As mentioned in Monday’s post, and well known to military families around the globe, there are a lot of business we military families “start over” with when we move. Finding a good fro-yo and ice cream place is definitely on my list – for comfort, for a sweet treat, for fun – a good scoop of fro-yo or ice cream has healing powers. What kid doesn’t love ice cream?
When we moved to Camp Pendleton, I started a personal Instagram account, and started looking up local businesses in San Clemente businesses and happened to come across Porchside Ice Cream. After following the business page for a couple months, I made a comment on a picture – and bam! An opportunity to actually purchase and eat the ice cream that I have stared at pictures of, and to meet and interview an entrepreneurial woman.
San Clemente-native Kimberly, the name behind Porchside Ice Cream, started her business because of her love of ice cream. She worked at Baskin Robbins in downtown San Clemente in high school, and that love of the frozen treat continued when she received an ice cream maker as a wedding gift when she married her high school sweetheart. She started making unique ice cream flavors for her friends and family. To her surprise, they were willing to pay for said ice cream. Shortly after, she found that she was making over 100 cups of ice cream a week for friends and local coffee shops (like Bear Coast Coffee which we reviewed in an earlier post)! She has since brought on her mom, Karla, to help with her small business – she provides recipes and inspiration for their unique flavors. Kimberly promises to have seasonal flavors throughout the year as well. This past November she did a pumpkin horchata ice cream called San Clemente Fall and a coconut pecan praline for Christmas – very seasonally appropriate for the coastal living of Southern California.
Her business is still run out of her home, and in the early stages of development. Watch her Instagram account to learn what flavors she is making. If you want to try some small batch, handcrafted ice cream – direct message her! Or, email her at porchsideicecream@gmail.com. As mentioned above, she occasionally will have ice cream available at Bear Coast Coffee and she will post on Instagram when it is available. She shared that some other opportunities are in the works for her ice cream to be more available and she will share on Instagram.
Porchside does not currently offer a military discount but she said she would like to. She is also a fellow healthcare worker and wants to offer discounts for nurses and first responders (she shared that her father is a firefighter!) She does do catering and those prices depend on number of people and flavors – so if you are interested – email her or direct message her on Instagram!
As I mentioned, I reached out to Kimberly on Instagram last week and she was able to whip up an amazing small-batch of Mama’s Shortbread – a vanilla lavender ice cream with homemade lavender shortbread (her mother’s recipe). Upon opening the adorable cup, the lavender smelled relaxing. It was smooth and creamy with bites of buttery shortbread. The lavender was not overwhelming in taste or smell, but was a great accent to the vanilla.
My husband said it tasted like a massage – very relaxing and calming. At $5 a cup, this is cheaper than any massage we have had aside from the toddler walking on my leg. Kimberly brought cute little wooden spoons with the ice cream too – reminiscent of ice cream on hot summer days after a long beach day in my childhood.
Kimberly did share that she has made a royal tea ice cream in the past, and that would be an awesome compliment to anyone planning to watch the upcoming Royal nuptials in May!
#MilMomAdventureTip : Don’t be afraid to reach out to businesses on social media. Social media is the way of communication and sharing – a visual collaboration of billboards of sorts. This is a great way to discover small, local businesses. In reaching out to Kimberly, we got to have an amazing, unique treat at our recent business meeting – and I get to share it with you.
Looks amazing!
It is seriously so yummy!