Posts Tagged ‘New Jersey’
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Lauren and I are back in the swing of things after having a few days off. Lauren flew to Charlotte to visit some friends and family, and I spent some time with one of our old college roommates, Nicole. I was really excited to spend a few days with the Maikisch family.
My first trip to New Jersey was to visit the Maikisch’s about four years ago. That trip resulted in a broken sternum and a bummed knee. (Nicole and I got into a car accident on that trip). During that trip they told me I needed one of the t-shirts that says, “New Jersey: only the strong survive.” The running joke now is that Nicole isn’t allowed to drive me anywhere because she broke me the last time. In her defense, it was not her fault, and I remained in mint condition this trip.
I really love visiting Nicole’s family. There is never a dull moment, and they are like a second family to me. They always treat me as if I am one of their own…kind of like the daughter they never wanted. They took me to H.I Ribs to eat. I fell in love with the restaurant on my last visit so they promised to take me again this time. The bar-be-que is delicious and I also had some South Carolina Honey Ribs. Not to mention Starr, the clown, is there on Tuesday nights making balloon animals for kids. Nicole and I both got balloons. Is anyone surprised?
As a small thank you, I bought them a couple of pints of Ciao Bella. I got the Chocolate Alba Hazelnut and the Tahitian Vanilla. Mr. Maikisch ate the Vanilla and Mrs. Maikisch ate the Chocolate Hazelnut. All by themselves. Needless to say, they definitely fell in love with Ciao Bella. I think by giving them their treats I became their favorite daughter 
Tags: Chocolate Alba Hazelnut, Chocolate Alba Hazelnut Gelato, Ciao Bella, Ciao Bella Gelato, ciao bella sorbet, gelato, New Jersey, Sorbet, tahitian vanilla, tahitian vanilla gelato
Posted in East Coast Sampling Tour | No Comments »
Friday, September 4th, 2009
Lauren and I had some more surprise guests at our events today. At our first event Sydne came to help us out, and Deborah also stopped by for a few minutes. We were at Eden Gourmet in South Orange. We loved this location. We did our sampling inside. The store is decorated in a Garden of Eden theme and has a great selection of gourmet items as well as a few everyday items. The music was also great. We got to listen to the 60s station on Sirius-XM! South Orange is a cute little town. We had stopped at the Dunkin Donuts across the street from Eden Gourmet yesterday morning for some coffee and breakfast. There are a lot of little shops and restaurants. It’s just a quaint little place.
After our event was over, Lauren and I had lunch at Above. This is a restaurant located above Eden Gourmet. We got to eat outside and enjoy the beautiful blue skies. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was even better.
Deborah visited again at our second event, but this time she brought her children. We met them back in June at one of our Charlotte events. It was great to see them again. Tomorrow we’ll be in Ciao Bella’s backyard in Union and Maplewood. Make sure to come see us. You never know who our next surprise guest will be!
Tags: above, Ciao Bella, Ciao Bella Gelato, ciao bella sorbet, eden gourmet, gelato, maplewood, New Jersey, Sorbet, south orange, union
Posted in East Coast Sampling Tour | No Comments »
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
The East Coast Bella Girls' biggest fan.
Since you’ve last tuned in Elle and I have had very eventful events! On Monday we had the pleasure of spending some of the day with Darryl, it was great to see you.
We then spent a couple of days of shopping, eating and movie-seeing around Morristown. We can’t get over how great it is to be able to walk everywhere! And yes, we saw 500 Days of Summer for the third time. Don’t judge us, we just know what we like. Not to mention what soundtracks we like. Any movie that has both Simon and Garfunkel, and Patrick Swayze’s “She’s like the wind,” is ok by us!
Today was our first day back and it was abundant with Bella Girls! JuicyJ spent our first event with us and then CoconutKate joined for the second. It was great to see you both, thank you so much for your help!
I also feel that I need to report to you all that the Bella Girls have “made it.” How do I know this? I got asked for my autograph by a young strapping gentleman of about 7 years old who exclaimed “I am huge fun of Ciao Bella!” It was great meeting you too!
So, appearances by the Bella Girls will now cost…. well nothing, but a taste of our gelato or sorbet! Remember to keep checking in on Facebook and Twitter for updates!
-THE East Coast Bella Girls
Tags: Bella Girls, Ciao Bella, Ciao Bella Gelato, ciao bella sorbet, discover savor share, East Coast Bella Girls, Florham Park, Free samples, kings, Kings Supermarket, New Jersey, NJ, Ridgewood, Whole Foods, Whole Foods Market
Posted in East Coast Sampling Tour | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
The line at the concert in Newark.
Lauren and I started off the day in Montclair. I was really excited about this because Montclair is the home of my favorite author, Dorothea Benton Frank. I kept my eyes open the whole event, but never saw her. I’m not discouraged though. We’ve got a couple more events in Montclair, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that she’ll show up to one of those.
After our first event, we had some time to kill before our second event. We ate lunch and a Mexican restaurant called Chevys, and then went to Barnes & Noble. I finished the latest novel in the Outlander series so I needed a new book to tide me over until the next one comes out. I have to wait until September 22 and I’m dying. I can’t wait for the new one. It’s going to be a long few weeks.
Our second event today was at Riverbank Park in Newark. Essex County has a summer music series, and Lauren and I got to take part in it. We had so much fun. There was a Latin band playing, and people were dancing. We were also parked between the soccer field and basketball courts. We had a blast listening to the band while passing out samples. We always play music, but there is nothing like listening to live music especially outside on a beautiful night. It was a great end to a gorgeous day.
Tags: Ciao Bella, Ciao Bella Gelato, ciao bella sorbet, essex county, gelato, montclair, New Jersey, newark, riverbank park, Sorbet
Posted in East Coast Sampling Tour | No Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
This lady loved the Blood Orange She sang our praises throughout the event. We had to give her a t-shirt for being our biggest Ciao Bella lover!
Lauren and I woke up to a cool sunny New Jersey Friday. We got up, ate breakfast, had our coffee and headed towards our first event. By the time we got to our first event the sun was still shining, but it had gotten hot…really hot. We were listening to the radio at the event, and the dj announced that there was a heat advisory in effect, not to mention severe thunderstorms were moving through the area.
We checked weather.com to find out what the temperature actually was. The Web site said it was 90 degrees, but felt like 99. Personally, I think it felt like a lot hotter than 99, but I’m no meteorologist. Normally the most popular flavor at our events is the Chocolate Alba Hazelnut, but at our first event today the most popular was the Sicilian Lemon. Not surprising. The sorbets are just so refreshing on days like today.
Thankfully the storms held off at our first event. We weren’t so lucky at the second. We got to Whole Foods in Edgewater and started setting up. We could see the dark clouds rolling in. We had just gotten the awning and shelf up on the side of the truck, when the bottom dropped. It was raining so hard and it was so windy that we had to close the door on the truck to keep everything dry. It rained for a few minutes, then the storm passed, thank goodness. We can’t say we were upset that it rained though. It definitely cooled down after the storm. We still had a great second event despite the rain.
We want to say a special thanks to those who braved the heat and the rain today. We had a lot of fun, and were glad we could make the day better with gelato and sorbet.
Tags: Chocolate Alba Hazelnut, Chocolate Alba Hazelnut Gelato, Ciao Bella, Ciao Bella Gelato, ciao bella sorbet, edgewater, New Jersey, Whole Foods, Whole Foods Market
Posted in East Coast Sampling Tour | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Mom and daughter enjoying a refreshing Alphonso Mango sorbet on a hot New Jersey Wednesday.
Lauren and I are finally back home. We left Long Island yesterday, headed for New Jersey. Our first stop when we got to Jersey was Ciao Bella. We had to take Penelope by to stock the freezers so we’d be ready for the week. While we were there we visited with our Ciao Bella family. It has been a while since we’ve seen them and it was great to catch up. We have really missed everyone.
After leaving Ciao Bella we headed for Lauren’s dad’s apartment. We are so grateful to him for letting us stay with him. We’ve been in hotels for about nine weeks now and it’s great to finally have a home to go to. We have a kitchen and a laundry facility at our fingertips. We no longer have to lug our laundry bags down multiple floors and endless hallways. We also get Bravo again. While in Boston we became addicted to Bravo, but were deprived in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island.
It’s also great to be with friends and family again. We get to stay with Lauren’s dad and we are also just a few minutes away from Lauren’s friend, Nora, and one of our college roommates, Nicole.
We had a great first day in New Jersey. We were welcomed with open arms by A&P, Kings and all the shoppers. We gave out over 400 samples today, and in true East Coast Sampling Tour fashion, Chocolate Alba Hazelnut was the most popular flavor. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the tour holds. We’ll be here for a while so make sure you come see us at our events. We want to pass out all the gelato and sorbet happiness we can!
Tags: a & p, Alphonso mango, alphonso mango sorbet, Bella Girls, Chocolate Alba Hazelnut, Chocolate Alba Hazelnut Gelato, Ciao Bella, Ciao Bella Gelato, ciao bella sorbet, East Coast Bella Girls, gelato, kings, long island, New Jersey, new york, Sorbet
Posted in East Coast Sampling Tour | 2 Comments »
