Monday, May 30, 2011

Lindy's Raspberry Lemon Italian Ice Spectacular


So, who else out there is suffering in this awful humidity? To make it worse, I mowed today and I think my water level is a couple of quarts low right now. I keep drinking, but nothing is quenching my thirst... if only there was something super cold to make me feel better.

Ahhhhh Lindy's. This is Lindy's raspberry lemon Italian ice and I actually I tried last night. It's a pleasant, mild flavor. Not too sweet, not too tart.... not too raspberry, not to lemony. Now this sure is cold, but it will take way too long too eat.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Breyers BLASTS! Frozen Dairy Dessert
Mrs. Fields® Chocolate Fudge Brownie


[New for 2011] Ok, finally another Breyers BLASTS on the blog. You know, I was pretty excited when all the new products hit us at the grocery store, but the reality is that there are just too many new treats to sample quickly, especially when this blog is funded mostly by my wallet and by what little spare time I have everyday. It would be like every summer blockbuster coming out on May 1st, there's jut no way to see them all. Sure, you'd want to, but it's just not going to happen. With all that said, it doesn't mean I can't try.

Here is Breyers BLASTS! Mrs. Fields Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream... I mean F.D.D.  hehehe, that looks like fudd (hey, I could have gone geeky and said floppy disk drive). The exact description is Mrs. Fields® Chocolate Fudge Brownie pieces with a fudge swirl in a chocolatey frozen dairy dessert. Look, I'm not expecting an amazing treat here. I merely want something nice and chocolately ready in the freezer for when the mood strikes. If the brownie bits add a fun factor, that's even better.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Ben & Jerry's Fair Goodness Cake!
Limited Edition Ice Cream


New for 2011 : Ok, I know it's not Breyers or Blue Bunny, but let me explain. I was feeling a bit of bloggers guilt about the selection on recent reviews... plus I wanted to go see this thing that some people call "the sun", so I headed over to the nearest Shaws to see what I could review for you guys. Problem is, the nearest Shaws still isn't stocking the mini blue bunny cups. Flustered, I headed out back out of the store and after a moment of debate, headed over to Stop & Shop. I wandered through and saw nothing new, but just as I was about to give up, what do I see?

Fair Goodness Cake! It was hiding in a separate freezer with some sale items! I have been looking for this stuff but this is the very first time I've seen it. The description is "Chocolate Ice Cream with German Chocolate Cake Pieces & a Coconut Caramel Swirl". Wait, what? coconut? Oh, I was afraid they were going to say coconut.... and it's $4.79. Grrr, well, I can't leave empty handed.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Lindy's Watermelon Italian Ice Review


Ok, I promise either a Breyers or Blue Bunny review tomorrow, but considering I finished off Peanut Butter World for lunch, I've only got caloric room for some nice Italian ice.

So I picked up a pack of Lindy's watermelon Italian ice awhile ago. My daughter went through them pretty quick but I managed to hide one in the back of the freezer where I then forgot about it (I know, shocking). Hmmm, these reviews always go by so quick, maybe we can have a little fun with it.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Dine In. Chill out. (tm) - Time to try
Schwan's Monkeying Around Banana Ice Cream


Greetings everybody! Things have been so crazy that it has been two weeks since I opened a new container of ice cream especially for the blog. Lucky for me, our new friends at Schwan's marketing company have sent over three of their latest treats. If you don't know Schwan's, they are a "quality food - home delivery company". My neighbor actually gets Schwan's deliveries, so let's see what all the fuss is about.

I'm feeling kind of crazy... or maybe delirious, not sure which, but I'm going to try Monkeying Around first (which is fitting as my son climbs all over me as I try to type this). Now it's been a year and a half since I tried the very similar Breyers Banana Cream Pie, so let's go see how much my taste buds have changed.

Well, here is our first view of Schwan's ice cream, what do you think? They've gone with a longer, shorter design then a typical store bought container. On one hand the description is a bit hard to read, but on the other hand it doesn't take long to figure out this is BANANA ICE CREAM.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

McDonald's M&M McFlurry : Love it to Bits!


Ok, I didn't really love it, but after forgetting where exactly the nearest Wendy's was in relation to where I was, I decided to check in at that place that I never go: McDonald's.


While Europe enjoys Magnum McFlurries, and the U.K. enjoys Smartie McFlurries and... well, I could drive a few hours north and have me a Canadian Golden Oreo McFlurry, but around here, I had two choices: Oreo and M&M (funny, Australia has the same two choices).

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Burger King Coke ICEE Float Review


Come on, you didn't really think I was going to go more than a few days without trying the other member of the BK ICEE float family did you? I had the perfect excuse to go for it yesterday, and I'm glad I did, it was a mere $1.29! That's less than drink from a gas station.

Now it's not as pretty as the cherry icee float I tried first because they were having a bit of trouble with the machine (it got jammed up). No matter, I knew it was all about that magical ratio of icee to shake/soft serve (I'm still not really sure which it is -- not that there is a huge difference). High Hopes here!

So I immediately tried to mix things up so I wouldn't waste any, but it's tough with just a straw. I messed around and had some success. Now I need to remind everyone that I'm not a huge coke float fan because I think it's more coke than float and that has never done a whole lot for me. That said, I enjoyed this combo. It's a nice mix of coke, fizz, and shake.

I only see two downsides here. 1) I'm not really sure this would quench my thirst.  2) Yet again, the last 25% was pretty boring as it was mostly icee.

Verdict?  nice
Buy Again?  definitely

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Poll Results


Ok, time to recap the last two poll questions.

The first question I asked was if Bacon belongs with ice cream. This question was inspired by my april fool's joke. A respectable 28% (40 votes) said yes! Bacon is a wonderful thing, so that's why I was pleasantly surprised that another 21% (30 votes) said Maybe. Keeping an open mind never hurt anybody. To round things out, the other half of you said NOOOOOOOOOOOO (71 votes). Understandable. I keep telling myself I would be willing to try bacon in ice cream, though I question if I would hesitate at the last moment.

The second question was a bit more vague, and I apologize for that. Basically, I had stumbled across some excellent treats from the U.K. and was wondering if we needed to expand what's on the site. I can't say I've found a local place that carries international ice cream, but I was wondering if maybe I could track down an occasional guest blogger to let us know what we are missing. Here, let me give you an example.

Blog reader Nick has tipped me off that in some parts of Europe they've got MAGNUM McFlurries! How funky is that? They are a mix of softserve, Magnum sauce and Magnum "crowns" (chips). That would be a classic, or you can add brownie chunks or almond bits, at least in Germany and Switzerland. I'm having a bit of trouble navigating the global world of McDonald's websites, so I can't really say just how global this campaign is. I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, that Magnum Marketing machine is going crazy, they even got Benicio Del Toro in one of their commercials.

Anyway, here are the results to "Does the blog need to go global?"

Let's keep it local for now - 35 (29%)
Bring on Canada! - 13 (11%)
Bring on the UK! - 6 (5%)
Bring anything!! - 55 (47%)
Don't Care - 8 (6%)

So that means 2/3 of you are more than ready for more ice cream, which is very cool.

Hmmmm, now to track down some guest bloggers, or at least cover global developments in the news now and then.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Magnum Double Caramel Ice Cream Bar Review


So it was Saturday morning, 9 o'clock, the kids were coloring, and I was waiting to try my second Double Caramel Ice Cream Bar from Magnum. I needed to do my Saturday chores and I just didn't have the motivation, so I thought chocolate would help... at the very least, it shouldn't hurt.

Magnum Double Caramel Ice Cream Bar
vanilla bean ice cream dipped in a chocolatey coating,
caramel sauce and Belgian milk chocolate

Friday, May 13, 2011

Have you ever had a Burger King ICEE Float?
a.k.a. ICEEs on sale at BK!


While I was doing a little ice cream research one day, I found this April 2007 article titled "Burger King Offers Seasonal Desserts". A strange creation called an ICEE Float is mentioned. Funny, I don't go to BK much, but I certainly don't remember ever seeing an ICEE Float. I do a little digging and what do I find? Well, a 2002 BK commercial on youtube for a blue cherry "frozen float". So it's new to me since I've never seen it, yet it was "introduced" in 2007... yet it's technically available in 2002? I'm so confused!!! I searched and searched the internet for a review, but nothing!

An investigation must commence! To the scoopmobile!

I drove by one Burger King a week or two ago but no mention of the ICEE Float, and I didn't have the patience to wait through a long lunch line to ask for sure. I tried again today at a different BK and what do I see? ICEEs for just $1.00. Woohoo! Even if I don't score a float, at least I'm leaving with an ICEE. I drive around the corner and there it is sticking off the top of the menu board. ICEE Floats! Cherry or Coke. Small for $2.00 or a medium for $2.39. I place my medium cherry icee float order and I here "that'll be $1.70". Sweet, apparently ICEE Floats are on sale too!

Let's be honest with ourselves: this is a really nice looking treat. I really like this thin plastic cup that's filled to the top, it's almost a throw back to a thin sundae glass. I feel like I'm getting something special and different. To me, this screams treat. Sorry, I don't mean to be impressed by a piece of plastic, but working on your presentation skills is always a good thing.

Enough drooling, let's take a closer look. If you look at the red icee you notice it actually has a white sheen because the icee has blended with the base just a bit as it was poured in. Now important note here. I made the mistake of trying to drink a bit of ICEE off the top first and it did not hit me the right way. It tasted odd. It was an ICEE, but it wasn't. I can't describe it but I can tell you that I definitely didn't like it.

Thankfully I was only mildly detered and I went back at it, this time trying just the base. I'd say it's a nice vanilla soft serve, but it's too easy to sip through my straw, so it must be milkshake base --- Funny, I just went to the BK site to see if it was softserve or milkshake and I can't even find ICEE Floats on the website. Actually, it doesn't even say Cherry ICEE, it just says Frozen Cherry. Hmmmm, anyway, I like it, it's tasty and smooth.

Time to be bold and really dig in. I stir the treat and aim for the mix line. I take a few sips and I say hmmmmm. I take a few more sips and discover something... good. Mmmmm, it's like an easy to drink, mild cherry milkshake. It's cheezy to say, but we are getting the best of both worlds here. It started a little rough, but a bit of mixing and a bit of luck and this is an easy drinking treat. You know what my problem with this treat is? The magical shake/ICEE combo only lasts for a short time. This treat is so easy to drink that I drank it too quick! So it took me 20% percent to figure it out, the next 50% went quick, another 10% of waning flavor, and then the last 20% or so percent is weak (shake to ICEE ratio is way to low).

Overall I was sad to see this treat be done. I got the medium, but if there was a large, I would go for it... actually, I would be satisfied if the treat was a bit more shake and a little less ICEE so that the magical combo lasted a bit longer. Actually, in a perfect world, the two would be poured side by side so you get a perfect ratio throughout. I'm definitely going to give this another try, but I liked the cherry one so much, I'm almost afraid to try the coke version.

Verdict? Different! (in a good way!)
Buy Again? definitely

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Rocky Road Klondike Bar Review


[New for 2011] I was really gunning for a slice of Papa Gino's pizza, but somehow I convinced myself to save a buck or two and head down to Shaw's to grab a pint of something new and tasty. Unfortunately there wasn't anything particulary exciting at this Shaws, so I paced back and forth a bit before snagging the new Rocky Road Klondike bars. Let's be honest, I have trouble ignoring anything with Rocky Road in the title, so let's give it a try.

The description is chocolate and marshmallow flavored light ice cream and milk chocolate flavored coating and almonds. 6 bars, 4oz a piece, on sale for $2.50. Looks interesting enough.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

State of the Freezer address
Can't believe it's been 3 years!


Hey everybody! For those who don't know, May 8th 2008 was the very first post on this blog. Wow, can't believe how much this blog has grown. We are now past 12,000 visitors a month! Woohoo! A big thanks to all the regulars who stick with us and thanks to all of our newest friends too. Your comments on posts are always welcome and greatly appreciated.

Just like last year, I had a lovely speech (or something) planned out, and yet again it's almost nine o'clock. I'm beat from mowing and running around, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Oh, but before we begin, happy mom's day to all the moms including my wife, my mom, my mom-in-law, and can't forget my grandmom-in-law. They all rock.

A few weeks ago I counted just how many varieties of frozen treats were in the two freezers. A dozen? pffft.  Two dozen?? getting warmer.... I counted 32 different treats in my house!! ...and I wonder why dessert companies don't send me anything, well, why should they? I spend my own money. In fact, I haven't had an ice cream delivery since December when Edy's was nice enough to send over their holiday flavors and a bunch of gift certificates to share.


This is the upstairs freezer which is the home of what has been reviewed, for the most part anyway. The only  item we keep in stock is Ben & Jerry's froyo, an addiction my wife picked up during her pregnancy (hey, if you are going to do frozen yogurt, mine as well do the best). You know, I didn't even realize that stonyfield frozen yogurt was still in there (it was hiding behind my ice cream maker bowl -- note, there are single serve ice creams hiding in that bowl). There's some H-D cherry vanilla I never posted, a watermelon italian ice never posted, there is chocolate tempt I never posted... that plastic bag is hiding the turkey hill light vanilla, one last half serving of whoppers.... yeah, time to clean especially since we are having company this weekend!

And here is my secret stash of upcoming reviews downstairs... wait, it's not a secret anymore, doh!!! We've got single serve blue bunny on the right, a h-d five mint I never tried, another Breyers blasts, a new skinny cow treat, new blue bunny cookies 'n cream bars (which I've eaten and not reviewed), Roba Bolce Wildberry gelato, a new Friendly's sundae cup. You get the idea: STUFF STUFF STUFF!!

Looking back, it's been an interesting year. I guess one of the most important lessons I continue to learn is that this is way harder than it looks hehehehe But seriously, I made it out to my first press conference which was a unique experience. I realize... I realize I eat too much ice cream... no, that's not true, I've just been getting lazier with balancing my ice cream intake with my intake of everything else... Wow, I'm so tired I can't even think of what else has been going on, think it's time to call it a night.

Look forward to... me getting caught up, using less "...", trying to keep my reviews consistent (grammatically speaking), and in a very perfect world, finding the time to rebuild the site in such a manner that it's easier to navigate. It's easy enough for regulars to view the site blog style, but I feel bad for random visitors trying to bounce around. I think I can do better, so cross your fingers!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Turkey Hill Light Recipe Vanilla Bean Review


Ok, story time, let's see how it goes. If you look at the blog, it looks a lot like I've been doing nothing but eating super high fat content treats for awhile now, and this is partially true, but what you don't see is what I eat on my downtime. While certain days I may enjoy Magnum or Ben & Jerry's, there are plenty of days when I was making myself a humble caramel milkshake with Breyers Dulce de Leche (the one from Easter). I was enjoying the clean simplicity of my shakes so much that when I went to the grocery store on Tuesday, I actually bought...

Vanilla ice cream! That's right, me, the guy who eats way too many mix-ins actually bought a plain, low-fat vanilla ice cream. Something in my brain made me think I needed to cleanse my palette. In my brain's defense, it has been almost two years since I reviewed plain vanilla ice cream. Now I've had pretty good luck with low fat Turkey Hill in the past, so why not try it again?

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter World Ice Cream


[2018 Update] So much love for this flavor on the internet that it's no surprise that it's still around (though still exclusive to Target). Still tasty and the nutrition facts have actually gone up slightly in terms of fat content (it sounds really unappetizing when I put it that way). Hopefully most people have tried this one by now. Original review after the break.

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter World Ice Cream
milk chocolate ice cream with peanut buttery swirls & chocolate cookie swirls

Monday, May 2, 2011

DQ May 2011 Blizzard of the Month
German Chocolate Brownie


After hearing a rumor about new frostys, it dawned on me that it is infact a new month and time for a new blizzard, yay! I did a quick search but couldn't figure out what the new blizzard could be. You know what that means, time for a field trip!

German Chocolate Brownie? Nice, haven't heard that one before. With Pecans? OK. With Coconut? wait, what? ooooo, I despise coconut.... but it's my job to try these things.... I hope everyone appreciates my sacrifice here hehehehehe.

Yeah... that's not what I was expecting. There are toasted coconuts everywhere, most of the pecans have been obliterated into specs, and I don't really see the caramel swirl (though I did find it later). You can't see them in this picture, but there were tons and tons of brownies in this blizzard.

Now not only was I surprised by seeing something truly new on the menu, but I was also really taken back by the taste, or should I say, the subtlety of the taste. The pecans, caramel, and coconut have come together in this friendly, semi-sweet, and unobtrusive combination. It's one of those flavors you can't describe, yet you know you like it from the very first bite. I kept trying to discern each ingredient, but it just wasn't meant to be. The closest I came is when I accidentally got two whole pecans on my spoon, and that only happened once.

I blew through this blizzard in no time at all, and that includes having to get through the somewhat chewy brownie chunks. I'm still surprised that the coconut was so mellow. I would say they forgot it, but I could literally see it everywhere as I made my way to the bottom of the blizzard. Maybe complex is the right word to describe this new flavor. No matter how badly I describe it, I have to say nice job DQ making a happy, cozy, mellow blizzard DQ, your efforts are appreciated.

Verdict? pleasant!
Buy again? sure!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Cookie Brownie Sundae


Have you ever had trouble debating if you want a cookie sundae or a brownie sundae? I know I have, but thankfully, there is an answer! Now I know these have been out for a few years now, but maybe you've never taken the time to try them... and that is a shame if you haven't. They are an excellent treat and let me give you an excuse to go get them!

Part cookie, Part brownie, all genius and they are delicious as they sound and as tasty as they look. I "gently" warmed mine since it had already been out of the oven for several hours. Basically, 40% power on the microwave for about 80 seconds.

That's a big scoop of milky way ice cream on top there, look's intriguing doesn't it?

Is it just me, or did I just accidentally make a whip cream rose?

As I always say, it just doesn't look like a sundae without a pretty chocolate drizzle on top.

So that's my sunday sundae and it was fantastic. The cookie brownie is not just an awesome snack, but it's also a awesome base for a sundae. Is it cookie, is it brownie? You won't care, seriously, brownie-cookie cookie-brownie, it's all wonderful texture and taste here. Now go make yourself a sundae!