Freezer update

Once I spent a summer weekend in Stowe, Vermont, at the country house of a friend of a friend. It was so long ago that I don't remember our hosts' faces or names but I do remember two details of the weekend:
1. We watched someone's wedding video and it seemed to go on much longer than any actual wedding; and
2. Our hosts had a book on the shelf called "Vermont on $5,000 a day," I shit you not, the first line of which read, "To do Vermont on $5,000 a day takes moxie."

Well, to eat nine pints of premium ice cream takes perhaps less moxie than stick-to-it-iveness, but it never hurts to have a bit of both. Here's a report on the progress so far:

-Gravel road is salty caramel with bits of smoked almonds mixed in. The flavor of smoke and of almond are both almost as strong as the flavors of caramel and salt. Outstanding in every way: balanced flavors, smooth texture. If you could eat only one ice cream for the rest of your life, you wouldn't be suffering to be stuck with Jeni's gravel road.

-Wild blueberry lavender was a big hit with everyone else who tried it. They oohed and aahed over its intensity of floral and fruity notes. E took a bite, paused, said, "This is SO good." Took a bite, paused, "This is SO good." On and on it went. I though it tasted like soap.

-Dark cocoa gelato is a scandal. Intensely flavored, smoother and a bit thinner in texture than the ice creams, quicker to melt. I ate way too much of it last night and felt a bit disgusting. It's the kind of food that demands to be eaten to excess. (It is pictured, in a filthy porny pose, here.)

-Thai chili is confusing. It tastes like peanut butter ice cream with notes of coconut and it leaves a medium, earthy hot pepper kick in the back of your mouth, with the heat in the finish rather than in whatever you call a first flavor sensation. It has bits of coconut and peanut mixed in, which gives it a less luxurious texture than the other flavors. It's both sweet and salty like the salty caramel/gravel road. None of us could stop eating it.

-Raspberry frozen yogurt is the antithesis of the typical frozen yogurt, low in fat, flavor, and real ingredients. Like all of Jeni's ice creams, this one has a principal ingredient that just sings. It is a clear, full, ripe raspberry taste. But it also tastes like good whole milk yogurt, sour and rich. The sweet-and-sourness of the yogurt base underscores and echoes the raspberry flavor. It doesn't taste any lower-fat than Jeni's ice creams, which is a huge revelation to me. More than any of the other flavors, this one makes me want to keep experimenting with making frozen concoctions. Apparently Jeni's fro-yos contain cream, so they're not for your diet or your lactose intolerant friends. Ha ha!

(You might think ice cream for breakfast is beyond the pale, but I had a nice big scoop of raspberry frozen yogurt around 8 this morning and I don't care who knows it.)

Still to come: Pistachio-honey, lemon frozen yogurt, and raspberry sorbet. I know, my life is hard.