Today was National Ice Cream Day, but July is National Ice Cream Month, which means that this was National Ice Cream Weekend, even if only so decreed by Rudi and me.

Friday evening we started out with the D.C. Scoop festival at Union Market, where local ice cream shops sent representatives with free samples for folks to try.

We downed the Trickling Spring (a local dairy) samples too quickly to get photos, but their flavors were a very mild chocolate and a chocolate covered strawberry. Dolcezza, a gelateria around the corner from my apartment, offered peach gelato and lemon opal basil sorbet:

Love ‘n’ Faith Cafe was making liquid nitrogen ice cream on the spot:

They ran out of their free samples, but were selling cups for a reasonable price. Rudi really liked their salted caramel and I was highly impressed by their cookies and cream. (D.C. folks: Their ice cream was delicious, but apparently they are inches away from having to close their cafe, which is located between U Street and Columbia Heights on 14th St. If you’re hankering for coffee or ice cream and are in the vicinity, it’s worth stopping in.)

Saturday was Bastille Day, so after spending the morning working, I stopped by a French restaurant that was celebrating the holiday for some glace. That’s a scoop of mamey sapote, a tropical African tree fruit, that has a distinctive flavor, and one of pineapple sorbet. I walked my bike until I ate the ice cream down to the cone and then biked (in the bike lane) while eating the rest. I’m pretty sure that negates any caloric intake, don’t you think?

Today, we headed out to the Delaware shore for a beach day.

We finished our time at the shore with scoops from one of the local ice cream shops. Mine is raspberry truffle and Rudi opted for mocha chip:

It was quite a good weekend!