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It’s been 10 years since Doug Quint parked his Big Gay Ice Cream Truck at the northwest corner of Union Square in Manhattan for the first time. This is where he and his business partner, Bryan Petroff, got their start selling wild concoctions like the American Globs, soft serve ice cream mixed with smashed, nearly burned pretzels and covered in chocolate dip.
“Pedestrians would look at the logo, and we would see them mouth or even say out loud, ‘Big Gay Ice Cream Truck,’” Mr. Quint said. But then they would try the ice cream. Now the company has four brick-and-mortar stores (three in New York City and one in Philadelphia) and offers pints featuring new flavors, like Banan-o-Gram, with caramelized bananas and a graham cracker swirl, in mainstream locations like CVS.
This summer, Big Gay is expanding to the West Coast. “It has headed off to college, but we are still helicopter moms,” Mr. Quint said. “When I see our cones going down the street I have to fight the urge to grab them and make sure they taste right.” Mr. Quint, 47, lives in Washington Heights with his dog, Buster.
EVERYTHING IN ORDER I’m generally up around 7:30. The first thing I always do is make the bed. I can’t stand seeing it messed up, and it’s visible from the couch, so I take care of it immediately. I can’t leave the apartment with the bed unmade. I have some issues about what has to be done before I can head out for the day.
CreditMengwen Cao for The New York Times
FRIENDS WITH KEYS, BEWARE It’s even worse if I’m leaving town. If I’m flying out on Sunday, a good portion of the morning is spent putting the apartment together. It’s quite a production and if I overlook something, watch out. A year ago, I got on a flight out of N.Y.C., and realized I’d left some pizza in the fridge. It made me berserk, and I had to get a friend with keys to go to the apartment and throw the pizza out.
BAD BODEGA, BETTER DIET I used to start brewing coffee and then run across the street to the bodega for a breakfast black and white cookie, but the bodega just changed to a crap brand, and the entire store is dead to me. Now I’m forced to stock decent breakfast food like fruit and yogurt.
FIELD TRIP If I have my car in town, it’s a sunny day and I’m feeling motivated, my absolute favorite Sunday treat is to head out to Red Hook and eat from the fantastic food trucks that park around the ball fields. The huaraches from Country Boys are a favorite, and I knock back a few servings of watermelon juice on every visit.
THE MAINE THING If I haven’t touched base with my mom or any siblings, I usually get some texts, emails, or calls out to them. Every two months or so, I head up to Maine for a long weekend to see my family in person. We have too much fun together to maintain our connections solely by Wi-Fi.
I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM Sunday evenings I check in with our shop managers via text to make sure they’ve made it through the weekend relatively unscathed and make sure the upcoming week’s specials are good to go. I usually forget to make them a counter sign listing those specials until late evening.
SPECIALS ANXIETY A few times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, realized I’ve forgotten again about the sign, and have to get up and make it before I can go back to sleep. That always makes me grateful that I have my standing therapy appointment coming up on Monday afternoon.
ACTION AND ADVENTURE My guilty pleasure television program is “Live PD.” It’s mind-numbing and perfect for a solo Sunday evening. If my husband’s around we have become fans of the Netflix show “Nailed It,” and an episode or two has become a standing Sunday evening watch.
NO-GLARE BEDTIME RULE I’ve made a vow to end the day reading from a book and not from a glowing screen. My building has a robust book swap going on, so I’ve been choosing stuff from that library. I just reread “Running With Scissors”; next up is “DYN-O-MITE!” Jimmie Walker’s memoir.
LET IT GO If I’m anxious about work, I’m pretty good about putting that aside a few hours before bed. I turn in by 11:30 and if the week has gone well, I’m asleep in minutes. If the week has gone terribly, I’m asleep even faster. I put it behind me and vow that this coming week will be when I finally get it all together.
