Discovery Channel’s Shark Week begins this Sunday, July 23rd, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, and concludes on the 30th.

And what a week it will be:

In addition to a daily schedule of shark-related films, the week kicks off with the most spectacular sports event since 2012, when daredevil Felix Baumgartner free-fell from the edge of space.

Anyone who has paid attention to the media for the past month knows that mega-medalist* Michael Phelps will race against a Great White shark off Cape Town, South Africa.

“Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White” begins at 8 p.m. on the 23rd—followed by “Shark-Croc Showdown” (no Phelps) at 9 p.m.

The eight-day schedule of events has numerous other shark-filled specials. Phelps will also appear inon the last night; not a rematch with the shark but in an educational special, “Shark School with Michael Phelps.”

SIP SHARK COCKTAILS AS YOU WATCH THE RACE

RECIPE 1: SHARK TANK PUNCH
COCKTAIL OR MOCKTAIL

We published the recipe for photo #1 last year.

Substitute blue gummy sharks for the red Swedish fish in the photo. Or, for a touch of the macabre, keep a Swedish fish or two among the frenzy of sharks. Why a frenzy? See below.

As with the second recipe, it can be made as a cocktail or mocktail.
 
 
RECIPE #2: SHARK ON ICE
COCKTAIL OR MOCKTAIL

Lemonade and blue curacao turn this drink green in this recipe from Sparkling Ice.

For a blue drink, substitute a clear carbonated drink (club soda, Sprite, 7Up, etc.)

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the vodka and curaçao in a shaker; add the ice. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.

2. TOP with Sparkling Ice Classic Lemonade and garnish with some blue shark gummies.
 
 
SHARK TRIVIA

[1] Shark tank punch from Cocktails Details. Here’s the recipe.

[2] Substitute the Swedish fish for blue gummy sharks (photo courtesy Candy Crate).

[3] Create a shark lagoon in a cocktail glass (photo courtesy Sparkling Ice).

According to Sharks-World.com, a group of sharks is called a frenzy, gam‡, herd, school or shiver (pronounced shivver, an earlier spelling of the word).

Frenzy and shiver sound right to us!
________________

*Phelps has 39 world records and 23 Olympic gold medals.
†“Nouns of multitude,” in this case, collective nouns for animals, were first developed in the Middle Ages (when people had nothing else to do after dark, we guess). The first documentation that survives, the Egerton Manuscript, dates from circa 1450.

These “books of courtesy,” as they were called, encompass animals, people and professions: a misbelief of painters, a stalk of foresters, a tabernacle of bakers, et al. Here’s a list of collective nouns for animals, and a discussion of how some nouns were derived (a murder of crows, a sentence of judges, etc.).
 
‡In terms of “gam,” the only definitions we could find are the slang referring to a leg, and a mid 19th century English dialect, perhaps from “game,” or shortened from “gammon,” early 18th-century slang for nonsense or rubbish.

[2] Switch to savory with this pretty avocado toast from Bluestone Lane. a café in Hoboken, New Jersey.

We love toast. We could eat it three times a day, with different toppings.

Today’s tip: Go seasonal with your toast, be it for breakfast, snack, or other nourishment.

We like this idea (photo #1) from Christine of Wry Toast Eats so much that we’re planning a summer iced tea party, just so we can serve it.

Christine, who makes everyday foods look so delicious, tops a conventional slice of toast with a fruit and cheese fantasy:

 
Here’s the recipe.

If you prefer the savory to the sweet, try this avocado toast (photo #2) from Bluestone Lane, an Australian-style café “influenced by the renowned coffee culture hub of Melbourne, Australia.”

Most locations are in greater New York City, but if you live in San Francisco or King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania you’re close to one, too.

You might look at the photo and opine that avocado toast is a year-round recipe, and you’d be correct.

The difference here is in the details: the flavor of summer cherry tomatoes over year-round hothouse tomatoes, the trio of colors that evoke summer flowers, and the microgreens garnish that does the same.

But for the true summer touch, buy some freshly-picked summer corn and sprinkle the toast with sweet, raw kernels of corn. That’s summer!

We eyeballed the photo and recreated the recipe with:

 
 
What would you like on your summer toast?

Make it so!

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Have it your way (cone, cup, brownie sandwich): soft serve made from scratch, from Mah Ze Dahr bakery in New York’s Greenwich Village (photos courtesy Mah Ze Dahr).

We celebrated National Ice Cream Day yesterday (it’s the third Sunday in July), by taking a short trip to Mah Ze Dahr bakery in Greenwich Village.

In addition to the glorious cakes, cookies and bars, hand pies, scones and savories, the bakery provided our first experience with made-from-scratch soft serve.

Every other soft serve we know of starts with a base mix, from which the establishment can add flavors. Not Mah Ze Dahr.

Everything is made from scratch: the ice cream, the glorious waffle cones with a bit of cinnamon (the best cones we’ve ever had), even the “Magic Shell” chocolate syrup that is added to the bottom of the cone, where it hardens to stop drips.

If the chef could make her own sprinkles—and grow her own coffee and tea, for that matter—we have no doubt she’d do it.

The toppings include the shop’s excellent brownies, peanut brittle and tiny meringues, plus “imported” favorites like sprinkles, M&Ms and chopped walnuts.

Mah Ze Dahr is the passion project of Umber Ahmad, a former investment banker whose passion for great flavors inspired her to bake professionally.

In Urdu, the word mazedar describes “the taste essence of food, its flavor and magic that make it delicious.

“This one word captures the life of a taste experience, unique to each person but cohesive in its stories,” says Umber. “It represents something that one cannot describe but wants to experience over and over again.”

Umber was “discovered” by restaurateur Tom Colicchio, who created the Colicchio Discovery Platform to identify and mentor the most promising food enterprises.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

The charming shop at 28 Greenwich Avenue, a block west of Sixth Avenue, transports you to a lovely place: You could be in The Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard. When we visited, the calm, casual beauty of the place—not to mention the contents of the pastry cases—was an oasis.

We agree! In addition to enjoying the soft serve on site, we bought a pastry sampling to take home (where the six pieces lasted, oh, an hour or so, and we looked mournfully at the empty boxes the next day).

The memories of the lemon pound cake, brioche doughnut filled with pastry cream, banana bread and “everything” brioche braid make us wish for more—now!

ORDER ONLINE

While you can’t get the soft serve online, most of the baked goods can be ordered at MahZeDahrBakery.com.

And with that, we’re planning our next visit. We must have the lemon meringue cake, the flourless dark chocolate cake (send one to a gluten-free friend), the carrot cake, the chocolate choux, and…[sounds of racing out the door].

Fruit ices were invented in China (around 2000 B.C.E.), and gelato/ice cream was created in Florence in the 1500s.

Frozen custard (a.k.a. soft serve) was invented in the New York in the early 19th century.

Here’s the history of frozen custard.