Top 10 Ice Cream Flavors

Well, I’ve been writing about things that are completely serious lately, so I thought that I would write about something that is 100% meaningless to anyone but me. Ice Cream is awesome. I’m something of a picky eater, and my favorite ice cream flavors is no exception. So, with that in mind, I thought of some ice cream flavors that I am in love with and someone could give me at any point and make me a happy dude. This is about as esoteric as it gets, but whatever. This is my site, after all. If you all like some of these, let me know. You will be one of the cooler people who comments on my site.

10. Gimme S’More
Ben and Jerry’s is going to be ALL over this list. Not my fault that they make some damn good ice cream. This flavor is so smooth that I just love it. You have the chocolate pieces, which admittedly isn’t my favorite things, but the graham cracker pieces and the marshmallow flavor of ice cream go together in such a fantastic way that I love it every time I eat it. Like an ice cream reminder of my childhood. Especially nice right now.

9. Strawberry
This one isn’t limited to any one brand, because I have yet to find one that I prefer over another for this particular flavor.  Strawberries are my favorite kind of berry, as well as my favorite kind of jam.  As such, it should come as no surprise that it would tie in to my favorite ice cream flavors as well.  When it is done well, it is soft and gentle flavor that carries memories of summer.  I’ve never had it done poorly, so I guess I don’t know what that would be like.  Strawberry ice cream that has chunks of strawberries in it is my personal favorite, naturally.

8. Phish Food
Something to know about me – I am NOT a fan of chocolate ice cream.  Like, at all.  I have never liked it, no matter what you combine it with.  At least, I would have said that until Ben and Jerry’s introduced me to this particular flavor of the stuff.  Combining chocolate ice cream with fudge fish shapes, caramel, and marshmallow, it is such a wonderful combination of flavors and textures that it just works.  It’s odd, but I am fine with that. 

7. Rainbow Sherbet
Fruity flavors are always a good combination for me, but for ice cream, this little combination just does it for me.  I can’t remember what it was that introduced me to this flavor, but it has stuck with me ever since.  This weird tangy combination of so many different fruity flavors, it is a dazzling alchemy of frozen dessert.  However, it seems that I am not in the popular opinion on this, since I don’t see much sherbet ice creams in general, and even less of this little marvel.  Oh well.  Being in a taste minority is fine by me.

6. Double Vanilla
Another brand who is going to show up more and more as we get higher on this list is Private Selections.  These guys have a gift at making some DAMN GOOD ice cream!  Here is the first of their number on here.  Vanilla ice cream is the quintessential of dull, tasteless flavors that are seen as bland by people.  However, in the right hands, it can be a wonderful, rich and irresistible flavor that can make me fall in love.  That is where Double Vanilla comes in.  It is one such version, and I cannot recommend it enough.

5. Orange Cream
There are a few versions of this one, and I love all the ones of it I have had as well.  Orange is a very powerful flavor.  By itself, it can be too much.  However, when one adds cream, it is flawless.  Reminds me of those Lifesavers candies that had fruit and cream taste combinations.  Whatever happened to those?  Anyway, this is a flavor that combines rich and creamy with light and tangy.  I love them both and together, it is one of my favorite things.

4. Cherry Garcia
This flavor, man.  This wonderful, rich, tasty, fruity, perfect flavor.  The ONLY thing that is wrong with it is the size and prevalence of chocolate pieces, but other than that, it is wonderful.  I cannot get enough of it.  It’s hard to talk about it without just devolving into unending love for it.  The cherry flavor is so perfectly made that I cannot believe it is not a bigger flavor.  If you have never tasted this nirvana of fruity perfection, you must!  You must do so with haste!

3. Cookies and Cream
Another one that is hard to sell because it really is one of those things that just sells itself.  You take Oreos, you crush them up, then put them in ice cream.  Really, that’s it.  It’s almost one of those ’nuff said moments.  When it is done well, there is that fantastic texture of the cookie with the rich flavor of the ice cream.  I imagine that combining these two things was a no-brainer for the ice cream industry when Oreos became a thing, and it still stands as one of my favorites to this day.  Can’t pick a version I like most.  They are all wonderful.

2. Cinnamon Buns
Where the fuck did this flavor go?!  Why did it disappear?!  Can somebody please bring it back?!  Far and away my FAVORITE Ben and Jerry’s flavor, bar none.  It is perfect.  I would change absolutely nothing about it.  The cinnamon bun pieces have this great taste and texture.  The cinnamon swirls are so tasty and dreamy.  The ice cream flavor is rich and delicious.  For the life of me, I cannot think what compelled them to remove this flavor, but I desperately wish it could come back.  The world needs it.

And my favorite ice cream flavor is…

1. Belgian Chocolate Irish Cream
I remember when I first saw this stuff at the store, I thought to myself – odd.  But since I’ll try most anything once, I decided that this was worth my time to go for.  And holy shit!  It was so good that I went right back to the store and got more.  This flavor is without peer.  It’s rich.  It has this incredible depth that brings out so many happy feelings.  It was my addiction!  But then…it was gone.  That was the saddest day I’ve had in a VERY long time.  A day that made me feel so sad that I tried to scour other stores to find it.  Seems it was popular with other people too.  Now it’s gone.  Sad days.

What flavors do you love?  Anyone who says Rocky Road can get fucked.  Walnuts are gross.

Until next time, a quote,

“It’s good.”
“Spared no expense.” – John Hammond, Jurassic Park

Peace out,

Maverick

Christmas 2020: A Rough Start

Well, I have just gotten home from a very small gathering of just my immediate family, with a guest who came and made sure to keep their mask on while social distancing as much as possible. Someone who I haven’t seen in years, and whose company always makes me happy. I was immediately tempted to get back into Cyberpunk 2077. I’m in the endgame, and I’m desperately hoping there is a way to save both Johnny and V. I like both of these characters, and I don’t wanna see one of them have to die. Especially since the alternative is to have Johnny get consumed by that cuntrag Alt. Seriously, fuck her. Really hoping that there is a way where both of them can live.

But as I got home and settled in, I think back to tonight, and how fun this whole ridiculous day was. It had a single thought going through my head – a rough start, but in the end it all comes together. I think, if I ever become important enough for someone to want to read my autobiography, that’s what I’m going to title it – A Rough Start. Not just for 2020, but for life in my family in general, that seems to be the perfect way to put it for a day like this. It was almost Murphy’s Law, only for things to then turn around right at the perfect time. Kismet, perhaps? A man can dream.

It started with my dessert project going to shit. Had this amazing idea to make a Buche de Noel, aka a Yule Log. It was to be my most ambitious creation, but little did I know that the project was going to crash around me so hard. The cake portion literally fell apart as we were unrolling it. It had stuck to the towel we used to roll it up to get it in the shape we needed for the cake portion. For my part, I think the cake section was undercooked. It stuck so hard to the towel that getting it unstuck literally had it falling apart around us. You have no conceptual idea how dejecting this was to me. I had busted ass to get this done, and it all went to shit. Had gotten the filling ready, and it tasted great. Now the cake layer was fucked and there seemed nothing I could do.

However, all was not lost. My mother, who I wanted to make this for as I knew that this year would be an all-or-nothing affair in terms of making something spectacular, decided that we were not going to accept this. So, we cleaned out the mixer and literally started right over making a new cake portion. Against all odds, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect. The filling portion was also amazing. Then I made the frosting for the outside, and boom! My dessert was the masterpiece that it was meant to be, all because of one person who refused to let things fall apart.

There were other things that went wrong, though. The dinner menu consisted of prime rib. Delicious, right? Well, it would have been, if it wasn’t for the fact that the meat wasn’t cooking right. My mother had another idea. Why not put it in the instant pot and then finish it there? The rare factor would be gone, but at least the meat would be cooked! Yeah, what a horrible, horrible idea. The joke was that the meat was as tough as the turkey from Christmas Vacation, but in reality it wasn’t that bad. Still, while eating, the jokes made and levity about the whole thing, laughing in the face of a crazy day that had had everything that could go wrong go wrong in the most spectacular way possible, only for the family to make it work and have a great dinner together, that seemed utterly perfect.

Looking back on it now, I honestly think this is one of the happiest Christmases that I’ve ever had. It’s the ultimate statement about my family, and how shit in our lives always seems to go wrong at so many steps along the way, but then, at the very end, all come together in the way it was meant to do. It couldn’t be more fitting if it tried. Life for me has been about hardship, overcoming hardship, and then savoring the victories where I find them. Sure, sometimes the prime rib is tough, but you put enough gravy on it and it’s okay. Then you have a dessert that is transcendent in its taste, some laughs about a great bit of timing at dinner that was flawless and made me nearly laugh until I cried. Those memories are what makes this perhaps my favorite Christmas. Because this year and what is happening with my family and cancer has told me that I need to carry these feelings with me for the rest of my life.

Sure, I will be building new memories in the future. I’m sure that my new partner and I will have our fair share of misadventures in our new apartment together next year, and in those instances, I will think of days like today, and realize that my life, despite all the ugly shit and hard days where I have been so pushed to the brink that I wondered if it would be better to just end things, I have persevered and that even with a rough start, things most end okay. Not perfect. Not a storybook ending, but okay. So for me, 2020 may be a fucked up year, but it gave me one hell of a Christmas to look back on. Not gonna hold that against it.

Now we see how what could become my favorite game of all time, if CDPR decides to stick with it and give it expansions that are as amazing as the ones to The Witcher 3 were. Rooting for a way to save both of the characters that I have come to care deeply about.

Until next time, a quote,

“Well, this dinner is going to be interesting.” – Sally
“Willy! (the dog)” – My old man

Peace out,

Maverick