Now I'm A Believer

I very plain jane when it comes to ice cream. I generally stick with vanilla, and the only bits I want to see in my ice cream are chunks of chocolate. Maybe nuts if its on a king cone, that's good too. I don't like chocolate ice cream. I do eat strawberry (or I used to before strawberries started giving me hives), and chocolate ripple if vanilla's not available.

I've stayed away from Ben&Jerry's on principle, most of the flavors I've seen/heard of have too many things mixed together and also too many chunks of stuff I don't want in my ice cream. So I was in the freezer section just casually looking at the Haagen-Dazs. Then I thought of maybe getting some pistachio ice cream. That's the only other flavor I really love but I have to be in the mood for it. So I glance over at the B&J section and saw they had pistachio, I bought it and I have to say - it was so smooth and creamy and melt-on-my-tongue delicious. It made me think that maybe I need to reassess my B&J prejudice. I turned on the tv while I was eating it and guess who was on - Alton Brown - and he was talking about premium ice cream and why it tastes better than bargain ice creams. Something about the packing being more even in premium ice cream than in bargain brands. My take is that B&J Pistachio Pistachio = premium ice cream. And to my surprise, it isn't green. Maybe I'll have to investigate this further. I sense another quest coming on. I haven't had a food quest in quite a while.

My last food quest involved a search for the perfect chocolate-chip cookie (soft-baked or crispy). This started after ChipsAhoy changed their recipe back in 2001 (I've convinced of this). I used to love ChipsAhoy but then they must have changed something because they started tasting differently back in fall 2001. How do I know this? because I ate them a lot, ok. I have tried them a couple times since then but they've never been the same.

As for my quest - my research was extensive and involved personal sampling of over 15 different brands, some required additional trials. I was dedicated, I tell you, dedicated. I even baked some of my own. I took most in to work and they loved them. They kept asking when I was going to make more. The pressure was too much and I haven't baked any since (this was about 2 yrs ago). But I was looking for one that I could buy, no effort on my part other than paying for it. I did come up with a winner and though several people have disagreed with me about this, I stand by my choice. For me, the perfect choc chip cookie only has choc chips in it, no yucky peanut butter chips or nuts or God forbid, raisins (I really hate raisins! and I only like peanut butter on bread, not anywhere near chocolate or cookies).

My pick - Freihofer's choc chip cookies, the white box. I can't remember if that's the original recipe or not but I know I prefer the ones that come in the white box over the ones that come in the tan box. I haven't had them in over 2 months. Why? Because they are the one thing that I have absolutely no control with. Usually I can have tons of chocolate, ice cream, potato chips, cookies (as long as they're not Freihofer's) for quite a while. I have 2 or 3 and I'm satisfied. Freihofer's was another story. The local groceries frequently offer buy 1, get 1 free with Freihofer's. And I used to get 2-3 boxes. I'd put one in the freezer and one in the fridge to try to slow myself down. I normally like my cookies to be room temperature. But folks, there's just no wrong way to eat them. They are good warmed in the microwave, room temperature, cold from the fridge, and even frozen (though you kinda have to gnaw on them a bit but they're still good).

My turning point or at least the point at which I recognized thatI had a serious problem...I stood in front of my freezer and ate 10-12 of them... frozen cookies...standing...with the freezer door open. I was appalled at myself. I mean, I could have put them on a plate and taken them in and eaten them while sitting. Well I could but I don't remember if I'd had a bad day at work or not and just felt I really had to have them right at that instant. But I do remember doing it. I haven't bought them since. This has not been easy. Last month, they had a sale, buy 1, get 2 free. I resisted. Only because I repeating this mantra to myself "I'm not buying cookies, I'm not, I'm leaving without buying cookies". They had 5 different displays set up and I didn't even go down the cookie isle. They were trying to kill me. It was a trial. I still want them occasionally. I have choc chip cookies but only brands I can control myself with. So when I feel like Freihofer's, I just have 2-3 of those instead (like Pepperidge Farm or Archer Farms). Or I have a few oreos. They're good but you know, not Freihofer's.

There's this sweepstakes that Haagen-Dazs is having and the grand prize is a trip for 2 to Belgium for a week, hotel of your choice and spending money. Of course, the likelihood of winning is probably slim but worth a shot and doesn't cost anything to enter. So why not?