Dairy Queen S'mores Royal Shake

[New for 2014] I know I should be use to it by now, but I just can't get in the habit of remembering that DQ  keeps turning their Blizzard of the Month into a Royal shake as well. I'm not knocking it in anyway, I think it's ingenious really, I'm just not use to it yet. Sometimes you want a blizzard but you just don't have 10-15 minutes to stop and eat one. Let's check out the shake version of the most excellent S'mores blizzard.

DQ S'mores Royal Shake

(did they use chocolate softserve in the advertised version?)

Gifford's Golden Road Butter Brickle Ice Cream

So after my run in with their toffee flavor, the fine folks over at Gifford's contacted me about my experience. It was just a quick, honest conversation from people who care about their customers, not just their image. I appreciate that... and the pair of coupons they sent over. Most people I meet in the industry are nice like that, it's one of the things I love about running this blog. Ok, enough of that, I think it's time to check out another flavor from Gifford's.

Gifford's Golden Road Butter Brickle Ice Cream

"Let your tongue follow the buttery ice cream
to crunchy sweet pieces of grandma’s peanut brittle"

Edy's / Dreyer's Summer in the City Cheesecake Grand and Slow Churned Ice Creams

[New for May-Aug 2014, back for summer 2015 & 2016] After six years of reviewing ice cream, sometimes I start to question if I've kind of become numb to the whole process, or more specifically, has my sense of this and that improved as much as I like to think it has..... so I decided to put myself to the test and buy both the grand version and slow churned version of this limited edition flavor. That's right, two flavors in one review. It's time for a Friday Night Fight!

Edy's / Dreyer's Summer in the City Cheesecake Ice Cream

Vanilla (light) ice cream with a graham cracker swirl and cheesecake pieces

Gelato Fiasco Cookie Therapy Gelato

[By Nick] To say I've been jealous of Dubba and his shipment from Gelato Fiasco would be an understatement, especially given the fact he offered to have them send me the shipment but I felt like I had already had the majority of samples sent to me this year. So when I saw that the new Fresh Market in Saratoga carried GF, I might have done a heel click right then and there. Since Dubba has covered a majority of the flavors they stocked, I decided to grab a couple he hasn't reviewed and one that he had but sounded too good to pass up.

Gelato Fiasco Cookie Therapy Gelato

Friendly's Chocolate 'N Vanilla Ice Cream Bar

[2018 Update] Friendly's has retooled a couple of their bars, maybe it's a side effect from being purchased by Dean Foods. Basically their side by side bars are no more. In the case of this bar, the two ice creams are now swirled together. I guess we won't being eating one flavor and then the other anymore. Original review is after the break.

Friendly's Chocolate 'N Vanilla Ice Cream Bar

Chocolate and Vanilla flavored Ice Cream covered in Chocolate Flavored Coating

Whole Foods Butter Pecan Ice Cream

[By Nick] Last Monday I had the pleasure to tour the new Whole Foods Market in Colonie, NY a couple of days before it's official opening. Seeing as this is the first Whole Foods in the Capital Region and I've yet to go to one, let's just say I was very excited when I got the invite.

Dubba has been teasing me with stuff he gets from there for a while so now I can finally get my hands on some of the products. To be honest, I knew very little about Whole Foods going into this tour. I knew it was a higher end grocery store chain that focused on natural/local stuff and the like. While I'm sure a lot of you know a good amount about Whole Foods already, I’d just like to share a few bits of info that I found fascinating/interesting/funny.

Podcast Doubleheader with Nerd Lunch

Good morning ladies and gentlemen! How are you doing on this beautiful Monday morning? Last week the Nosh Show was joined by our Nerd Lunch buds CT, Jeeg, and Pax and we recorded not one, but two podcasts! The biggest question today is: which do you listen to first??

Click to discover my fantasy fast food meal line up

(all images courtesy of their fast food ownership)

Divino Gelato Dessert : Made in Italy

[New to the US in 2014] Out of the blue, Divino Dessert contacted me about trying their very unique product line. It's fresh fruit picked from the Amalfi coast of Italy, cored, and then transformed in to gelato and sorbet and placed back in to the fruit shell. While you guys know I'm not the biggest fruit addict on the planet, I was absolutely mesmerized by the idea and visuals of this product.

This stuff even has an awesome backstory as this dessert was created over 80 years ago in Italy. This treat is well known in Europe and now it's time for it to hit the states.

Steve's Southern Banana Pudding Ice Cream #37

[By Nick] Time to take a look at the last flavor from my free shipment of Steve's ice cream.

Steve's Southern Banana Pudding Ice Cream #37

Banana Ice Cream Swirled with Banana Pudding and Vanilla Wafer Crust Crumble

Tall, Dark & Delicious Ice Cream Cake from Cold Stone Creamery

[bought during limited May 28, 2014 to June 15, 2014 run]
Yeah, you read that right, I'm reviewing a product that was only available for two weeks.... how silly is that? It's such a shame for a well flavored cake.

Cold Stone Creamery Tall, Dark & Delicious Ice Cream Cake

Layers of moist Devil's Food Cake, 

Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Brownies & Chocolate Ice Cream with OREO® cookies 

wrapped in fluffy White Frosting and cascading Fudge Ganache

Sea Salt Caramel Toffee Crunch Ice Cream

[new for 2014] Ok, I teased during the lava cake ice cream review that there was another flavor that caught my eye at Stop & Shop (Giant for some of you). Well, I was hungry and it was on sale again, so here goes nothing.

Sea Salt Caramel Toffee Crunch Ice Cream

Caramel Super Premium ice cream with sea salt caramel swirl

and chocolate covered toffee crunch

Turkey Hill Butter Brickle Ice Cream

[By Nick] Thank you to everyone who entered my Turkey Hill All Natural ice cream and Peanut Butter & CO. giveaway! Without a further ado, the winners of contest #1 are *insert drumroll* Ryan and Michael!

Turkey Hill Butter Brickle Ice Cream

toffee flavored ice cream with buttered toffee candy pieces

If you didn't win, don't worry because I have another contest for you guys. But first, let's take a look at Turkey Hill's latest limited edition flavor that's new for June/July of 2014.

Front Porch Charleston Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream

[New for 2014] Front Porch ice cream, the premium brand of Mooresville ice cream, is back with two new flavors this year. I got to sample all four of their new 2013 flavors last year and I was impressed. It's a quality product that has nice flavor profiles. The only real sticking point I had was that the mix-in level seemed a bit low for an otherwise enjoyable product. So, I asked if they could send samples of the new stuff [If you are in the southeast, and specifically the Carolinas, you should be seeing these pop up on shelves].

Front Porch Charleston Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream

Caramel Ice Cream with Crisp Vanilla Wafers and Sea Salt Caramel Swirl

Adirondack Creamery Caramel Apple Ice Cream

[By Nick] In my last review, I mentioned I can't stand applesauce (Dubba's Note: HEATHEN!). However, I absolutely love a fresh, crisp apple. Living in Upstate, NY, nothing quite says fall like a freshly picked apple from a local orchard. Apples are basically what pumpkin spice is to the rest of the world around this time. Apple cider donuts are easily one of my favorite treats around this time but if anything tops those, it has to be a caramel apple. Sure you can get them at most fairs during the summer but the ones I can get locally in the fall are far superior.

So why did I give you this back story? Well, I've been meaning to try Adirondack Creamery for a while now and knew they came out with a Caramel Apple flavor last year that is exclusive to the NY Metropolitan at the Whole Foods in Brooklyn as well as Adams Fairacre Farms in the Mid-Hudson Valley. I live nowhere close to either of those places so when I spotted this flavor at the Niskayuna Co-op I jumped right on it. I have no idea how they got their hands on it but I'm not complaining.

Quick Sip: 7-Eleven Sprite 6 Mix Slurpee

[New for 2014] I've got a leg cramp that won't go away, it's not too sunny, and there's a refreshing breeze.... sounds like a good day to walk to 7-11 right?

7-11 Sprite 6 Mix Slurpee by Lebron James

"The refreshing taste of Sprite with natural cherry and orange flavors"

Gifford's Mount Katahdin Crunch Ice Cream

Searching for a nice low sodium lunch, I found myself staring at Gifford's ice cream on sale for $2.99 a quart. Usually there is more to pick from, and I really had my heart set on finding their peanut butter ice cream today, but Roche Bros has given up two of Gifford's shelves to make room for Yuengling ice cream. Hmmm, alright then, let's try this flavor instead.

Gifford's Mount Katahdin Crunch Ice Cream

"The view from the summit of your bowl of toffee ice cream

includes a landslide of chocolate coated English toffee rubble"

Ciao Bella Pear Hibiscus Sorbetto

[By Nick, New for 2014] ‎If you haven't noticed, Ciao Bella has recently gone through quite the re-imaging process. They've put more focus into their product line and took the steps to improve the quality of ingredients they source for their gelato and sorbetto. They even changed their packaging to clear, reusable twist top containers like Talenti has. Even their website is updated. When I went to ask my contact about the changes, I found out she was also replaced as well. After a nice talk with the new representative, she offered to send me over some of their new line up to review.

Ciao Bella Pear Hibiscus Sorbetto
"Smooth Bartlett pear swirled with the sweet tartness of exotic red hibiscus sorbetto"

Quick Review: Friendly's Watermelon Fruit Bar

[New for 2014] Along with deluge of chocolate covered treats that they've added to the freezer aisle, Friendly's also added a fruit (ice) bar to their treat mix this year. Rather than go with a typical flavor like strawberry or some citrus flavor, they went a bit obscure.

Friendly's Watermelon Fruit Bar

Phin & Phebes Peanutty Pretzel Ice Cream

[By Nick] If you recall, The Fresh Market sent me home with a few pints after my tour last month. I've already covered their gelato I grabbed so that leaves me with some Gelato Fiasco that Dubba has yet to cover and a pint of Phin & Phebes. Seeing as P&P have yet to make an appearance on the site, let's give them their moment in the spotlight.

Phin & Phebes Peanutty Pretzel Ice Cream

Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bits

Richie's Super Premium Italian Ice

I know these aren't new, but I want to mention these 10 ounce cups because they've been popping up all over the place at a buck a pop. [Until now, I've only seen them at outdoor festivals for 2, 3 even 4 bucks a pop].

Ritchie's Super Premium Italian Ice
Strawberry, Cherry, and Blue Raspberry

No fat, no protein, no salt, just sugar sugar sugar

Blue Bunny Coco Mango Ice Cream

[By Nick, New for 2014, renamed Coco Mango in 2016] Ahhh, mango and coconut. Those are two words that could make a grown man... I mean Dubba... tremble with fear. It's no wonder why I was sent the free sample of this is new flavor from Blue Bunny. I love mango and have had great success with it on the blog. As for coconut, we're still in a like-hate relationship. Thankfully Wells sent me this flavor in pint form. After my disaster with Turkey Hill's Coconut Cream Pie, I'm not sure I'd know who to pawn this one off on if the same result was to happen.

Blue Bunny Coconut Mango Swirl Ice Cream

Coconut Ice Cream Swirled with Mango Sorbet

Market Pantry Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Since Target is pretty inexpensive (and considering how much ice cream we go through), when I picked up the Cake & Sprinkles for my daughter, I picked out this flavor for my wife.

Target Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Cheesecake Ice Cream with Strawberries, Graham Crunch & a Strawberry Swirl

Quick Review: Burger King Orange Freeze

[New for 2014] It was day #2 without leftovers so that meant finding lunch again. I walked to Dunkin yesterday, and it's a gorgeous day again today so I should walk again, but I need to spice my lunch up today.

Small BK Orange Freeze 

and the Extra Long BBQ Cheeseburger