Tuesday, May 8, 2018

State of the Freezer Address
The First Decade Edition


That's right folks, it's the 10th anniversary of my very first blog post. Ten years! That's nuts.... no, apparently I'm nuts for hanging around this long. I don't think I planned on still being here ten years later... in part because I thought I'd be some famous flavor guru consultant by now. As you can tell, I am not, but we all need to have dreams. That was mine. It's long gone now. Wow, that went downhill fast. I just mean that I've accepted my fate that while I may be the world's longest running ice cream archiver, there won't be any fame or fortune going with it. I wouldn't know how to handle fame anyway, though I guess I did work up the courage to be on an awesome podcast for four and a half years, so that's gotta be something for someone with social anxiety right? Ok, enough of this, on to the positives, but first, a little freezer talk.


This is the boring upstairs freezer. Not super boring mind you, but this houses our regular ice creams and whatever is currently being reviewed on the blog like chocolate churro (bleck) and some new gelato fiasco. The Trio and Blue Bunny mini swirls will be up next probably. This picture is accurate except for the Friendly's ice cream cake ice cream that my daughter brought up from the basement freezer afterwards (yup, it's back for another year)

And now happy stuff: so what have I accomplished in ten years? Well, blogging says I'm approaching ten million page views, that's something right? Ofcourse, I think that factors in web browsers pre-fetching webpages. Google Analytics has the blog pegged at just 5.1 million actual page views. The top review of that time? Possibly my favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor, the mighty Milk & Cookies with 24,000 page views. That's not the coolest part about that though. I've met John the flavor guru who created M&C and he told me that he had read the review. I was honored to say the least. He's pretty great and meeting him and the rest of the Ben & Jerry's crew was definitely one of the high points of this blog in the last ten years.

You might remember that one of my main goals for starting this blog (besides eating more ice cream) was to become a better writer. As you may have noticed, that never happened. You might even argue that I've gotten worse. I meant well, I swear. What has improved are my pictures skills. Just look at my instagram account or my old breakfast sundaes tumblr project and I like to think I can take a decently appetizing photo. Not every shot is a winner mind you because I can get impatient (or nervous), but yeah, I love taking pictures. No urge to be in front of the camera, but you'd probably be surprised about how much time I spend thinking about how wonderous something looks. Uggg, I'm getting tired and losing my ability to make points. I guess I should apologize that a lot of the photos on the blog have been a bit off recently. While cell phone cameras have gotten so much better over the years, they can't completely take the place of  my primary camera whose lens died awhile ago. I did pick up a cheap telephoto lens to verify that the camera still works (and can still be fun from a distance aka outside basically), but it has limited abilities in the world of ice cream pictures. If anyone wants to sponsor a new E-PL9 for the blog, let me know (sorry, couldn't resist, and like I said earlier, everyone needs dreams).

We should probably dive in to the basement freezer where all the good stuff is right? The problem is that it's chock full of stuff and I am feeling lazy (it's now 10pm). Oh, that's another thing to point out, or maybe, something I don't want to point out. Who knows how many countless hours I've spent cataloging the freezer aisle. It's a fun hobby that not a whole lot of people understand (present company excluded ofcourse). I can't believe I've written 1454 reviews. If you did one review a day, it would take you four years to hit that number. Wait, does that make my ten years seem less impressive? hehehehe. Ok, hold on, let me spend a few minutes getting the basement freezer ready. I do need to sleep at some point (I am a decade older than when I started).

Ok, that didn't actually take as long as expected, probably in part because it's more Eggo boxes and frozen corn than I expected. You'll hear about it in the next review, but Blue Bunny likes me again! (those are all free samples you see). I've also got a new banana based ice cream for my son to try as well as the return of Steve's ice cream (Dean Foods rescued them last summer). Actually this picture technically makes me feel bad because I still havent reviewed the mini a la mode cups they sent over to sample awhile ago (my apologies to them).

To recap, I still love ice cream, I love taking pictures, and I am very grateful for all of you for hanging out here at the blog. I know the way people interface with the internet (and each other) is always changing, but I will do my best to keep this giant archive going. Be well and I'll see you later!


P.S. I forgot to add a thanks to all the companies that have sent samples over the last year. Perry's and Gelato Fiasco continue to be good to the blog. I'm happy that Blue Bunny is back to sending stuff. I actually got Haagen-Dazs samples for the first time which was cool. Who else? Cool Haus, Isaly's and Revele all hooked me up with samples. A La Mode sent a ton of stuff after I bought a store damaged box of their bars. I also got a stack of coupons for Solero and Slim Twin (which I might giveaway) as well as a pair of coupons from Graeters. There were a couple other companies offering stuff like Breyers Delights (I politely declined due to my troubles with sugar replacements). I'm not bragging here, just very glad that some companies see the value of keeping this blog in the loop. --- Disclaimer: Nick got a big box of High Road Creamery stuff but I can't guarantee any timely reviews on it.

22 comments:

  1. Congrats on 10 years, Dubba!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations Dubba! 10 years is an awesome run. Your blog has done a great job of documenting ice cream trends over the past decade. I wonder how much ice cream you've consumed. I'll continue to read your reviews for as long as you post them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congradulations, Bro!


    Btw, this is probably a dumb question (since I recall that your synopsis on the entire line can be summed up with "It's All Nasty")

    But do you think you can review the Breyer's "Brownie Batter Swirl" gelato..

    I normally don't buy Breyer's anything ever but the flavor looked and sounded too appetising to pass up so I bought it.

    I'm still working through my pints of "Gimme S'more" so I probably won't actually try it until next month.

    I got it at Wal-Mart so it didn't cost a lot.

    Also let your daughter know that Edy's has a limited edition Birthday Cake flavor too (something I'm also considering buying)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm jealous you found that Edy's core flavor -- I'm searched EVERYWHERE! I can find the other three but not that one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @sophia: thanks!

    @nocode: A LOT

    @anon: I keep trying to convince myself to grab it but I just can't! Also, the birthday cake flavor has been around for ages, they just keep changing the name on it http://www.onsecondscoop.com/2013/06/quick-scoop-edys-take-cake.html

    @Erin: keep searching, it's hiding somewhere!

    @Sascha: the more s'mores flavors the better

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy 10 years Dubba! I've been with you from the beginning, keep up the good work ��

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy 10th birthday! Thanks for being such a really bright spot on an otherwise depressing internet. I think you'd make a stupendous flavor guru.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Faithful reader for 9 years. Love this blog and I love icecream!

    ReplyDelete
  9. @D&J: I should have done a survey to see how many people are left from the early years :)

    @Nick: Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. CONGRATS! I wonder which ice cream was the worst one over the decade?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have been reading since the early days (not the very beginning but I have gone back and read them all). I'm guessing your daughter must be a teenager now...any chance she'd write a few reviews??

    Also curious as to whether your preferences have changed over time? A broad question of course, but is there anything you used to love (flavorwise) and now refuse and vice versa?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congrats on ten years! I don't always respond to your posts, but I can tell you that I check your blog daily without failure! It's always a better day when I see a new posting. You have definitely been a source of fun for many loyal followers over the years. I wish you ten more wonderful years! I'm definitely looking forward to the new header as well.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @Aleksandr: I'd rather not think about it :)

    @Deb: hahaha, indeed she is! we joke about her writing reviews on occasion but she's more about consuming ice cream than ranting about it. As for me, I don't think that I have grown tired of any particular flavors, in fact I love many more than I used to. The big thing I get tired of is bad texture. No excuse for bad texture (cough)frozendairydessert(cough)

    @Anne: another ten years? Iunno, but I can try!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I spy Steve's Ice Cream Blackberry Crumble in there - Any plans to update the reviews for the other Steve's pints that have been covered? I picked up Salty Caramel and Southern Banana Pudding last month at Wegmans (despite the average reviews) and loved them both. I wouldn't finish the Banana Pudding until I had a backup pint in the freezer!
    (I learned to always have a backup after getting burned with how often the Butterbeer/Cookies & Cream Yuengling flavors went out of stock!)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree on the frozen dairy dessert. Although I like soft ice cream at times (so it isn't the texture that bothers me), it always tastes waaaaaay too sweet and artificial (edys, I'm looking at you!)

    I was not sure where to put this, so here seemed like a decent place...has anyone tried Shaw's organic ice cream? I tried the mint, thinking it would be delicious (I love mint chocolate chip, the calories were in the high-ish range, and it's organic and actually ice cream (vs fdd) but I was so disappointed. I barely tasted any mint, it was not too rich, and the chips were minimal and tasted cheap. Glad I tried to quell my curiosity but not a fan

    Just me??

    ReplyDelete
  16. Where did you find the steve's ice cream? I've been dying for some Southern Banana Cream pie or whatever it was called

    ReplyDelete
  17. @MM & Anon: I have two Steve's pints in the freezer with a review going up in the next week or so hopefully!! Found them at Price Chopper but I also saw them at {store I cant remember}

    @Deb: are you talking about Open Nature? (or is it something else now, I forget offhand)
    http://www.onsecondscoop.com/2015/07/open-nature-white-chocolate-raspberry.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. Nope! Shaw's organic. I think it's new. Only three flavors (mint, moose tracks and maybe Oreo?) I'd ask you to try it to get another opinion but I don't recommend it! So I won't ask. But if anyone has already tried it, I'm interested if others had the same (negative) impression.

    ReplyDelete
  19. @Deb: I saw "Signature Reserve" and "Scandal-less" when I was there over a month ago, I'll have to head back and see what's up. If I get tempted to try it, I'll make sure to wait for it to be on sale!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Not sure where to put this either so this post is the "catch all" for Deb's questions...I saw a friendly's flavor I had never seen before today...vanilla pineapple. Is that brand new? Sounds terrible to me but I'm curious about all ice cream I see, so wondering if anyone has tried it? I vaguely recall a flavor from many years ago that I *think* was half banana with fudge swirl and half chocolate with pineapple and the pineapple was NOT a good addition.

    ReplyDelete
  21. It's definitely not new-new. I'm not positive of the exact first time I saw it (though I'm pretty sure I took a picture when I did)

    ReplyDelete

*** All comments are moderated ***
Expect a delay before they are posted