Ice Cream for Breakfast 2024!

Sat Feb 3 8am-noon at 102 Fairmont

Three ways to enjoy!

(easy, peasy and breezy)

 

1 – The Easy Way! Come on down to 102 Fairmont starting at 8am and get freshly made waffles (and yes gluten/free vegan option too) and top it with your choice of ice cream for breakfast flavours and our custom store-made toppings. Wear your PJs and get a free hot chocolate or coffee!

 

2 – The Peasy Way! Order for takeout from your choice of ice cream pints, waffles and toppings or build-your-own Ice Cream for Breakfast Box with fresh frozen waffles you can reheat at home. Pick up your order from our takeaway window!

 

3 – The Breezy Way! Get your ice cream for breakfast order or build-your-own breakfast box and get it delivered right to your order by our PJ delivery crew! Order now for delivery Saturday morning, or get a head start and get your order delivered starting January 31!

Our new friend and a cookie sandwich celebration

Remember being a kid and making a new friend? Remember going to their house or them heading over to yours, and both of you being so excited just to hang out?

Well … our new friend is Dolly … no, not that Dolly, though she is an amazing friend to so many! We’re talking about Hello Dolly Pastries, located on Wellington West and Irving, where they’ve been making amazingly beautiful cookies with the most beautiful and fun designs for the past year.

And then we found out the most fun thing of all … we share birthdays!

And so, like all new friends, we are sharing our birthday with everyone!

And so beginning this Saturday, we will be celebrating this new friendship with a limited edition ice cream sandwich!

The sandwich will feature the Merry Dairy ice cream that you know and love, sandwiched between two of Hello Dolly Pastries, classic vanilla sugar cookies, one hand decorated – in an exclusive design for the big event! (And yes, there will be dairy & vegan/gluten-free options – of course, all peanut-free and nut-free!) 

So tune in to Hello Dolly Pastries Instagram page for the big cookie reveal, coming Wednesday, August 16th! 

You can get your own, beginning Saturday August 19th in person at either;

– Hello Dolly Pastries, located at 992 Wellington St. W, where they will have pre-packaged sandwiches to go

– The Merry Dairy, located at 102 Fairmont, where you can get your sandwich made on the spot with any ice cream flavour you like, including our special birthday cake frozen custard which we’ll be featuring all weekend long.”

 

NAS (No Added Sugar)

A few years ago, Ottawa-based musician Allie Goodyear reached out to us with a jingle she wrote for The Merry Dairy. Titled, Ice Cream for All, it’s a catchy, fun way to describe the kinds of ice creams we make – all year round – nut-free, with dairy and vegan options. We loved the jingle so much, we turned it into this video

We love the idea of ice cream for all. After all, we started this business as nut-free because our son is peanut anaphylactic and his friend was the same, but with tree nuts. For both of them (and especially their parents!!) going to an ice cream shop was hit or miss – always asking, always checking, and worst of all, always hoping that the nuts weren’t there. So we said, let’s make the ice cream really really good and let’s make it peanut, tree nut and sesame-free.

So we were nut-free. Then people said to us – why not vegan – lots of allergy questions there too, and also an ever increasing part of ice cream choices. So we said, yes, and let’s make it really really good. So we tested and tested with coconut cream and milk, and came up with what we liked – premium vegan ice creams and sorbets!

And then came the hardest question of all – can you make sugar free? And at first we thought, maybe that might be too hard. There are a lot of reduced and sugar free ice creams out there, but finding one we liked was very hard.

Then we met Gabi – Gabi had done work on natural substitutes to sugar. And so, Gabi won the assignment – make a premium, delicious ice cream without adding sugar.

And so the tests began (and yes we should have photographed and recorded them all – lol)! And we found that by using a combination of two natural sweeteners – monk fruit sugar, & erythritol, polydextrose (a fibre) and tapioca maltodextrin (a food starch), we could reduce the sugar and keep the taste.

And so they came to be – dairy and vegan chocolate and vanilla flavours. The vegan flavours have the least amount of sugars per 3/4 cup serving – just 5g each. The dairy flavours, because of the cream and milk we use, have sugar counts of 15g. They are being offered at an introductory price of ten dollars – the same as our other pints.

But we hope we have solved the reduced sugar challenge, thanks to Gabi. And we can sing Allie’s song again without that feeling that we were missing a big part of the “for all” part.

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

Labelling Dad, Swirling Dad or Trucking Dad – It’s “Dad” time of year …

Fathers, Dads, Father-figures and Dad-bods – it takes all kinds to be a Dad, and what is most important of all is that all Dads are kind. And whether it’s the kindness of Fathers, or the goofiness of Dads, or just that day when you recognize someone in your life who has been there when you needed them, offering support and Dad-splaining advice …

And if you’re in the need of some Dad-splainin’, allow us to introduce your Dad-bot, always willing to answer whatever question is thrown their way, and share a Dad-joke or two … And if you feel like sharing the Dad-bot’s answer, paste your question and answer in the comments below for a chance to win a Merry Dairy gift certificate!

And if you’re in need of a kind Dad gift of some kind, that is kind of fun, and available in all of our pint flavours, try a Dad pint label with your own custom Fathers Day message!

Want to go the extra mile? Get your order of pints, cakes, witha  local a greeting card delivered to your Dad’s door by The Merry Dairy soft serve truck, and book a short visit Dad and friends to purchase & enjoy a few cold ones … cones that is! Of course you’ll be treating Dad, and his friends can fend for themselves!

 

 

Dad not into gifts? We can help!

The Rhubarb Stalk Exchange is now open!

The Rhubarb Stalk Exchange will close on Wednesday, June 14 at 8pm!

 

Rhubarb. It not only defies this modern age of artificial intelligence; in fact it defines this age of artificial intelligence. Please meet Rhub the Rube. Rhub the Rube is the President of the Rhubarb Stalk Exchange. Very informative, slightly annoying, and obsessed with rhubarb. Ask Rhub the Rube any question, and learn how rhubarb is the answer. Want a chance to win a Merry Dairy gift certificate? Copy and paste your question and Rhub the Rube’s answer in the comments below! With Rhub the Rube’s help, we’ll select three of the best, quirkiest, fun, interesting etc. questions and answers from the posted comments. So as Rhub the Rube says, AMA!

 

Rhub the Rube chatbot is taking a well deserved rest, as results are tallied to determine which entry below will win Merry Dairy rhubcoin. But fear not, soon the Dad-bot will appear at TheMerryDairy.com/dad to answer all of our dad-like questions!

 

 

The Rhubarb Stalk Exchange: Check your patches – get your crop judged – then get your $ RHUBCOIN $

It’s that time of year when patches of rhubarb poke through the fresh springtime earth and repopulate backyards all across our city. 

And it grows, and grows and grows.

You can turn your rhubarb into a redeemable $ RHUBCOIN $ code redeemable at TheMerryDairy.com for rhubarb flavoured ice cream pints or any pints of your choosing.

How much $ RHUBCOIN $ ? That’s up to you and your rhubarb patch! First, find that moment in time when your rhubarb is at its most perfect, then pluck it trim it, wash it and bring it to 102 Fairmont! Check store hours here!

 

How does the judging work?

$ RHUBCOIN $ will be calculated as follows:

 

AMOUNT x QUALITY x CLEANLINESS X TRIM / 1000 = $ RHUBCOIN $ awarded

 

Receive one point for every 2 stalks of rhubarb collected
Quality, cleanliness, and trim to be awarded on a scale of 1 to 10

The point score for rhubarb is subject to change without notice!

 

Example A:

20 stalks of wonderfully ripe rhubard, beautifully cleaned and expertly trimmed =
10 x 10 x 10 x 10  = 10000/1000 = $10.00 of $ RHUBCOIN $

 

Example B:

20 stalks of overripe, unwashed, leafy rhubarb that we probably won’t use =
10 x 3 x 3 x 2 = 180/1000 or 18 cents of $ RHUBCOIN $

 

Example C:

15 stalks of underripe, washed, and trimmed rhubarb that we probably won’t use =
1.5 x 3 x 9 x 9 = 5832 = 36 cents of $ RHUBCOIN $

 

Can I appeal my judgment? Yes! A Merry Dairy team member will accept the appeal and consult with a fellow team member to validate or change the ruling based on the appeal.

 

Can I appeal the appeal? Um, at some point we have to admit that even the rhubarb process has a limit.

 

Note: The RSE (Rhubarb Stalk Exchange) can stop trading without warning in order to preserve the value of $ RHUBCOIN $.

 

 

Rhubarb drop-off is between noon-8 pm Tuesday to Sunday. Please include your name and email on tape, paper, or even directly on the bag. Your rhubarb will be judged by our team of very judgy people, and your $ RHUBCOIN $ code will follow by email.🌱 💰

Looking for tips and growing and harvesting your rhubarb? Click here!

 

Read (and listen to) the 2021 Poems of Rhubarb!

 

Hear the interview on CBC Ottawa morning and on As It Happens (begins at 1:05:20!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moms & AI & Ice Cream

Remember when you told your mom about a new friend? Your mom might have said, Have fun but play safe!

And so, meet Murray, The Merry Dairy Flavour Chatbot!

Murray is The Merry Dairy’s new friend, and Murray wants to help us celebrate Mothers Day!

And remember when on Mothers Day morning, you might have concocted some treat, made up of whatever you could find, that you would serve your Mom, for breakfast or at some other part of the day?

Or with Mothers Day around the corner, it’s a chance to remember Mom and cherish a memory and keep it close to you.

And so with that in mind, we’re asking Murray The Merry Dairy flavour maker for some help!

Using the chatbot below, ask Murray to concoct a flavour of ice cream based on the most unusual things (or usual) things you might find in your kitchen. Ask Murray to take these ingredients, add one of their choice, and then ask them to make you a dairy or plant-based flavour!

Or maybe you want to recreate a moment that you had with your mom and make that into a flavour. Share your moment and see how Murray can make that a flavour.

In either case, copy and paste your question and Murray’s answer into the comments below (See example questions at the end of this post). With Murray’s help, on Saturday (Mothers Day eve) we’ll select some of these flavours, and The Merry Dairy will attempt to make them in The Merry Dairy, er, test kitchen over the summer! And for us to make it, the flavour has to be peanut, nut and sesame free, but otherwise, we’re wide open! Also, the chatbot likes to think for a bit, so your answer might take 30 seconds or more! 

But chats are great, but cakes are even better, and so if you’re still in the mood for concocting, you can try the new Merry Dairy build your own cake feature, where you can choose what flavours, fillings and toppings you’d like on your cake! Then send a special message and include a label of a favourite picture that we can add to the cake box!

Or maybe Mom likes to make ice cream, and rather than risk it with Murray’s instant, untested, recipes, you’d like to give Mom some tested, delicious and easy-to-make recipes. And in that case, you can get Mom this thing called a book, with beautiful photos, delicious recipes and clear instructions! Get your copy at TheMerryDairy.com or at your local bookstore!

Sample question – crazy combinations!

I want to help the merry dairy invent a new ice cream flavour! The flavour must be peanut, tree nut and sesame free, but otherwise any ingredient works! I’d like to start with ingredients like tumeric and coarse pepper and I’d like chatgpt to add a third flavour profile to complement the tumeric and coarse pepper. Please provide a recipe to make the flavour. Please also suggest up to three names the flavour could be called.

Sample question – A moment with Mom

Can you suggest a recipe for an ice cream flavour called Saturday Picnic that The Merry Dairy could make? This flavour should remind me of the times we make sandwiches and ice tea and head out with Mom to the local park on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The recipe must be peanut, tree nut and sesame free. Please explain why you think your recipe captures the essence of this flavour name

 

Now that you have Murray’s answer, don’t forget to copy the question and answer in the comments below!!

And finally, Murray the flavour maker would like to acknowledge Amelia.Coffee.Bake, PLA, and Hamza who individually chatted up The Merry Dairy about such an idea. Thanks to all of you!

The Snow Pile and the Great Spring March

This is was the snow pile at 102 Fairmont. Its slow melt was tracked by PileVision (see video below) until the pile was suddenly removed due to an unscheduled contractor’s adjustment.

Photos will be were posted (almost) daily to track our progress to spring. Guess the date and exact time that it will be fully melted away. The guess closest to the actual melted date and time without going over win a Mother’s Day cake! Two other Merry Dairy prizes will be awarded by selecting randomly from all entries received! Enter using the comments below. Entries due by midnight, Wednesday, March 22.

Congratulations to …

Grand Prize Winner – Mothers Day Cake 

Winner of “extra” Mothers Day Cake

 2nd prize – 3 pints

3rd prize – 2 pints
 
But wait, there’s more!
 
Over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Easter Weekend, there will be three more draws for a pint of ice cream! All who have already commented below are eligible. Didn’t enter back then? Well, it’s a contest extension!
 
In recognition of National Poetry Month, simply write your a poem about the snow pile, or snow, or just list your favourite poem in the comments below. Here’s our poem to get things started!
 
Love’s Loathsome Lament (For A Snow Pile)
 
Greeted so warmly when its first fresh flakes touch the ground
The snow is loved throughout December’s festive moments
And yet, as it piles, the love plies not.
Though it dwindles, melts and refreezes
A stubborn loathing sublimates as its hosts wait for the joy of its departing
And yet, the pile knows it will return, solstice in mind, summering as it does, elsewhere
 

 

Prizes will have been awarded as follows:

Grand Prize: Mothers Day Ice Cream Cake – awarded to the guess that is closest in date and time to the time the pile is officially declared gone by the panel of independent(ly minded) Merry Dairy judges!

Second Prize, to be drawn at random from all entries that guess the correct day the pile is declared gone.

Third Prize to be drawn at random from all entries, regardless of date or time.

See the entries below in the comments, and in social media responses below.

 

 

 

 

 

One week ago today …

If you can help, we’d love to say thank you

 
One week ago, on the coldest night of the year, a pipe burst in the Salus apartments on Scott Street. Damage was extensive and 40 people had to leave their homes and be sheltered elsewhere in our city.
 
The disruption to their lives is incomprehensible as they adjust to this shock and to life in temporary accommodations.
 
The Salus team has been extraordinary, responding immediately and making sure everyone had somewhere to stay.
 
But more is needed. The residents have lost so much. And there is so much damage to the Salus building.
 
In response, Salus has launched a fundraising campaign. The community’s response has been immediate and incredibly caring on so many levels.
 
We have worked with Salus many times in the past and in this time of need for them and their clients, we want to help do whatever we can to help.
 
And so, in addition to our own donation, we’d like to offer a small thank you gift to all who have donated to this campaign, or who will be donating. 
 
We want to do this kind of like a community radio fundraiser. Gave $20? Get an ice cream sandwich. Less than $20? A free topping on your next cone. $100? A free pint. $1000 an ice cream cake of your choice. And if you give $5000 or more, we’ll bring The Merry Truck to your home to serve ice cream to you and 49 of your friends.
 
In short, we hope you just give. But if a little ice cream nudges you in that direction, then so much the better!
 
To redeem, simply email info@themerrydairy.com with the evidence of your donation, like a receipt or photo. We’ll email you a gift code you can use anytime online or at our shop.
 
All of us at 102 Fairmont
 

A Proposal

Read the letters to the Canadian Dairy Commission, The Dairy Farmers of Canada and the Dairy Processors Association of Canada.

Local Wholesale

A proposal regarding shopkeeper-distributors under the Milk Act

 

For almost 60 years the Milk Act has existed to “stimulate, increase and improve the producing of milk within Ontario.” This proposal concerns the shopkeeper-distributor designation in the Milk Act as it relates to the production and distribution of ice cream.

 

40 years ago, it was almost impossible to find craft beer on Ontario beer store shelves, due in part to regulations that simply did not fit, and did not nurture a local craft beer industry. Today, craft beer defines Ontario and any visit by anyone to any town in Ontario is an opportunity to try the local brew. Local tourism agencies promote their breweries, and these breweries are part of the fabric of their community.

 

This proposal seeks to offer solutions to allow shopkeeper-distributors (S-Ds) to sell their ice cream in local stores in a way that addresses safety and allows S-Ds to create a local, artisan ice cream industry that doesn’t require overwhelming financial investments that in effect remove the incentive to be on local shelves, thereby diminishing choice for local consumers.

 

Proposal 1 – Geography

 

If an S-D can sell in their store, what would it require for them to have their product sold down the street or around the block? S-Ds are not looking to produce in a city like Ottawa to distribute in a city like Thunder Bay; they are not looking to fill the shelves of Costcos throughout the province. They want to sell where they produce. From the perspective of the consumer, this means that they know where their ice cream was made, and who made it. A S-D is accessible to the customer in a local market.

 

Proposed: S-Ds be restricted to a pre-defined local area for distribution that is reasonable in terms of a consumer’s ability to visit the S-D should they wish to.

 

Proposal 2 – Labelling

 

S-Ds are not required by CFIA to provide ingredient or nutrition labels on their products for items they sell at the site of production. Beginning in the new year, CFIA will require all wholesale food products to display nutrition labelling and ingredient statements that include the address and contact info for the producer of the product. 

 

Proposed: That CFIA labelling be recognized under the Milk Act as an adequate measure for consumers to know sufficient information about the product they are consuming and how to contact the producer with any complaint or concern. 

 

Proposal 3 – Transportation

 

Wholesaling of ice cream often outside of a local area can involve several shippers, across Ontario or across Canada. As a result, wholesalers can see their product transfer hands several times, actions that require tracking and enhanced measures at source to ensure safety. 

 

Proposed: Shipments of ice cream by S-Ds to local retailers would be required to take place in vehicles owned and operated by the S-D, based on the principle of continuous control of the product from production to distribution.

 

Proposal 4 – Tracking, Testing and Reporting

 

Quality and safety are the reasons that S-Ds are allowed to sell on-site in the first place. By establishing control at the site of production, consumers can be assured that their product is safe. They also enjoy the benefit of supporting unique  local products. Supplying local stores with local ice cream further strengthens the principle of supporting local as it allows for artisan ice cream makers to shape the local market, similar to craft beer, and establishes local ecosystems as a result. 

 

S-Ds track their production and know which batch is where at all times.This principle can be easily extended to local distribution where both entities have a visible, local stake in their communities. As a result, S-Ds can use their tracking, test their batches and report their results to the ministry, but also publicly, similar to health inspection reports.

 

Proposed: S-Ds that wish to sell off-site in their defined local area, work with OMAFRA to ensure that tracking, testing and reporting addresses food safety. It is proposed that regulation 761 (82) be amended to prescribe the tracking, testing and reporting of ice cream made from already pasteurised mix. It is further proposed that this testing be made available to the public via the OMAFRA website. In doing so, this regime would create the designation of shopkeeper/”local” distributor. This designation would apply only to the specific geographic area where the shopkeeper operates. This designation would be in lieu of being a licensed dairy, the costs of which are prohibitive to shopkeeper ice cream shops, and are in effect a barrier to local wholesaling.

 

Taken together, these four proposals are presented to address what we believe is an opportunity to make Ontario known in North America as having the best ice cream anywhere! It is an opportunity to support unique local products, small businesses, and to reflect the intent of  the Milk Act and its goal to stimulate, increase and improve the producing of milk within Ontario.

 

Read the letters to the Canadian Dairy Commission, The Dairy Farmers of Canada and the Dairy Processors Association of Canada.

A thank you  (Part I)

There is no other way to say it except to simply say thank you. The past few days, while a blur, will over time, become a blip.  We will never forget the overwhelming support and goodwill from a community that included people from all across our amazing city, and from many other places too.
 
We want to thank the many who reached out to us with offers of assistance on the next steps. Thanks to you, you have brought an issue forward with our provincial representatives that there is an opportunity here to update regulations to accommodate small enterprises and reflect the realities of life in 2022. We know there can be more than one path to an outcome. All we ask is for our representatives to see what lies ahead as an opportunity and not a threat. A huge thank you to our Mayor, our MP and MPP, and local city councilors and community leaders who were a part of that effort.

 
Maybe some of you reading this are old enough to remember the craft beer scene 40 years ago. Back then, there was no craft beer. Just the big breweries, and big efforts by them to dominate shelf space, and crowd out the competition. Today, craft beer isn’t just in Ontario, craft beer is part of Ontario’s personality. Today, it’s hard to imagine a visit to any city, town, or village, without a visitor seeking out the local brew, a brew that the locals have loved and supported.
 
That could be the future of artisanal ice cream in Ontario. It certainly is that elsewhere! Imagine what our provincial landscape could look like in the next few years if we see what we saw over the past week for what it is: a love of what’s local.
 
Because local is about more than shopping local. It’s about the pride of a community. It is also quality of life, entrepreneurship, and supporting those around us. Local is about relationships, the relationships that cement human interaction, something we used to just take for granted, and that now in our digital age, has become more precious and meaningful than ever before.
 
The government first introduced the Milk Act in 1965. While there have been many changes to that Act since then, it sometimes still feels like it’s 1965 when you’re a small producer. 
 
Ottawa is home to many wonderful artisanal ice cream makers. It could be home to many more with many more products on store shelves with the right approach at the provincial level.
 
As the blur of last week becomes a blip in time, what remains is the opportunity for change. Let’s see it for what it is and make ice cream work, for all. 🙂