Of olive oil, sea salt and vanilla bean ice cream

I needed to be in SF in the afternoon yesterday and so thought I'd take a detour on my way to the city in the morning - the detour was to Berkeley, which as you all will know, really is quite out of the way. I was on a quest for a very specific present (can't say what I was looking for - the recipient reads this blog!), and the biggest selection in the Bay Area (according to the ever-reliable Chowhound) was at the Pasta Shop on 4th St. in Berkeley.

After successfully completing my mission (and doing a bit of other enjoyable shopping), I decided to have ice cream for lunch. Yes, I can do this (especially since I couldn't set a bad example for anyone with me, i.e. my kids!)

So I headed to Sketch, an artisan ice cream spot which makes an unusual selection of flavors and toppings. After deciding that Sesame and Pomegranate were not up my alley, I opted for the vanilla bean with olive oil and sea salt topping.



I had this combination once before at Pizzeria Picco in Larkspur - where they make their vanilla ice cream with Straus Family Creamery milk. The Sketch version was good but nowhere near as good as Picco's. Still, it was lovely treat. When you get to the bottom of the cup, you are left with a melted pool of vanilla ice cream, mixed with the leftover olive oil and a few stray granules of sea salt. Although it was vaguely disgusting (in a good way), I slurped it all up!

Later that afternoon, I met up with a friend at Emporio Rulli on Union Square where I had a lovely hot chocolate and watched all the ice skaters going around in circles.