The Secret of a Little Bird

Are you Twittering yet? Because, you know, along with this revolutionary technology comes a technologically-trendy way to be cool and appear even cooler to your kids, whether they themselves tweet or not.

It all started with Kogi, the elusive Korean BBQ taco truck whose exact location is revealed only through tweets received by its followers. Today it is anecdotally proven that if you twitter and travel the streets of Los Angeles fast enough and smart enough you will eventually reach the intersection of Childhood and Cyber-savvy Parenting, where you’ll find one of three vehicles: the Coolhaus Ice Cream truck; the Get Shaved van; or the Sprinkles Cupcake mobile. Forget the ubiquitous musical ice cream truck of your yesteryear filled with the standard freezer-burned choices. And never mind that half the effort of getting to this intersection is really a pop culture exercise for you–the cool parent–because let’s face reality: you are so up on what’s happening online and on the streets. The only thing your kids will see as they stand in your shadow is the hazy frost emitting from…well, your coolness. And then they will ask, who is this person rushing me from one L.A. locale to another for yummy sweets and treats and what did he do with my dad?!

But be prepared; because this endeavor is just unusual and therefore impressive enough that whether you embark on a vacation or staycation this summer, when your kids go back to school in the fall and are confronted with “what did you do on your summer break?” they are liable to say “I chased ice cream trucks and cupcake vans with my parents!” And though they may not realize it at the time, this summer will be one to remember.

Interested? Go to Twitter to sign up for your free account if you don’t already have one. Then follow these three:

Coolhaus

Our favorite in concept and practice! Two gals with backgrounds in architecture and design put all of their skills to use with Coolhaus all-natural ice cream sandwiches wrapped in edible rice paper. Delectible treats are served from a tricked out pink and white postal truck emblazoned with photos of the modern architects who inspired clever sandwich names. With flavors such as Frank Behry (sugar cookie with strawberry ice cream), Mintimalism (chocolate cookie and mint chip ice cream), Mies Vanilla Rohe (chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream), this experience will be both educational and gastronomical, and decidedly cool in more ways than one.

You must follow Coolhaus on Twitter to know their day to day locations, but find out more about the product HERE.

Getshaved

If you haven’t tried Hawaiian shaved ice, you are missing out! Lucky for you Get Shaved is regularly out and about. And if the spontaneity of Twitter scares you, you can see Get Shaved’s roaming schedule right on their WEBSITE.

The light and fluffy shave ice soaks up every drop of homemade syrup made with pure cane sugar. With only 60-70 calories per shave ice, feel free to indulge guiltlessly. Our personal favorite though is the shaved ice with vanilla ice cream at the bottom–something you’ll have to try at least once!

SprinklesMobile

The Sprinkles brand is well established from a brick and mortar in Beverly Hills, but the launch of the Sprinkles Mobile is conjuring up legions of new followers as the van traverses the L.A. landscape. Exotic chai latte and Madagascar vanilla cupcakes coexist perfectly with traditional vanilla, lemon and pumpkin options, to name a few. The best part of the Sprinkles Mobile is that they often give away dozens and sometimes hundreds of free cupcakes to the first group of followers to arrive at their tweeted destination! More information about Sprinkles HERE.

Posted July 21, 2009