State of the Freezer Address - 17th Anniversary Edition

How in the world am I still hanging around the internet blogosphere after all these years? OCD? Not knowing when to let things go? Nerdy love of cataloging things? All of the above?!

The current state of the freezers is: upstairs boring, downstairs chaotic/full. Despite my best efforts, I continue to buy more ice cream than I can consume (at my age anyway). I think I still love ice cream, and I was excited at how the year started, but I'm losing momentum again already.

The upstairs freezer (aka the fridge in the kitchen, circa May 2025)

Ice Cream for Breakfast

You know what? I miss touting ice cream for breakfast, and since it's National Ice Cream Day, why not show you my breakfast from The Broadway Restaurant in Worcester, MA. 

We've been trying to get to a place that had some kind of ice cream offering for breakfast, and on a day full of errands and appointments, we finally managed to stop at a place that served waffles with their homemade ice cream. It wasn't amazing, but it was good (my biggest complaint is that it was a little icy). You know what I was thinking though right? Yeah, this needs some crushed cereal on top to add both crunch and a #funfactor.

If you're doing something today to celebrate this food holiday that's an actual official documented national holiday, leave your story in the comments!

State of the Freezer Address - 16 Years!

It's hard to believe, but the blog is now old enough to apply for a learner's permit! Alright, let's talk about what's in the freezers and then we'll go from there.

State of the Freezer Address - 15th Anniversary Edition

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posting. I've been holding off on posting until I do an anniversary post, but then I've just been so extremely tired since the anniversary (the 8th) that I have not posted. Oh well! Let's see if we can get back in to the swing of things.

The state of the freezers? Well, when it comes to the basement freezer, it was out with the old and in with the new two weeks ago. Three bags worth went out on trash day. Yes I hate wasting, but I also hate staring at things that I know I will never eat. I had a smattering of really old stuff including Klondike Donuts (circa 2020) and three old pints of magnum (circa 2019). Those Magnum pints never got reviewed which is a shame, but at least I have the containers.

It was just a random mix of stuff that got tossed. For example, there was also a pint Haagen-Dazs Rum Tres Leches. I never like alcohol flavors, but it was cheap and I wanted to add the lid to my collection. It was passed the best buy date, and I only took a tiny taste, but I still found the flavoring strong and very much not my style. 

The upstairs freezer is decent and may or may not surprise you. I think I'm finally getting in to Tillamook after discovering their white chocolate raspberry flavor (reviews to come). I wound up buying several containers of Graham Slam despite it being a frozen dairy dessert, plus I keep Turkey Hill all natural vanilla handy for making shakes. 

Wait, have I complained about all natural Turkey Hill retreating from the freezer aisle yet? Most stores around me carry just a few of their all natural flavors now, and those flavors tend to revolve around vanilla. Man, I hope they don't disappear completely (though it's part of the reason that I am digging in to Tillamook).

Lastly we have a bit of Talenti. The dairy-free dark chocolate actually belongs to my son. I also bought him a pint of coconut milk vanilla yesterday which I then forgot to put in the freezer.... so yeah, I'm still pretty tired.

So why did I clean the basement freezer? Yes it was due, but more importantly, a case of Cold Case ice cream samples arrived and then a week later, a case of Jeni's samples arrived. I know that some people think that it's really easy to get free samples, but the reality is that it is not, so to get back to back offers of some top notch ice cream? Yeah, that was a pretty cool way to ring in the blog's 15th birthday. Those reviews should be coming up soon, but go follow me on instagram if you don't want to wait. 

That's all I got for now. I'll try to get the first two cold case reviews posted by tomorrow.

State of the Freezers Address The leaky 14th anniversary edition

 Man, I should have wrote this last week on the official anniversary date because it was cooler and less humid.... and also Mother's day, so that kind of took precedence.

State of the upstairs freezer: leaky! ok, not so much leaky as overflowing. The drain line apparently froze over and there was a frozen puddle in the freezer yesterday. I've never had this happen before. After yesterday's mid-day ice cleanup, I opened the freezer around 8pm to find a fresh new puddle (still liquid). I soaked that up. I'll probably have to pop off the back cover of the freezer at some point and try to clear the line. Fun times!

Thoughts on the 2010-2019 era of ice cream

Hey everyone, how are you doing? Are you glad to see the 2010s come to a conclusion? I'm going to say yes because for me personally, 2019 has kind of sucked in a lot of ways. I'm not trying to be a downer, it's just that some years are good and some are bad and I'm really hoping the 2020s will be a step up (despite having to figure out how to put my kids through college).

So what should we cover? I think in general these kinds of posts cover the random highlights of the last ten years. I'm not a huge fan of these posts because they tend to have a lot of filler, but let's see what my take can deliver.

The negative side of me wants to say that mainstream ice cream is dying a slow death. Name me one mainstream brand that hasn't significantly lowered quality in the last ten years. Edy's was already on the slide, but add in Breyers, Blue Bunny and Friendlys to the mix of brands I rarely eat anymore. Their fun sounding flavor is useless to me if it cant deliver a true ice cream experience (aka nice and cold but also not gummy). I do still stock the freezer with Blue Bunny's cherry flavor and Turkey Hill's cookie dough flavor for my wife, but neither are as good as they were ten years ago.

I know I'm a broken record on this, but the closest I can get to old school mainstream ice cream is Turkey Hill's all natural line up. Earlier this year TH said 2020 would have new all natural flavors and I hope they stick to that because while I do still enjoy it, it can be a bit boring. (their 2020 limited edition calendar is all frozen dairy dessert)

Fun can still be had in the mainstream category. Perry's density & texture did fall a few years ago, but they still have a lot of fun with flavors (they don't skip on flavor and mix-ins like Tillamook does). I've also had some luck with Target's Market Pantry brand. It's not old school, but it can be fun. (anyone want to chime in on how Blue Bell, Homemade or Pierre's is holding up?)

Now don't go thinking that this phenomenon only happens to main stream ice cream. Our beloved Graeter's ice cream? Yeah, they don't pack the density and calories they used to. Yes, it's still good, but it's not that mind blowing type density and flavor that it was. Ben & Jerry's doesn't pack the same calories either, but because they started high, it's not as noticeable that they came down a bit. I still enjoy Talenti but you can tell that they've trimmed costs by trimming flavors and mix-ins.

No one is immune to cost cutting, not even treats. Drumstick is still fun, but it's not 2009 fun. Magnum shrunk their bars from 3.38 fl oz to 3.04 a few years back. I don't even bother with Klondike anymore. Too many treats use frozen dairy dessert nowadays. Sure, there are good treats to be had out there, but a lot of them aren't cheap. I just wish there was a happy middle ground (especially since sometimes those super expensive treats are freezerburned because no one else wants to pay the high price).

Ok, the negative side is pretty negative. The positive side is that in some ways, we have a lot more choices now. The downside is that the greater selection often comes at the cost of there not being room for your favorites. There used to be a 3 to 2 to 1 ratio of Ben & Jerry's to Haagen-Dazs to Talenti, but recently the ratio has come down to 1 to 1 to 1 as more stores make room for the latest freezer aisle trends. We've had debates about this before (often with people mad at me for saying their "favorite" light alternate is doomed) but the truth is that their will always be some kind of alternative ice cream, they tend to just not last that long.

The 2010s saw both the rise and fall of greek frozen yogurt. Yes, technically you can still find an option or two, but remember how it was the next big thing when even Ben & Jerry's jumped in on it? Right now we have the sugar replacement trend which I claim is dying (if you don't believe me, that's fine, I'll wait here).

I feel like I don't hear much from the old school "healthy" players anymore either. Healthy choice ice cream is gone, and weight watchers seems pretty quiet (though they did update their packaging). Skinny cow is also around but I feel like I see them a lot less. Companies are looking for that next big thing, somewhere to get a foot in for "big growth" but the healthy alternative is really just the most volatile part of the freezer aisle. I certainly wouldn't invest my money there.

[I know it sometimes seems like I'm just guessing at this stuff, but remember that Nestle recently shifted their ice cream business from their main company over to a joint venture. Nestle has lost over 4% of the US market share this past decade and is more interested in segments that are growing.... wait, Dead Foods filed for bankruptcy? Their stock is now down to 5 cents a share after hitting five dollars at the beginning of the year?. Wow. Just wow. What will that mean for Friendly's, Dean's, Steve's and Mayfield ice cream?]

Anyway, back to the positivity of more choice. When 2010 started, I reviewed Talenti's #3 flavor, double dark chocolate. Now we have seen #58 flavors from them. Actually, you could say we got the gift of gelato in the 2010s. Talenti had the most growth, but we also saw the rise of tasty Gelato Fiasco. Ciao Bella gelato had an interesting run this decade - here's hoping High Road can get them more profitable. Most recently I have found Dolcezza gelato (my geeky side loves their pint design).

What else is positive? Everyone likes having more high end stuff available right? The high roads, the Jeni's, and all of the other expensive pints that are now more readily available? I'm still too cheap to send out for things like Ample Hills or McConnell's, but it's cool to know that they are out there somewhere.

Should I wrap this up? Probably. I feel like I have more complaining to do but I'm going to take a break for now. Let's start the conversation in the comments section. Do you eat more or less ice cream than you did a decade ago? Does the last decade of change make you happy or sad or both? Want to make a prediction for the next decade?

Have a happy and safe new year's everyone!

Breakfast Sundaes lives on....

It felt pretty great to build this breakfast sundae yesterday. On the one hand it was amazing to look at, and then all the other hand, it was totally delicious.

One of the funnest parts of the Breakfast Sundae project was never knowing for sure how tasty something will come out. Pretty much all of them were decent, but some really click like this one did. The secret was that the ice cream in this one was Turkey Hill's all natural Blackberry Swirl and that fruity flavor blended well with the cotton candy crunch (which is good by the way).

What might surprise you is that the cotton candy element plus the fruity element wind up negating a lot of the eggy and cinnamon flavors coming from the french toast. The french toast is more about adding this great fluffy texture to the whole thing. I totally wanted to make another one today. You might look at it and go "that will never work" but it totally did.

So, my advice is to stay hungry and stay creative. Don't be afraid to try anything.

Nerd Lunch Sweet 16 of Ice Cream Flavors

Officially I'm still in retired podcaster mode, but when the Nerd Lunch guys ask if I am available, I always say yes. With them winding down their primary show, and promoting 4th Chair Army Invasion to once a month, that leaves the occasional 5th Tuesday spot to fill with something. Recently, they've been filling it with their Sweet 16 format show. In 2017, I was on the episode about the best cartoon dog and in 2018 I was on the one with my old bud Junk Food Guy and we covered the best pizza toppings. This time we talk best ice cream flavors. I knew a lot of the great classic flavors would be brought up so I did my best to make my three choices more recent developments. How did it work out? Well, you'll have to listen to find out.

Now I wasn't literally on the sweet 16 episode that talked about the best arcade games, but CT had asked for suggestions and he mentioned several of mine on the show (Thanks CT!). I've always been  jealous of how the nerd lunch crew and 4th chair army have been able to track down those giant arcades full of old games. Well, a co-worker told me about a place in Providence that had a bunch of old games that are all set to free play, you just have to pay the $5 cover charge. Well, I then told my buddy who said we need to go, so, without further ado, here is my adventure at Freeplay Arcade.

What flavor do you miss most?

Whether you've been eating ice cream for 50 days or 50 years, what flavor do you miss more than any other? If I asked instagram, I feel like these would be two of the top choices:

Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard : Oatmeal Cookie Chunk & What a Cluster

Yup, we stopped by the super crowded Ben & Jerry's Waterbury Plant on the way back from Burlington this weekend and did a quick spin through the gravestones and people in the flavor graveyard. Oh how this place is busy during the long labor day weekend. Anyway, I -think- I tried oatmeal cookie chunk but it was before I started documenting my time in the freezer aisle. What a cluster (aka clusterfluff) was delicious. I would be happy to scoop either one of these again.

So, what flavor do you miss more than anything? It doesn't have to be a Ben & Jerry's flavor that you miss. I think the two long lost items I think about most are 1980s style Breyers and Blue Bunny Sedona treats. With so many health trends coming and going, it's a little funny to think we don't have a good granola focused treat out there right now (outshine is probably the closest thing we have right now). Me thinks it's a missed opportunity.

Ok, comment time!

On Second Scoop through the years

Somebody was pointing out the new blog header image the other day and I thought "hey, I should recap those for the ten year anniversary!"  Let's see what I can dig up from my archives!

If you remember this, I am very impressed.

(click on all the images for larger views)

2nd & 3rd year
I forgot about the original font, I think I kind of miss it.
This graphic sat on top of a lot of different background themes.

4th year
I've been eating Talenti for awhile now hehehe.


5th year
Duff Goldman has actually responded to me a few times on Twitter :)


6th year
There's also a version of this with Cuatro Leches instead of Flan


7th year
I started updating the header throughout the year as new stuff came out


8th year
How time flies...


9th year
And the one I recently replaced.

2018 marks the first time that I used all the ice cream in my freezer to create the header. I'm still not positive that I love it, but nothing says that I can't change it in a few months. I have a totally different theme that I would like to roll out, and looking at this list, I think it's way over due.

Ok, I hope you had a laugh at this. Good night!

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.

Still Searching....

The good news is that I am still searching for new stuff when I can manage to not be working (things are better but not back to normal yet), but the bad news is that I'm still not finding anything besides the new Magnum pints and new low cal Talenti stuff.

When I do finally find something new, the most popular question will definitely be "where did you find that?". Since it's been awhile, let me recap where I go and maybe it will inspire you to track down that store you don't normally check out. In general, I've got Market Basket, Price Chopper and Stop & Shop (Giant), with secondary stops of Hannaford (Food Lion), Shaws, and Roche Bros. Occasionally I go to Whole Foods but I try to avoid it. There's also Walmart and Target ofcourse. In general, I have access to two or three of each of these stores, but I'm not hitting each of these stores multiple times a day. I do what I can with visits ranging from a couple times a week to a visit every couple of weeks, it just depends on access and timing.

Oh, side note, I've lost access to Baskin-Robbins but I do still have a DQ nearby, as well as several local places like the beloved Uhlman's (which I haven't covered in forever).

images courtesy of haagendazs.us

Ok, back in to the frozen trenches I guess. What will I find first? I'm hoping to find the new Haagen-Dazs ice cream cookie squares or maybe one of the new crispy Trio flavors that adds a layer of sauce in to the Trio concept. How is your ice cream hunting going?

I forgot to eat ice cream yesterday

Hey everyone! Sorry for no new posts but work has been crazy... like crazy crazy. You know how every profession has it's rough time of the year? Well, I'm wrapping up that time and hopefully today is the last day of a 12 day work streak that has averaged 11 hours a day for the last 7 days (not including commute time). I know this is probably normal for some of you and I don't know how you do it because I'm am so very very very very tired right now. My morning soda is the only thing getting me started right now. I even cheated and had half a Rock Star PUNCHED the other day (something I have vowed not to drink anymore despite it's deliciousness). Hopefully there will be a post tomorrow (if I can ever get myself out of bed). Be well everyone!

Are you afraid of 2018?

Geez, could I make that headline sound any more like clickbait? Thing is, I do have something to discuss. I usually do a preliminary check on what the top ten new reviews of the year will be sometime in early December. Things don't change much at the end of the year so it gives me a sense of where we have been and where we are going. For the past 9 years, the top ten has effectively been "what has Ben & Jerry's been up to?"

Well, not this year. The #1 post of the year is my end of 2016 review of enlightened ice cream with a healthy 30% margin over it's nearest competitor, my mid summer post about Breyers going after Halo Top. That post has a 60% margin over what will be my number one new review of 2017. In other words, "healthy" ice cream is the most popular topic on a blog that has spent almost a decade enjoying premium and super premium ice cream. It also means that the most popular topic is something I can't eat because it doesn't make me feel well. This is not good.

Am I saying I'm giving up? No, that's not it. The blog still had a respectable half a million pageviews so that's reason enough to press on, but I have been using this downtime to think about how to handle 2018. Well, that and a boatload of work to do in the real world that will keep me busy for at least another month. In 2018 I want to try harder to adapt to our modern world but I don't want to be here just to add noise in the background, I want to continue to be a reliable (and relevant) place to get freezer aisle ice cream info to you, my fellow ice cream enthusiast.

Alright, time for some reading and then off to bed. Top ten will be up next week.

How do you feel about salt on cookies?

Today, one of my vendors was nice enough to bring in several cookies for me and my coworkers. Since technically he was there to see me, it seemed only appropriate that I claim dibs on the biggest cookie in the Panera box. This is the kitchen sink cookie.

It's pretty obvious that this no mere cookie but checking out the Panera website reveals it to be a mighty 800 calories. That's a hearty lunch right there my friends, but in it's defense, the website points out that it's "big enough to share". The cookie contains semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, caramel pieces, pretzels, and flake salt.

Wait, flake salt? You mean those aren't giant sugar bits on top?! Curse your trendiness Panera! I get the whole salty and sweet thing, but not like this and not on my cookies! Salt crystals this big are basically mini salt licks. I picked off what I could but the salt factor was still very prevalent.

Did I resist (finishing) the 800 calorie cookie? Yes I did, but I think it's more about salt than self control in this instance. It wasn't exactly filling and I could have easily inhaled a non-salted version. I'll probably eat the other half tomorrow morning, but I'll be honest, the salt factor really does make me question if that many calories is worth it. There's just no need for that much salt.

Has anyone else had this tasty yet salty cookie? Have I scared anyone off?

How do you feel about edible cookie dough?

Alright, who wants to admit to eating way too much pre-made cookie dough when they were younger? I'm raising my hand in case you can't see me (and if you can see me, that's a little weird). Anyway, I adore cookie dough but like most, the FDA has scared me away from eating it. In recent years, we've slowly seen "edible cookie dough" become a thing, but for some strange reason, I didn't try it until today.

The Cookie Dough Cafe - Gourmet Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Summer Question: Lemon or Peach?

I spied a few fun sounding summer flavors while I was in Virginia the other week though I have no experience with the PET brand (sounds pretty low budget right?)

We have two PET Limited Edition Ice Creams here, Lemon Meringue Pie Premium Ice Cream and Homemade Style Carolina Peach Pie ice cream. Has anyone tried either? Or have you tried PET at all? In general, what's your favorite summer flavor? I think I would grab the peach first but I'm not positive.

P.S. Anyone know what "homemade style" is?

P.S.S. PET Dairy website says that they've been around for 85 years, they are available in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolines, and they are owned by Dean Foods.

P.S.S.S. I forgot Nick reviewed two PET pints in 2015

What do you think of Kroger ice cream?

While some mid Atlantic grocery stores are just continuations of my local stores, like their Food Lion is my Hannaford, there are two stores I wanted to check out in particular: Kroger and Harris Teeter. Nick has reviewed several pints from Kroger during his travels southwards, but this was the first time I got to walk their aisles. Here are some of the more interesting things that I found. It's a wide ranging selection as they have options in premium, regular, light, FDD and even gelato.

Kroger Deluxe Ice Cream

Jeeg has now been to Hy-vee... have you?

Recently our podcasting buddy Jeeg from the Nerd Lunch podcast moved to Minnesota which means he now gets to shop at Hy-vee. Knowing that I'm a grocery geek, he kindly sent over a few shots from the freezer aisle. It can be easy to forget that our local freezer aisle is part of a much larger stage of frozen treats. Let's take a quick look at a few things you might not usually see.

The coolest find has to be Whitey's Sgt. Camo Ice Cream. It's graham cracker and marshmallow ice cream with a ribbon of Whitey's famous fudge. That sounds amazing to a graham fanatic such as myself. In fact, I think I've heard of either Whitey's or this flavor in particular before. If any has tried Whitey's, let us know in the comments. Now, what else do they have?

State of the Freezer Address - 9 Years Edition

Hey everyone! I had every intention of writing a nice long post about my anniversary but unfortunately the fates aligned and it's now past my bedtime and I need to get going. I could blame my poison ivy or the increased workload from my boss being out of town, but that's just the tip of the ice cream berg. (I'm so tired, I literally wrote cream instead of berg).

This is the chest freezer as best I could arrange it and if the choices look lopsided, well, price chopper was having a good sale on both Turkey Hill and Ben & Jerry's. The upstairs freezer isn't much to look at right now.

Just know that I appreciate all of you who have stuck with me all of these years and hopefully I'll add some more words to this in the morning. Good night!

----------------------

Hello! I'm back! For those wondering what else is in the freezer (aka the review queue): More Gelato Fiasco samples! More Perry's samples! also Friendly's reviews (one of which will be nice and negative), and at least two Blue Bunny reviews though hopefully more if I can find a good place to get their new flavors.

Keeping an eye on my instagram account will hopefully give you a heads up about what's coming down the review pipe though technically you can follow on twitter or tumblr if you prefer those platforms (Facebook is just used for when reviews go live but sometimes uses my instagram photos for the links). My anniversary post on instagram pushed me over 3000 followers so that was a pretty cool anniversary present.

As for an update on the 2017 ice cream season, well, it's looking kind of over from this side of the aisle. If you check the product guide, you'll see that I've already covered most of what I wanted to cover at this point. I think I've mentioned before that I'm not spending money on stuff I know I will most likely hate, so anything with booze, coconut, or coffee basically. In the past I may have tried to cover them anyway but what's the point really?

That said, I don't know what the rest of the year has in store for OSS. Website traffic is down over 20% for the second year in a row which means that the site is now running below 2012 traffic levels. I don't do this for the traffic, I do it for the love of the industry, but that hurts. An old fashion blog about ice cream, no matter how long lived, just doesn't fit as well in our modern picture-based smartphone society. I kind of think that the website needs to have an accompanying app but who knows if I can pull that off (though I do have a rough idea in my mind of what I would like it to do).

Oh, one more thing, always remember to be awesome to each other, this includes being nice to the ice cream companies. I worry very much that we live in a world where we think every flavor from a company should be designed to suit our specific needs but we are all very different people. Going forward (and for the last several months), I've been trying to reinforce the difference between a good product and a product that clicks with me. I don't know if I'm doing a very good job with this mission, but I will keep working on it. I've learned a lot in the last nine years but that doesn't mean the battle to be a better reviewer will ever end. (hey, no snide remarks about my writing not improving in 9 years).

Ok, be well and scoop on!