The Best Ice Cream Shop in Pennsylvania

Canonsburg, PA needs a motto that fits its identity. The current motto, "The future is now, It is here in Canonsburg" rings hollow.

Technically, the motto is incorrect. The future is not now! By definition, it's later. That's why it's called the future. Spicy Food Guy supposes the leaders of Canonsburg could make the motto more factual -- "The present is now. It is here in Canonsburg." More accurate, but stupid.

If Spicy Food Guy ruled Canonsburg, he would, in an instant, change the motto to "Our Sarris Ice Cream Parlor kicks ass! Come get some." Spicy Food Guy would soooo get re-elected.

Sarris Candies is a rather serious western Pennsylvania regional business that specializes in great chocolate. Spicy Food Guy kids have been finding Sarris candies in their Easter Baskets for years. But as good as the Sarris folks are at chocolate, they are even better at ice cream.

The Sarris ice cream parlor is an old-fashioned, family fun type of place. It has one of those cool western style pianos that plays itself over in the corner. And the ice cream? Homemade, creamy, delicious, and lots and lots of it.

Spicy Food Guy had the Odd Couple, a giant scoop of vanilla covered in hot fudge, an even bigger scoop of chocolate topped with marshmallow sauce; the whole thing topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. That night, Spicy Food Guy lay on the couch and rubbed his purring tummy.

The future may not be now, but the ice cream is. Go to Sarris. So says Spicy Food Guy.

Spicy Food Guy Takes on Reading Station

As usual, for reasons best left unknown to the American public, Spicy Food Guy found himself away from home this past week. Specifically, SFG found himself in the Market Street Marriott in the City of Brotherly Love. Directly across the street from the Reading Terminal, better known as Palate's Paradise.

Reading Terminal originally was built as a market to serve the downtown pit stop of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (yes, the same railroad you can buy for $200 5 places after the Go square). Reading Terminal, smack in the middle of Center City, is now home to over 80 merchants, mostly food related.

On a tip from Smart and Sweet Colleague of Spicy Food Guy (SSCOSFG), SFG began his culinary adventures at Dinics, a heavily trafficked hole in the wall serving a broad array of three sandwiches: roast beef, roast pork, and roast veal. Spicy Food Guy went with the roast pork and sharp provolone sandwich -- juicy, tender, simple. The sharp tang of the provolone was the perfect offset to the roasted flavor of the pork.

Next Spicy Food Guy tried the place voted "Best in Philly" for hot dogs -- Franks a Lot. The name is funny, but the hot dog is snappy and delicious. Spicy Food Guy didn't much care for the chili used as a topping, but a plain dog with mustard is well worth a couple of bucks.

Finally, on the last morning, Spicy Food Guy tried a breakfast scrapple sandwich from the aptly named Dutch Eating Place. Spicy Food Guy had his scrapple served with egg and cheese (a white cheddar, SFG thinks) on wheat toast. Nothing quite like being served scrapple, a meat patty of pork trimmings and specifically designed to clog the arteries of middle aged white guys, by a sweet young Amish lady wearing a bonnet. It's worth a trip to Philly, even if you have to come from far away, just to eat a scrapple sandwich on wheat toast from the Dutch Eating Place.

So says Spicy Food Guy, who has traveled to Reading Terminal, and has returned feeling quite full.

Scotch Bonnet Peppers Make Killer Hot Sauces

Spicy Food Guy is a huge fan of hot sauces made with Scotch Bonnet peppers.

Scotch bonnets are natives of Jamaica, and are commonly found in many jerk seasonings. They are also known to keep away ghosts, or "duppies", as they are referred to on the Island. How a high-powered chile pepper that packs up to 350,000 scoville units came to be viewed as mystic protector against ghosts called duppies is a mystery to Spicy Food Guy, but he suspects that the early origins of this superstition have something to do with another powerful Jamaican plant called Cannabis Sativa. But Spicy Food guy digresses.

A superb example of a Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce is Bodine's Fire in the Hole. Bodine's is known for its variety of fresh garlic, and they pack a lot of it in Fire in the Hole. The Scotch Bonnet Pepper brings the tart and smoky sweet-to-heat element that is so unique to the Scotch Bonnet.

Try it on chicken pot pie. Really. You'll thank me. So says Spicy Food Guy.