We had our friends the Kjelstroms over for dinner last night. For dessert, I took John with me to the Ralph's across the street to buy some ice cream. This is one of the rare weeks at Ralphs when all of the different brands of ice cream are on sale for $3 a half gallon. This creates a rather serious potential dilemma for ice cream enthusiasts like myself.
The almost universal first rule of ice cream selection is that it has to be on sale to be considered. Rare indeed is the occassion when I'm willing to pay full price for a half gallon.
If price isn't a consideration, however, then the selection obviously comes down to taste. As we stood in front of the ice cream, I couldn't help but note to John the difficulty of the situation.
You see, with all brands of ice cream on sale that meant that the Private Selection Moose Tracks would be on sale. (For the uninitiated, Moose Tracks is a vanilla based ice cream packed with Chocolate Fudge Swirls and Miniature Peanut Butter Cups. In short, it's delicious.) On any other night I'd have been delighted to purchase it.
The sale also meant, though, that all flavors of Breyer's Ice Cream were on sale as well. You see, Breyers is a higher form of ice cream. It needs no mix-ins or toppings to provide a pleasurable experience. Whereas lesser ice creams, like the Private Selection (generic) brand, require mix-ins to be palatable at all, Breyer's unabashedly stands alone. You buy other ice creams for what's added to the ice cream, or what you can top them with. You buy Breyer's ice cream for the ice cream itself--and the simple pleasure of letting it melt in your mouth.
So how does one decide? Well, on this particular evening there really was no dilemma since I'd been given explicit instructions to get the Moose Tracks. It seemed like a sacrilege, though, to give Breyer's so little consideration. That's probably why I felt compelled to explain all this to John as we stood in front of the ice cream freezers--to soothe my guilt-ridden conscience. The second rule of ice cream buying until then had been to buy Breyer's when it's on sale. Now my world was being turned upside down.
John's response to my oratory, unfortunately, resembled more the dismissive humoring of a talkative grandparent than of appreciation. I wasn't sure any of it had sunk in.
Once home with the Moose Tracks, I told our wives that I'd shared with John all my knowledge on ice cream selection. I then looked to John expectantly, hoping for some affirmation that the lesson had not been in vain. Seeing that I was looking for a reaction, John noted "Oh yeah, Breyer's ice cream doesn't need any mix-ins to taste good."
I was so proud, it almost made me forget we'd passed up Breyers.
3 comments:
My father-in-law made reference to Baskin Robbins as being another quality ice cream. I can't agree.
Their big thing is having 31 flavors, and they need them all because the base ice cream is tasteless drivel--it just happens to be thicker than the airy generic stuff you can buy at the store.
In fact, I'd rank the generic airy stuff at the grocery store ahead of Baskin Robbins even, because at least that stuff doesn't cost so much.
We had a Baskin Robbins nearby in Cambridge, and in emergencies we'd go there and buy pint. Everytime we did I regretted it, in part because it costs so much more and in part because it just didn't taste good.
you need to try extreme moose tracks!
I agree with aaron. Try Moose tracks ice cream with melted peanut butter, chocolate syrup, whip cream, Reese's Pieces. If it gets any better please let me know
Post a Comment