Taking the 4th chair on Nerd Lunch

First I made a two appearances on the mighty "Dennis Has A Podcast" show, then Marvo invited me to take part in the Nosh Show, and now, I have followed in the footsteps of the mighty Steve from foodjunk to make a guest appearance on Nerd Lunch.

Alright, go listen to the show here.

After I started the show with a horrendous Gary Busey joke, the show had no place to go but up... if you just ignore my use of my old microphone (sorry guys!!). It was a ton of fun as I talked about On Second Scoop and the awesomeness that is the Nosh Show before we dug into the main course and finished up with some nerd to-dos. Every episode has a different core topic, and our topic was condominiums condiments. There was also talk of smurfs. And Gojo. And Wesley Snipes. Don't worry, it'll all make sense when you listen.

It's always a little nerve-racking for me to talk to new people, but they were gracious hosts and made it easy for me to jump in and do my best to keep up. Hopefully you'll enjoy the show. Please feel free to leave any comments, tip, suggestions, etc like "please throw away that stupid old mic already". But seriously, it's all about bringing the love of ice cream to a bigger audience. They even gave me a few ideas for breakfast sundaes.

Oh yeah, I've been debating bringing some cereal to the breakfast sundae project, and though I did't have any Crunch Berries on hand, I do have Cap'n Crunch. Mmmmm, I added some whip cream, berry topping, and sprinkles for good measure. Oh I love ice cream... and cereal... and big breakfasts.

Thanks again for the invite guys, it was a ton of fun. Keep scoopin!

More From Bassetts : an Ice Cream and a Sorbet

[By Nick] I know you guys are wondering what flavor of ice cream I got instead of Bassett's Vanilla in my free shipment (first two reviews here). Well, technically I didn’t get an ice cream. Don’t ask me how, but Bassett's managed to sneak a pint of their Lemon Sorbet into the container. Having such a good experience with G.S. Gelato’s sorbetto, I was in no means disappointed in seeing this slip up.

Bassett's Lemon Sorbet

Taco Bell MTN Dew Baja Blast Freeze

Hello Nosh Nation! It's going to be an interesting week in real life, but that's not why your here is it? No no, you want to talk food don't you? Well, good, because it's Nosh Show Monday (Episode 9)! Time for me to be the troublemaker as always, hehehe. No, but seriously, at the bottom of this review is a nice teaser photo of some of the stuff we covered in the show this week. We'll also dig into my sadness over Eric (and not me) getting a Turkey Hill Dairy tour and eating ice cream fresh off the line.... grrrrrr..... not that I still don't like Eric and Turkey Hill, I just really wanted to go too!!

Taco Bell MTN Dew Baja Blast Freeze

(and double steak quesadilla)

Edy's Campfire S'mores Grand Ice Cream

Ok, the next flavor isn't new, but it does feature Edy's whimsical new packaging style, does that count? Hehehe, but seriously, it's been 4 years since I tried Edy's S'mores light ice cream, and people kind of mention this flavor every now and then, so this summer seemed like a good time to catch up with the grand version.

Alright, Edy's / Dreyer's campfire S'MORES Grand Ice Cream. It's toasted marshmallow and chocolate ice creams with graham cracker swirl, marshmallows & chocolaty chips.

Turkey Hill All Natural Raspberry Ice Cream

Note: there is a chocolate chip version debuting in 2017.

[New/Limited for 2013] Five years everyone... it's been almost five years since I first asked Turkey Hill to make me an all natural black raspberry ice cream. Well, my wish has finally come true... more or less anyway. Sure it's just "raspberry", and it's just a limited edition flavor that's only around for the summer, but I'll take it. In fact, I've been waiting for this day for so long that I'm almost a little afraid to open the container.

Here it is, the all natural Turkey Hill Raspberry ice cream that is scheduled as the June, July, & August limited edition flavor on their limited edition calendar.

Ben & Jerry's Cake Batter Ice Cream

[new for 2008,retired at the end of 2016]

Dubba's 2016 Update: I really thought this one had retired for whatever reason, but it is not dead and instead has made the transition to the Non-GMO lineup. It's a nice flavor that doesn't overpower with a batter blast or a chocolate overload. It's just a nice, refined cake flavor. Nick's original review after the break.

Ben & Jerry's Cake Batter Ice Cream

Snapple Sorbet Bars Review

Summertime means popsicles, so let's see what's in the freezer.

6 pack of Snapple Sorbet Bars. 

Front Porch Wildly Wildberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

[New for 2013] Ok, so we discovered that there are four new pint flavors available from North Carolina based Front Porch Ice Cream (made by Mooresville Ice Cream) not including the special Dale Jarrett flavor. I went with what I wanted from the free shipment on the first try, but let's crack open something I hope my wife will adore.

This is Front Porch Wildly Wildberry Cheesecake. It's cheesecake ice cream with a wildberry swirl and pie crust pieces. You know I'm hoping for lots of pie crust pieces right?

Talenti Dark Chocolate Gelato Pops and Talenti Banana Swirl Gelato Pops

[New for 2013, all pops discontinued]
With fond memories of the Talenti Vanilla Bean pop behind us, it's time to dig into the other two flavors they sent over. Now there are 8 flavors in all, but coffee does not interest me and junk food guy already reviewed coconut (thankfully), so that leaves five more flavors to choose from. Hmmmm, tough call, so I decided to pick one for my wife, and the other for you guys.

These are the new Talenti Banana Chocolate Swirl gelato pops. My wife was a big fan of Talenti's banana chocolate swirl gelato (my review), and banana flavors are pretty rare, so all three of these are for her (minus a small sampling for me anyway).

For you guys, I overlooked my beloved mint Talenti and went with the double dark chocolate pops. It's been three years since I first tried their double dark chocolate gelato, so it will be interesting to see if my tastes have matured since then.

Ciao Bella Triple Espresso Gelato Review

[By Nick, discontinued for the 2014 rebranding/reformulating] There’s just something about receiving a package of frozen goods in the mail. It never fails, it makes me want to wag my tail…(Please don’t sue me, Viacom) In all seriousness though, I really do get excited when I come home to a styrofoam container on my doorstep. Not only do I get a bunch of dry ice that I can use to turn my house into a foggy forest, but usually I get to try products that I wouldn’t have been able to try otherwise. See, living in the middle of nowhere means my selection of Ciao Bella flavors is nonexistent except for a couple of their sorbets. Thankfully the awesome folks over at Ciao Bella agreed to send me a few faux-pints (yes, they’re 14oz containers) of their gelato to try out. Seeing as I’m on a coffee kick and still raving about G.S. Gelato's Tiramisu, it was only natural that I tried out Ciao Bella Triple Espresso gelato first.

According to the container, this one is made from a blend of three different roasted Italian coffee beans (Hint: Triple Espresso) and rich cream. That’s pretty straight forward but they do go on to say that it “is sure to perk up your taste buds.” Let’s see if they can fulfill that promise.

Trying Skinny Cow Ice Cream Candy Bars for National Ice Cream Day

Ah, the 29th National Ice Cream Day is upon us! To be honest, I wasn't sure how to celebrate until I got an email from Nestle saying that they would like to sponsor a post today featuring some of their new 2013 products. I couldn't resist, so I looked over the list and picked out the new Skinny Cow ice cream candy bars to try.

So I've got high hopes for the Skinny Cow Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream Candy Bars – Vanilla low-fat ice cream topped with a layer of salty caramel and small pieces of pretzels all covered in a chocolatey coating. 5 in a box, 2.1 fluid ounces each.

And we've got the interesting Skinny Cow Cookies ‘n Dough Ice Cream Candy Bars – Vanilla low-fat ice cream topped with a cookie dough layer and crunchy cookie bites with a smooth chocolatey covering. [These were discontinued sometime before 2017]

Turkey Hill Raspberry Shortcake Ice Cream

[New for 2013] I've been doing my best to keep an eye out for the new Turkey Hill flavors, and what do I spy at Price Chopper but June's PA Dutch Pretzel (tried last year) and July's Raspberry Shortcake ice cream. I wanted the pretzel, but it's all about showing you guys the new stuff first.

Turkey Hill Raspberry Shortcake Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream with shortcake pieces and raspberry swirl

I like cake. I like raspberry. I like ice cream. Let's go!

TCBY Greek Frozen Yogurt Black Raspberry and Pomegranate Blueberry

[New for 2013, discontinued] When TCBY debuted their new frozen yogurt products last year, how long did you really think it would be before they debuted some kind of greek line up as well? Well, I've been walking by them on store shelves for a few months now, so let's take a peak at what I finally purchased.

I debated it for a few minutes, but in the end I decided to go with my beloved black raspberry and then chased that with blueberry & pomegranate (I know, you probably expected me to go strawberry).

Haagen-Dazs Salted Caramel Truffle Ice Cream

[By Nick, new for 2012, still L.E. for 2013 -- returning 2017 as Sea Salt Caramel Truffle]
I’m not sure how Dubba and I both didn’t end up reviewing Haagen-Dazs Salted Caramel Truffle last year during its original run as a limited edition flavor. We both enjoy Talenti’s Sea Salt Caramel so it’s a shock neither of us jumped to try this one. Whatever the case may be, Haagen-Dazs decided to bring it back for another year so let’s get right into this.

In describing Salted Caramel Truffle, Haagen-Dazs says they “blend smooth, sweet cream ice cream, ribbons of rich salted caramel, and decadent chocolaty truffles to create this indulgent delight.” Scratch that Talenti comparison I mentioned earlier, this one sounds more like my beloved Sea Salt Caramel from Homemade Brand. That flavor is easily in my Top 5 and I honestly can’t believe I didn’t try this one sooner.

Celebrate National Ice Cream Month with Dove Mint Chocolate Chunk, Vanilla Chocolate Chunk, and Unconditional Chocolate Ice Cream

So I got an email from Mars, the people that are running Dove ice cream, asking me if I would kindly remind everyone that July is National Ice Cream Month. Well, I do love free ice cream (and the excuse to tell people to eat ice cream), so I said yes!

Dove seem liked a major player in the premium market when the blog first started. During those early days I got use to always seeing that shelf of premium Dove ice creams as I worked my way down the freezer aisle... but times change, brands change, and the Dove we all know and love is now down to just three pint flavors!!

First up is Dove Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

"Rich Mint Ice Cream and Silky Smooth Chunks Made with DOVE Dark Chocolate"

Talenti Tahitian Vanilla Bean Gelato Pop

[New for 2013, discontinued product line] So Talenti, the biggest gelato maker in the country (and the number three premium brand), has decided to jump into the frozen treat market. Everyone else has done it, like say Ciao Bella, so why shouldn't they? It only seems fair that they bring their expertise to a lineup that includes *8* new flavors of gelato pops.

Now Talenti sent over three samples, but I gotta go with the Tahitian Vanilla Bean gelato pop first. It's their Tahitian vanilla bean gelato dipped in rich dark chocolate. Oh, you know I love dark chocolate, and check out how fancy this packaging is. That's a transparent white plastic window so you can see the three pops hiding inside.

McDonald's Cherry Berry Chiller

Woohoo! Monday Already! Sure Mondays are kind of terrible, but it also means a fresh episode of...

Episode 8 of The Nosh Show is now available! Head on over to The Nosh Show website to listen and this one as special as it's the first one to feature a special guest. We still do follow up, nosh or not, and our nosh of the week (mine here). Let us know what you think!

Edy's / Dreyer's Maxx Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough An Ice Cream Review

[By Nick, discontinued after 2013] Hey look, another Edy’s Maxx review but this time I didn’t pick this faux-pint up at a gas station! I was wandering through Rite Aid waiting to get my prescription filled (I hate getting sick) and noticed they had a freezer section. Obviously I had to check out the situation and saw this container staring back at me. Since I’ve yet to find this flavor elsewhere I decided to pick it up along with my prescription. Ice cream is medicine as well right?

This is Edy's Maxx Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough ice cream and I’m really getting sick of companies not putting descriptions on their containers. Is the base vanilla or some other flavor? Are the chips milk chocolate or dark? Or are they chunks? These are some serious questions that are left unanswered by the lack of a description. The Maxx line not having its own website doesn’t help things either. /Rant

Front Porch County Fair Fried Apple Pie Ice Cream

[New for 2013] Time to try another flavor from our free shipment of new Front Porch ice cream pints. Now Front Porch premium Carolina churned ice cream is new to to the market as of last year, but it's made by the fine folks of Mooresville Ice Cream who have been around since 1924.

This is Front Porch County Fair Fried Apple Pie ice cream. It's "spiced apple ice cream with an apple swirl and pieces of cinnamon sugar shortbread".  I always get excited when cinnamon is involved.

Friendly's Black Raspberry Ice Cream Bar

[New for 2013] East coast purveyor of main stream ice cream, Friendly's, decided to jump into the ice cream treat market this year. They've been going through a massive restructuring with their restaurants so maybe this is somehow an offshoot of their efforts to get back in touch with the people. Now I do apologize for not getting these on sooner, but today I finally decided to give in to the 2 for $5 sale.

Now they've got a whole line up of treats, but to me, nothing is more uniquely Friendly's then these new Signature Black Raspberry ice cream bars. When I was a kid and I got a cone from Friendly's, it was either black raspberry or rocky road. Both were excellent, and when I went off to college I would often split a half gallon of black raspberry with my wife. To be honest, I haven't come across a better black raspberry flavor than Friendly's.

Free Small Slurpee on 7/11 I try the Strawberry Lemonshade Slurpee

Happy 7-Eleven Day everyone! From 11am to 7pm on 7/11 at 7/11, you can get yourself a free SMALL slurpee. That's right, no more tiny 7.11 oz slurpees, no no no, it's 12 oz of frozen slushiness. I've gotten my free slurpee several years in a row now and it's always been a low key affair....

Holy freholy was 7/11 busy, I saw at least three sets of teens driving in to score free slurpees as well as a few other folks. There was one particular set of... "hyper individuals" who may or may not have hit my car with their truck door, sat at a green light and laughed while people honked at them, and then ripped down the street only to wind up flying through some other lights across town and then trespassing down a highway department road several minutes later. This was just one example of several horrendous drivers I saw in the span of 15 minutes. Is it a full blue harvest super moon today or something? Oy.

Anyway, here's my Strawberry Lemonshade Slurpee, and to be honest, it's not that bad. The last several slurpees kind of had this funky generic all taste the same vibe going on, but this one is different. The "strawberry" provides a sweet base while the "lemonshade" provides a big kick and it worked for me. There no strawberry or lemonade bits, but for a slurpee, it was fun. I finally felt like I was having something unique, not just another hodgepodge of artificial flavorings.

One last word of warning: 
You might want to rinse the red food coloring out of your mouth before returning to work.

Verdict?  Strong!
Buy Again?  Yeah

Jeni's Dark Chocolate Ice Cream courtesy of Healthy Living Market

[By Nick] Not too long ago, I was invited to take a tour of a new grocery store that recently opened in Wilton. Being that I’m a sucker for all things new, I accepted the offer.

Now this isn’t your average grocery store, this is Healthy Living Market and Café and just the second store of its kind with the original being in Vermont. They’re an organic/all natural store that really takes pride in what they do and what they offer. From their in-house butcher shop, where no part of the animal goes to waste, to their excellent bakery, in which I got a few tasty samples to take home with me, everything they do is with the utmost care and precision.

Haagen-Dazs Stracciatella Gelato

[New for 2013, discontinued before 2016]
Alright, it's been awhile since we've tried another of the new Haagen-Daz Gelato flavors. I think the next one that has my eye (and discounted price tag is)....

Haagen-Dazs Stracciatella Gelato
chocolaty shavings folded into sweet cream gelato

Sonic Summer of Shakes

Hello! Did everyone enjoy the long weekend? We certainly made the (tiring) most of it and decided to wrap it up with a trip to Sonic. As you may know, we hit up Sonic about once a year to check on what's new. We don't usually go to Sonic because it's an hour-plus drive, but Sonic has had a habit of sending over free gift cards to sponsor the visits. Oh well, I still have a few cards left, so let's see what this trip has in store.

Ok, let me get you salivating with this first shot before I start raining on the parade a bit. Now every time we've gone to Sonic, it's either been when it's cold or late, so I've never truly experienced a packed Sonic. Like "we got the last parking space" packed. What should have been a quick visit turned into a 2 hour detour on our ride home. Part of this was my fault and traffic's fault, but most of it was just super slow service.

Make Yourself a Breakfast Sundae

One of the toughest things about blogging is writing an introduction in your head... only to forget it by the time you get to the keyboard. Oh ever-interrupting world, will you ever slow down so that, you know, I can make myself a sundae? Hehehehehe. One of the things we just don't talk about enough is my (semi)secret passion for making beautiful desserts. Now I didn't say I was good at it, I'm just saying I like to try.

There's just something magical about food that looks as good as it tastes. 

Blue Bunny Ice Cream Sandwiches Simply Vanilla and Chocolate Lovers

[By Nick, updated for 2013] Ah, the ice cream sandwich. Is there a more classic novelty? How do you improve upon a classic you ask? Add more ice cream of course! Well at least that's what the folks over at Blue Bunny believe. Now Blue Bunny is certainly not the first company to embrace such an idea. Fat Boy has been doing it for years and more recently Klondike jumped on the bandwagon with their thick vanilla and chocolate ice cream sandwiches. Now if you recall I picked on Klondike's sandwiches last year because I didn't see the purpose of releasing a so-so product in an already saturated market. I can't do the same to Blue Bunny though. See, they reformulated their already existing ice cream sandwiches instead of just randomly releasing a "new" product on the market. Now Wells sent me over two boxes of these upgraded sandwiches to review;simply vanilla and chocolate lovers. Seeing as I like to start "simple", let's start with the former first.

Described as “Velvety vanilla ice cream layered between two classic chocolate wafers” these are the quintessential ice cream sandwiches we’ve all grown up on -- don't forget 100 years, 100 wishes is still going strong!

Ben & Jerry's Cotton Candy Ice Cream vs.Friendly's Rockin' Poppin' Cotton Candy Ice Cream

[Both New for 2013, B&J in scoop shops for early 2014, pints later. Both still around for 2015, Friendly's returned for 2016] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a very special festive edition of Friday Night Fights! Nothing screams summer like cotton candy, or better yet, children screaming FOR cotton candy, hehehe. To   meet the pent up demand of young ones everyone, both companies have released a special treat for us.

Introductions:

In this corner, we've got a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cotton Candy Ice Cream, a Walmart exclusive. I mean, it was a fight just to find this one. It's cotton candy ice cream loaded with candy sprinkles. I may be an adult, but I'll always be a sucker for sprinkles.

In the other corner is a 48oz container of Friendly's Rockin' Poppin' Cotton Candy Ice Cream, an East coast limited edition exclusive... yeah, that sounds good. It's cotton candy flavored ice cream as well, but now we've got "poppin' candy" (also known as generic pop rocks).

Happy 4th of July!

Don't worry, only a box of splenda infused Bomb Pops was harmed in the making of this photo.

Dairy Queen Lemon Meringue Pie Blizzard The July 2013 DQ Blizzard of the Month

[New for 2013] A new month means a "new" blizzard of the month, though keep in mind you can still get yourself the excellent S'mores blizzard (review). Now if you are like me, you might be going "wait, what, a lemon flavored blizzard?". I don't remember there being a lemon blizzard before, but at the same time, they have so many others, maybe I just ignored it.... wait, how long until we see a key lime pie blizzard??

Ok, as always, here's the official shot of the new Lemon Meringue Pie Blizzard. It's Lemon Meringue Pie filling, crunchy pie pieces and whipped topping in creamy vanilla soft serve. Now I would normally hesitate on something like this, but having recently finished the most excellent New Orleans Ice Cream Company's Lemon Doberge Cake flavor (review), I can't help but be excited for this one. Strawberry blizzards are awesome, so I hope that fruity magic happens here too.

Turkey Hill All Natural Salted Caramel Ice Cream

[New for 2013] So Turkey Hill has the rebranding of their All Natural line going strong (formally "Philadelphia Style") and one of the newest full time members of the group is Salted Caramel. Now this isn't to be confused with Turkey Hill's Salty Caramel which is one of their limited edition flavors (but is not all natural).

So here is Turkey Hill Salted Caramel all natural ice cream. Just cream, milk, sugar, salted caramel and vanilla proclaims the container. (ok, technically the salted caramel has several ingredients itself, but whatever).

Nosh or Not? Ben & Jerry's Cotton Candy Ice Cream

Good morning everybody! It's that time to announce the latest episode of the Nosh Show starring myself, Eric from junkfoodguy.com, Marvo from theimpulsivebuy.com, and Ryan from grubgrade.com. Now as a warning, I may or may not ramble inexplicably several times during the episode, but let's hit a few visual highlights here.

My favorite Nosh or Not of the episode has to be the new Ben & Jerry's Cotton Candy Ice Cream. It's Cotton Candy Ice Cream loaded with Candy Sprinkles. Now my daughter has ordered cotton candy ice cream from several scoop shops and it's always the same brightly colored, over sugared, kid focused treat you find at every other place. I'm thinking (hoping) that Ben & Jerry's is going to attack it from a bit more adult perspective while still trying to retain that whimsical silliness that appeals to our inner child. Or maybe I just think it's funny that a cow is holding cotton candy. Will you grab a pint when it comes exclusively to your local Walmart? I did finally, see my review here.