Georgia – Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

Kadie the Cow is now on Bay Avenue in Woodruff Riverfront Park in Downtown Columbus, Georgia, but she used to “live” on Manchester Expressway in front of the old Kinnett Dairy. Along with her calf, BeBe, she was the company’s mascot, and they both stayed on in the same location even after Kinnett shut down and was replaced by a Best Buy, which in turn has also shut down.

Over the years, Kadie has been defaced with obscene graffiti and BeBe was kidnapped and spent some time in Butler, Georgia, before being recovered. It’s weird the kinds of things people get attached to, but with so much change happening in Columbus and Kadie standing witness to it all, she gained significance to the community and achieved landmark status.

It’s nice to see her down at the new river walk with a fresh coat of paint. It feels like a monument to my childhood and a simpler, friendlier, perhaps rose colored past. When I was a kid, my Nana kept a box of Kinnett ice cream sandwiches in the freezer in the Florida Room of her house because she knew that me and her other grandkids loved them. We’d walk through the den, open the sliding glass door and step into that hot room that smelled like chlorine and hot plastic, and open up the freezer to grab dessert, or a snack when we got older.

I’ve spent most of my life living outside of Columbus, because of military service and work, and when we talked on the phone Nana would always ask me when I was “coming in”. What an interesting way of looking at the world. Beyond the borders of Columbus was outside, and coming home was coming in to where family waited for you. Coming in meant Kinnett ice cream sandwiches and visiting with loved ones. My entire childhood is tied up with memories of Kadie and Kinnett products. I was really disappointed when the company went under, but at least Kadie is still around to remind me of the past.

Singapore was the first place I got to sit down at a fancy restaurant that was designed just for the purpose of serving ice cream, like the Haagen-Dazs restaurants that are so common here in Singapore.

There are, of course, places like this in the US, but they’re mostly in major cities like New York City. I wasn’t aware of them, so I never went to visit one. I thought the ice cream you get in the grocery store was only available in the grocery store.

Two cones from the Marble Slab Creamery in Columbus, Georgia.

There were ice cream places I went to like Baskin Robbins, Brewster’s and Marble Slab Creamery, but these places are set up as fast food ice cream parlors. The seats, if there were any at all, are the hard plastic kind that encourage you to enjoy your ice cream, but to do it quickly and make room for the next person.

Since I’ve never been to a Haagen-Dazs restaurant in the US I have no basis for comparison but the experience here was a good one. The seats were cushioned and comfortable, the table we chose was low-set, and the dishes and silverware were good quality. The ice cream was served with presentation in mind too. So, eating Haagen-Dazs ice cream in Singapore can be a very luxury experience.

Unfortunately, it comes with a luxury price tag as well. The two plates shown in this post came up to around 42 SGD (about 29 USD) and I remember being stunned at the bill. In the US you can get a half-gallon of premium ice cream for about 13 or 14 bucks. Or at least you could the last time I was there. I’m finding out that a lot of foods I took for granted as being cheap in the US are a lot more expensive abroad. I think it has a lot to do with how the corn industry is subsidized by the government in the US. Ya, that’s kind of a weird stretch, right? Watch Food Inc. and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

Anyway, it’s still a nice way to pamper yourself from time to time, if you have the money to spend.

Tag: Georgia

Kadie the Cow

Haagen-Dazs Boutique Ice Cream Stores in Singapore