The N.C. Double Scoop Round Of 64, Flight 4: Write-Ups
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1 Vanilla vs. 16 olive oil. You do have some vanilla-loathers out there, but I can’t imagine they’d make this one close.
8 Irish cream vs. 9 Gold Medal Ribbon. Caramel fans may come out in force, plus we’re in the middle of the Olympics…GMR could upset IC here, but you never know.
5 Chubby Hubby vs. 12 mango. You can’t really compare these two, the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Ben & Jerry’s entry versus the simple tropical-fruit flavor.Mango is delicious, but it’s the Chub’s to lose.
4 Raspberry sherbet vs. 13 rum raisin. My feelings on booze in desserts (negative) and raisins in general (homicidal) are both well documented, but while I wouldn’t vote RR if you paid me, this face-off could be quite close.
6 Butter brickle vs. 11 praline. I don’t know, man.These are both “grandma flavors,” kind of, plus praline has to walk a fine line to taste right — many times, it either doesn’t really register or it’s way too sweet.Tough to pick, but in memory of my own grandma, who loved her some brickle on a hot evening, I’m calling this one for #6.
3 Peanut butter cup vs. 14 eggnog. You know the eggnog lattes at Starbucks?Yeah, I’m that one person who ordered those.(Repeatedly.I have problems.)I don’t see my vote helping much here, though.
7 Grasshopper pie/Thin Mint vs. 10 Cherry Garcia. Cherry-flavored ice cream, Bing cherries, and chocolate chunks…”Cherry Barf-cia” is more like it.I’m sorry, I know people swear by it; it’s just everything I personally hate in a dessert.Mint isn’t everyone’s favorite either, I realize, but I have to believe that generations of Girl Scouts can whip two dudes from Vermont.Call it.
2 Coffee vs. 15 black cherry. Coffee is perhaps perceived as boring by some, but should hold up in this match-up.Certainly I won’t vote for black cherry, because I like exactly two things of cherry origin: that black-cherry/vanilla Diet Coke, which I don’t think they make anymore; and actual cherries.Everything else, ew to the infinite power.When I develop a cough, I will take cough medicine; at no time will I consume a frozen comestible that tastes like Triaminic.
Tags: food Girl Scouts Grandma Olympics shut up raisins Triaminic
Load times still a tad slow this morning; thanks for your patience. That may clear up once I start closing the flights tomorrow morning.
Flight 1 does end tomorrow, so if you haven’t voted in that one yet, do so today.
How do you feel about cherry vanilla? Since that’s got actual cherries, and no fake cherry flavor?
Olive oil? What would that even taste like?! Where the heck can I find these weird-ass flavors?!
As awesome as mango ice cream sounds, nothing will ever replace Chubby Hubby in my heart as the BEST ICE CREAM EVER INVENTED. Putting pretzels IN the ice cream? Genius!
(Also, eggnog? Just call it by its real name: hamster pee.)
Except for vanilla and raspberry sherbet (which is a yummy combo), I really don’t care much for the rest of the entries. This part of the bracket makes vanilla the easiest contender to go the final four.
Raisin Rum is actually disgusting. I love raisins. I love rum. I love ice cream. But yuck if you combine the three. I have still have nightmares when I was 10 and found a carton of Haagen Daaz Raisin Rum. I thought I was so lucky until I took a spoonful. Raisin Rum is truly horrible as it is the only flavor that even Haagen Daaz has failed to impress me.
This was by far the easiest flight. Thanks for making my Sunday so relaxing. heh
Gold Medal Ribbon makes me happy.
Olive oil is the BEST! I know it should be ew but… The Bent Spoon in Princeton has an olive oil that tastes like sweet cream ice cream inside a velvet cloud. yummmmmm.
@adam875: You weren’t asking me, but I quite like cherry vanilla ice cream. Growing up in Philly, I remember one summer my dad brought home Penn Supreme Cherry Vanilla, and it was delicious – super creamy with cherry chunks that were just the right size and texture, and no fake cherry flavor to be found. We went through it gallons at a time. I don’t HATE fake cherry flavor but I don’t really seek it out either, so this was a nice balance. (Fake cherry and fake banana flavors are my least favorites, with banana being my for real least favorite. I will only eat actual bananas.)
This has been fun for me, but also kind of frustrating at times because I’m allergic to nuts. So sometimes something that isn’t necessarily a flavor that makes me rub my hands together with anticipation was pitted against something with nuts in it, and I have to vote for the non-nutty flavor because nuts will kill me.
My grandmother likes rum raisin ice cream, but I’m with Nilda A – I like all the flavors individually, but together? Barf city.
Olive oil? I’m in NYC (and there’s a B&J a block away) so I can think of places to get all the flavors I’ve never tried except this one. Googling it pulls up recipes for it, but I can’t get a handle on what it would taste like based on them.
I love cherries in every possible incarnation, but Thin Mint and coffee still win their match-ups. Coffee’s a sentimental favorite– my mother’s been using it to soothe ragged tempers for a dozen Thanksgivings running– and you just don’t vote against the Girl Scouts. Ever.
Thin Mints……mmmmmm….
I used to live for the times of the year when Amy’s Ice Cream would do vanilla with Thin Mints crushed into it. Had no idea anyone else actually made that kind of ice cream!
Oh man! Rum raisin and cherry Garcia are two of my very favorite flavors!
But I was a red bean advocate, too, so…..
How is Chubby Hubby not wiping the floor with Mango? Fudge-covered peanut butter-filled pretzels in vanilla malt ice cream rippled with fudge & peanut butter swirls…. world peace in a pint….
Seriously…. Mango?
I voted the straight Sars ticket on this one. Raisins? Gack. Cherry flavor? Harf. Though it hurt me a little to vote for raspberry sherbet. It was definitely a vote against the vile horror of rum raisin.
I am so with you on the fake cherry flavor.
Always, just like cough syruo, and WHO eats that by CHOICE?!?!?!?!
K, you’ve got to get to Otto for the olive oil gelato. Mmmmm!
Geez, Sars, you are *incredibly* hard on fruit! I’m right with you on the eggnog, though. When Edy’s starts coming out with the eggnog and pumpkin pie flavors around T’giving and Christmas, I’m the one buying as many as will fit in my freezer and praying they’ll last until spring at least. (They never do.) But then, it was no contest for me, as I despise peanuts and peanut butter tainting my ice cream (particularly when it dares defile my chocolate!)
The other thing better than the eggnog lattes is putting eggnog in a Vanilla Frappuccino. Ahhh.
Sars, you mentioned having a liking for the (late, lamented?) Diet Coke black cherry vanilla. Tried it once, was underwhelmed, but that said, if you haven’t yet had the pleasure, I suggest you check out Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry Vanilla. It is the best thing ever. Now the only time I drink Diet Coke is when I must buy a soft drink in a restaurant setting, since Diet Dr. Pepper isn’t exactly a menu staple.
The Bent Spoon has Olive Oil? Welllll guess where *I’M* going tomorrow? Wooo!
I do not like the Chubby Hubby. It’s a combination of not liking pretzels and just… wanting the Chubby Hubby to settle down a bit. There is a LOT going on in there.
I spend the entire Christmas season pouring Straus Family’s Ltd Ed eggnog in my morning coffee.
However, I can’t do Starbuck’s eggnog lattes; too sweet. However, talk to me about their gingerbread/pumpkin lattes and it’s quite a different story.
@Words: That stuff is really good. But I buy my soda at the gas station nowadays because I am Cheapy McSkinflint, and they don’t carry it. Maybe I’ll make a polite request.
@Keck: God, the pumpkin latte. I love it so. The only thing I love more is the pumpkin scone, which Linda and I hunted for in vain in NYC Starbuckses last year; I think one of us even did an entry on it, we were so obsessed with the fact that the closest one was in D. goddamn C.
“Retuuuuuuurn to meeeeeeee…”
I had no idea someone made a Thin Mint ice cream. I must find some. Cold Thin Mints are the best things ever on the face of the Earth. I need to go to the grocery store now.
Ooh, I Mark and I used to obsess over the cinnamon chip scone at the ‘bucks. Can’t find it in the land of soy and vegan.
Re: pumpkin lattes. It has a pumpkin-y quality that makes it different from the gingerbread. How do they do it?!
The world may never know, but I will continue to sacrifice myself to science analyzing it.
@Keckler and Sars- I have been counting down the days until pumpkin and gingerbread return to Starbucks for the season. Pumpkin, I prefer as a frap. Gingerbread as a hot latte. God. So good.
What ever happened to beer-flavored ice cream? Ben & Jerry’s used to have a Black and Tan one, but it doesn’t even show up on their website’s “flavor graveyard” now, perhaps because it generated a lot of controversy among Irish-Americans who had somehow never been in an average college bar. Nonetheless, it was delicious, and wouldn’t have received quite the pummeling that olive oil has, I would guess.
@K. I feel your pain, sort of, with your nut allergies forcing you to choose the opposition. I have an intolerance to mint in like all its forms. It won’t kill me, but it can give me wicked migraines so I have this strong aversion toward it even if it is not trying to make my head explode.
I think I need to spend what little time is left of the summer finding ice cream places with some of these more obscure, gourmet, less populist flavors. I am intrigued. If anyone has any suggestions for where to find them (bacon, avocado, olive oil, salted caramel, etc etc etc) in eastern/central CT, please let me know!
I have heard that the pumpkin scone is not going to be in DC this year either — it is only going to be in Canada.
Which negates MY WHOLE REASON for moving here!
I buy the Dreyers too, but once I tried the Talenti eggnog gelato last year that was the end of the Dreyers. Especially once you load it up with freshly grated nutmeg. So. Good.
If you’re in Minneapolis, you can get olive oil (with fleur de sel) at Crema Cafe (home of Sonny’s ice cream). They don’t have it very often, but it is one of my favorites. It’s mostly very light and velvety, and the touch of salt sets off the sweetness perfectly.
It’s a combination of not liking pretzels and just… wanting the Chubby Hubby to settle down a bit. There is a LOT going on in there.
Heh. I’ve never had it, but I’m with you on the pretzels. Also, mmmmmango.
This series of posts has inspired me to make ice cream. I was going to make avocado, but the damn things went bad overnight – so mango it is.
Um, could someone explain olive oil ice cream to me? I love olive oil, but I’m having a hard time imagining it as an ice cream flavor. It’s so subtle.
A nearby grocery store has a Starbucks inside, and periodically, they have items on sale. Imagine my surprise last winter after the holidays when they had 3 half gallon jugs of the flavoring syrup they use for their pumpkin lattes in their sale display. I couldn’t believe they even had any left over, much less that they would just sell it that way. I use a frother to make myself lattes at home, but I didn’t purchase one of those bottles of spicy goodness because I am diabetic, and the sugar content was naturally off the charts. But I thought of you, Sars!
I felt like a number of the choices in this flight should have gone to some lesser tournament — I mean, I don’t see rum raisin even doing well in its own league of old lady flavors.
However, I think coffee could go all the way.
@Linda: Get the car, we’re moving.
@Sars: Well, that might work. There’s an imbalance in North America when Dave and Tara are both in NYC. So once Dave is back down, you and Linda in Canada might prevent the earth’s axis from tipping.
You mean like scones with pumpkin in them? I have a recipe I’ve been meaning to try that sounds pretty easy. It is just too damn hot to bake anything right now … except the cookies that I did last night. But those don’t count.
Gold Medal Ribbon was my go-to BR flavor for the better part of my childhood (once I grew out of bubblegum, of course), so yay, GMR!
And I have always liked pumpkin, but eggnog was a tough sell until about two years ago, so I had to go with the peanut butter cup. And speaking of pumpkin, I now have absolutely no reason to go to Starbucks, if there are no more pumpkin scones. Bummer!!!
There had better be pumpkin scones at Starbucks out here in the SF bay area, or I am going to KILL SOMEONE. I freakishly obsess over them in a normal year – this year it’s pregnancy craving induced. You don’t want to see that rage.
While I adore pb& chocolate ice cream, the peanut butter cups are too hard when frozen, thereby creating too much work for me to shove them into my gaping piehole and ingest. The pretzels in Chubby Hubby, however, are salty, slightly mushy perfection in a pint.
@Keckler – when I was in high school, my family started putting eggnog in the Christmas coffee. Heaven!
@Jesse: ditto what you said about the olive oil gelato at Otto. Heaven on a spoon. mmmm
Starbucks screwed up my order last Fall and gave me an eggnog latte instead of my standard-issue skinny vanilla. I spit it out and screamed bloody murder. Gack. Hork. Nothankyounotevenonadare. Blerrgggh.
@Deirdre: mmmmmmango, indeed.
So you guys! I stopped for groceries yesterday and it turns out Giant has Häagen-Dazs for $3 a pint through Saturday! Even the Reserve flavors! And they had all the ones I’ve been wanting to try since the N.C. Double Scoop began! So I loaded up!
And the excitement was just beginning, because I got home to find the power out in my neighborhood.
I shoved all the ice cream into the freezer as fast as I could, but the lights stayed off welll into the night, and now I’m a little afraid to crack open a pint.
So, here’s the big question: does God love me (the Giant sale!) or hate me (hours without crucial freezer support!)? Was this punishment for gluttony, or merely mild entertainment for a bored Deity? Discuss, offering arguments from at least 1 Medieval and 1 Modern theologian. Bonus points for parallels drawn between God’s sense of humor and that of the average frat boy.
One thing learned so far: that little single-serving cup of Dulce de Leche tastes really good in the dark.
For those having trouble finding some of the more esoteric flavors, Philly’s Capogiro has a great selection – plus they’re really popular and have an online store.
The Olive Oil gelato at Batali’s/Bastianich’s Del Posto is to simply die for.
The pumpkin scones may be hard to find…but who needs those when you can have the ‘Bucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins? Oh, God. …When does autumn start again? It’s cool and rainy here today. I am ready.
Gold Medal Ribbon is my favorite B&R flavor, though it isn’t as good as it’s Ben & Jerry’s brother, Vanilla Caramel Fudge. Not as wittily named as most B&J flavors, perhaps, but I guess the name that it should have had, Sweet Hot Sex in a Pint, might have offended some ice cream buyers in the red states.
The olive oil flavor has me very curious. At first I wanted to bim a little, but then again one of my favorite desserts at the local risotteria is balsamic vinegar ice cream with fresh strawberries.
So if you were to have a scoop each of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, would that be like a vinaigrette?
Pretty sure Starbucks had Pumpkin scones here in Philly last winter.
@ Lori, Capogiro’s has some seriously good stuff! One of my favorites is a Goat’s milk/Rosemary/Honey combo. Best place ever on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
I bought THREE pints of ice cream at the store this weekend, all flavors I’d never have thought to try. Haagen Daaaaaaz has some “reserve” flavors out right now, including one with special honey, and a chocolate made from amazon cocoa beans! I totally fell for the hype! I totally also have somethingsomethingwithwafflecone!
Next, let’s do vegetables facing off. Or…fruit. Or…Not!dairy. This is totally going to kill my diet…
You know what would be another fantastic face-off? Breakfast cereals.
@Tarn-
The pumpkin scones may be hard to find…but who needs those when you can have the ‘Bucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins? Oh, God. …When does autumn start again? It’s cool and rainy here today. I am ready.
Oh, my God, I had forgotten about those. Also, Einstein Bros. makes a KILLER pumpkin bagel, which can be paired with . . . whipped pumpkin spread.
Also, as of this morning, I have it on good authority that, though not advertised yet, Barnes and Nobles are starting to get in their pumpkin syrup. I found this out after I ordered my mocha frap. Guess what I’m getting tomorrow?
I am convinced Starbucks makes their eggnog lattes with sweet, pure, high-octane crack. Otherwise what would explain their alarming level of addictiveness? It is absolutely my favorite thing about the period between Thanksgiving and New Years. Good luck finding one on January 2, though. Gone, like the fine morning mist.
So, I just finally (almost a full year later) found some Thin Mint ice cream at my local (Oklahoma) grocery store.
It’s not horrible, but it is disappointing. I don’t know why, but I was surprised by the chocolate ice cream. I guess for some reason (even though the picture up there is clearly chocolate ice cream) I was expecting vanilla ice cream w/ thin mints in it.
The chocolate isn’t a good chocolate. The thin mints, are of course, wonderful though. So, I will finish the tub, but it’s not my favorite thing, like I thought it would be.