introducing...wide awake!

new player... wide awake! cappuccino ice cream + classic chocolate cookie. that oughta keep you going!

new packaging prototype!

getting ready for the stella & dot party on friday!

squish squared

LOVE it when friends volunteer unused ice cream makers to the cause! thanks LE for doubling my production capacity!

squish classic chocolate cookie

squish classic chocolate cookie = win

gluten free cookie fail

some cookie dough does not hold well over-night in the fridge. sigh.

spicy!

thai green curry ice cream

+

kafir lime and lemongrass toasted rice cookie

=

gluten free vegan awesomeness!

... so far this probably won't be part of the standard offering, but it will be a fun one to keep in rotation!

toasted rice flour? no problem.

who knew it was so freaking easy to make your own toasted rice flour for gluten free baking? i heart you, vitamix.

before

middle

after

squish bus!

heck with the food truck idea. i'm totally gonna retrofit a vintage vw bus.

photographer john deprisco of deprisco photo put together a
mobile photo booth aptly called the photo bus

srsly?

really? is this necessary? it just seems like they are trying a bit too hard...

ice cream sandwich molds

that's a lot of squish-wiches!!

whoa. crazy. and delicious!

le marais

inspired by and done remembering the tabers of paris: kim, aleyna, mira, matthew, and once upon a time - andrew. i remember, so fondly, the afternoon adventure kim, aleyna and i took into a beautiful tea shop in le marais in paris many years ago. it was my first, and so far only, trip to the beautiful city, and the last time i saw andrew before his light was extinguished. he was an extraordinary man, and like another brother to me. i miss him. i think daily of the beautiful twins he never had an opportunity to meet, and how his gentle spirit inspired the best in everyone around him. i like to think he would have gotten a kick out of my crazy adventure.

p.s. i'm keeping my day job

1. because it's awesome.
2. because i'm not really official with all the business licensing + dept of health permits + other things i don't know i need yet.
3. oprah hasn't yet discovered how amazing squish is. which means i'm not famous + successful enough to throw caution to the wind and drive off into the sunset with my mini blaring pink martini tunes while tossing ice cream sandwiches willy-nilly from the sun roof. yet. just wait. it will totally happen.

you may call it... SQUISH!

i'll post more details of how the HECK i got to this point soon, but i've gotten enough questions over the last week that this seems the easiest way to everyone in the loop and able to get more info about my 'vaguebooking' of late.

bottom line: ice cream sandwiches! making them. selling them. and bringing joy and a bit of childhood memory delight to the masses. think childhood summer vacation with a bit of fancy thrown in for good measure.

awesome, right? i think so.

i'm on a new adventure. not that i've abandoned any of the others, but this one sort of crept up on me and i decided to jump in, splash around a bit, and see what happened.

so far: it's awesome. 'in a what-the-heck-have-i-gotten-myself-into?!' kind of way. and an 'are you sure it's safe to be left unsupervised with that many ice cream sandwiches?!' kind of way.

stay tuned for emerging details and more experiments.

oh, and if you're in town, let me know. i'm clearly going to need taste testers.

testing in the wild

survived the big experiment!


here's the score:

  sell through: fail
  inventory planning: fail
  customer delight: win
  feedback from customers: win
  lots of learnings: win
  know more today than yesterday: win

all in all - a success even though it didn't happen the way i had imagined. hm... sounds a bit like life.

YAY!!! (whew.)

big thanks to joshua for the suggestion and inviting me in to try this out at the seattle fusion experiment om fusion event. great crowd. great venue.

setup at om culture for the first big experiment

delivery? done.

super fast first packaging prototype

does squish deliver? uh... SURE! i needed to figure
out some sort of first-pass at packaging anyway.

30 minutes, a partner in crime to help me pick (thanks LE!!)
and i'm on my way to my first 'squish by request' delivery.

this crazy idea just might not be quite so crazy...

thanks ryan for the ask and inspiration!

meet the players

classic
(vanilla bean + chocolate wafer)

cupid
(chocolate cherry + chocolate wafer)

make it so
(earl grey + cardamom shortbread)

pre-breakfast assembly

pre-breakfast assembly

first production failure

hm. something went wrong in the freezing process. or maybe the cream i used had been shaken up a bit more than the other batches so it was closer to butter? either way - this batch of vanilla bean is definitely not party worthy.

the great thing is that now i understand better the limits of my current set up.

awesome.

1st delivery!

first official delivery to former teammates done. such enthusiasm and support for my adventure and experiment. thanks karen and team @ nordstrom for your unbridled encouragement!

thanks also to all my designer friends for not judging too harshly the first, hacked together in powerpoint, version of the squish logo. this is why i need you. seriously.

research

blue bunny ice cream sammie at the oasis
on lake travis outside austin, tx