at the corner of Mt. Royal Avenue and Cathedral Street once again making the shave ice that made us famous.

Artscape
June 18, 19 & 20
Mount Royal Avenue
Baltimore, MD
www.artscape.org

Eastbound and Down

The new electronic automatic transmission.

Every year for the past eight years or so, I've rented a 26' box truck from Penske to haul all the gear Jay's Shave Ice needs to stage our booth at Artscape, Baltimore's annual festival of the arts. For me, it's a fun time because I get to drive a big truck around town and it's my time to reminisce the "old days" when I used to drive tour buses for Roberts Hawaii (yes, the big Greyhound type of buses).

I've driven all kinds of trucks with all kinds of transmissions from double-clutch manual buses to automatic trucks loaded down with gear. Every two years or so, Penske replaces their trucks and this year was no different. But this time, my truck came with a new electronic transmission.

As far as transmissions go, it works good enough, but I hate it. The lag between shifts is both unnerving and irritating. You're just waiting for it to shift to the next gear. I know for many of you with normal cars this is hard to fathom but imagine driving in first gear then shifting to neutral for two seconds and then shifting to second. Add in the fact that you need it to shift NOW and that should give you a basic idea of what it's like.

Not to mention the trucks' propensity to roll backwards at stop lights.

Taking iPhone Pictures While Driving: High peril on the open roadway.

And that doesn't begin to cover reverse. Shift the sucker into reverse and it's like a bronco, trying to buck you off. Shudder, shudder, shudder - and the thing barely starts to move. Then suddenly, it wants to jump backwards in fits. My Lord, this is intolerable!

Oh well, I guess I can live with the shift lag and the shaky reverse. It's only for a couple of days anyway.

Meanwhile, I'll be playing The King Of The Road...

Studs of Shave Ice

The Line.

Studs.

That's the only way to describe them - both the boys and the girls. Whatever their gender, they are The Studs of the Shave Ice industry.

1300 pounds of ice
65 gallons of syrup
1400 flower cups
1850 spoons

Shave it all together and you get the last day of the Jay's Shave Ice booth at Artscape 2007. At a crisp 89 degrees with cool breezes, it was another perfect day for shave ice.

Isaiah, Isabel and Sara working it.

Returning for the final day was our tough crew from yesterday, along with the return of both Mariano, the cook who cooked for a Michelin 1-star restaurant in Italy, and Isaiah, who spent yesterday gallavanting with his wife at a roller coaster park in Pennsylvania. joining us for the first time was Isabel, fresh from building decks in the wilds of Kentucky.

Stud Mariano - this guy from Argentina never left the line - all day.

There's not much more to say than these guys are studs. All of them. No breaks. No pissing. No whining. No moaning. Just hard, solid work. Drilling out over a thousand shave ices in a seven hour period. Maybe a quick phone call here and there to scheme and connive for their next gig, or to answer that important text message, but the beat never wavered and they kept pounding it out.

It was amazing. It was awesome. It was awe-inspiring.

I can't wait to do it again.

Next year.

The view from the catbird seat.

It Must Be Prime Time - Artscape 2007

Today had to be one of the most beautiful days of 2007 in Baltimore. The weather was cool, breezy and about 85 degrees. No humidity. Absolutely perfect.

It's also prime shave ice weather.

After eight years in the shave ice business I've come to realize the ideal weather. Dip down into the 70s and it starts to be a bit chilly for shave ice. Reach up into the 90s and humidity and people just don't want to leave their air conditioning at home. But right in the middle is where everyone and their mother (including mine) come out to play and eat shave ice.

After six years of Artscape, it's never this nice. Usually it's on the hot and humid side. Perhaps not as bad as the Dog Days of Summer, but close. Sometimes, we'll have passing showers and even the odd thunderstorm (that was exciting).

Four shavers, four crew, myself and mom. Pounding it out in the hot sun in front of hundreds of thousands of attendees, cranking out well over a thousand shave ices in just over eight hours. Grueling. Tough.

On the front line were two Jay's Shave Ice alumni. Sara (2005 Seasonal Manager) and Derrick (2006 Season staffer) rocked the front line, taking orders, fielding questions and putting on a friendly and hospitable face for the company. All by herself on the third line to the side of the booth was mom - holding her own in a never-ending line that was 20 deep (after Jordan decided to pull off the front and work the shaver line). Holding it all together was long-time friend Tony M. whose main job is to prep and cut ice, as well as maintain inventory and prepare dinner.

Mom's line. This line never grew shorter than you see it here.

I rocked the shaver line the whole day, along with some help in the late afternoon from Jordan. Four shavers, never stopping except to reload. Shaving ice in a never ending ribbon of fine, delicious stuff.

To be honest, I've never rocked four machines at once. At one point, Tony was about to step in to help but I shooed him away with my ego being the main reason. I wanted to see if I could rock the four machines and keep up with the demand of three lines of customers. I rocked it for about two hours. I was in love with myself. Then mom came and Jordan stepped back to run two of the shavers.

Sara's Line - amazed and in awe to get shave ice.

Day two is over and while I'm usually wiped out and dreading one more day at Artscape, tonight I'm feeling good. We worked it - hard. My crew are studs. They never looked up. They never complained. They never took a piss. They're fucking awesome.

Tomorrow, the same crew returns, but this time they're going to be joined by Mariano and Isiaiah, two of some of Baltimore's best line cooks - studs in their own right (Mariano worked for a Michelin 1 star in Italy), as well as first-timer newbie Isabelle.

Whatever the outcome, I'm stoked and pumped that we're going to have a rockin' crew for the final day in the sun.

Maybe this time we won't run out of ice...

Throughout the day we see old friends, like B.J. and his family - long time supporters of Jay's Shave Ice.

Like Riding A Bicycle

It's been nearly a year since I stood behind a proper ice shaving machine - and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. But it was just like riding an old bike, once you know how to do it - you just can do it.

Artscape weekend is here and on full-blast. The weather is beautiful (if slightly cool) and the crowds are on the street and hitting our little shave ice stand at the corner of Mount Royal Avenue and Cathedral Street. It's in the heart of Artscape. The "crossroads", if you will, of the entire festival. And we're smack dab in the middle of it.

This week is traditionally the worst week of the year. It's the busiest as we try to cram everything together. It's crazy and everything falls to the wayside as we prepare ourselves for battle.

But I'm happy to report that even after all this time, I can still rock an ice shaver. No line is too long for this strapping chap. i'll spin three machines simultaneously and beat down a hundred people in line. Never mind that all these unused muscles are aching, in pain and in need of a rubdown from a (younger) woman, I can still kick it with the best of 'em.

Let's hope my creaking bones make it through the weekend...

Rockin' the Fujimarca 709.