Treats not tricks

It's Halloween today so, surrounded as I am by images of witches and devils, pumpkin lanterns and broomsticks, I suppose I should be concentrating on something spooky but actually, I want to have a quick chat about ice cream. Having said that, on this weekend of  'Trick or Treat', ice cream is definitely the latter.
So, when I was staying with cousins up in Edinburgh last month, I was particularly keen to visit a famous Italian restaurant in nearby Musselburgh called S. Luca. It's been in that little seaside town (also home of the oldest golf course in Scotland, by the way) for over 100 years and is rightly famous for its ice cream and ice cream cakes. It featured in a lovely book I'd just read called 'The Distance between us' by Maggie O'Farrell so caught my interest - turns out to be one of my cousins' favourite places for a weekend treat. Established in 1908 by Luca Scappaticcio and his wife, Anastasia, from Cassino, the business is still family run and continues to make ice cream to the same traditional recipes. Only now they don't have to hand stir the ingredients for long, long hours and store the mixture in dry ice. The ice cream is to die for and just a couple of simple scoops, accompanied by a robust expresso, was the perfect afternoon treat.
Just a couple of weeks later, I found myself in another locally famous Italian restaurant. This time, the family run, Sicilian Nonna's Kitchen in Hoddesdon, introduced by a work colleague who is also Sicilian and so, of course, knows the family. Once again I was presented with an array of delicious home made ice creams as well as home made breads, cakes, pizzas and the full range of Italian regional restaurant choices. This time, after dinner, I struggled to make room for a dessert ice cream but forced myself!
All I can say is that if you want to treat yourself to ice cream, today or any other day, don't bother with all that mock Cornetto nonsense but find yourself a local Italian ice cream parlour or restaurant - anything else just isn't worth the trick.