Saturday, July 30, 2011

Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls

As much as I love ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt, having a dairy-based dessert in the middle of a heat wave tends to make me feel ill. So I was pretty eager to try out Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls, the West Village's pop-up snow ball shop.
  
Overwhelmed by all the flavor choices (a feeling that's not surprising given my tendency to have a panic attack when faced with a decision of any sort), I settled on Key Lime Pie. Fun neon color, WAY too sweet. Probably not helped by the addition of condensed milk. (And here I was complaining about dairy in my frozen desserts.)
Their snow-balls are pricey ($4 for a small), their syrups are extremely sweet (the word syrup should have tipped me off, right?) but finishing one is guaranteed to bring your body temperature down a few degrees and it's sort of fun to walk around eating something this strange looking.
You'd think my initial review of this place would keep me from going back . . . but I already have. Am I crazy for paying $4 for a pile of sugar ice I didn't love the first time? Potentially. But I do live in New York where I pay about 45% of my net income to sleep in a closet-sized bedroom, so maybe crazy is my middle name. Anyway, my second go--granny smith apple sans condensed milk--was much better than the first. 

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