Place: Braum's
Lunch: Birthday cake sundae (no whipped cream)
They were out of whipped cream. On National Ice Cream day.
Braum's birthday cake ice cream is blue with spongy tasty chunks of cake and is the best birthday cake ice cream I know of. Especially covered in marshmallow sauce.
It's National Ice Cream Day. And it's Sunday. So why not a Sundae for lunch, because I suck at being a diabetic.
Who can't open a floodgate of happy memories surrounding ice cream. From the first time I saw a twist cone (at a walk-up stand called the Curly Cone) to the time at the drive-in theatre when a woman walked down the front row of cars handing out cups of her magnificent homemade vanilla with lemon shavings to everyone sitting in lawn chairs in front of their cars. There was the night my dad apologized to three-or-four-year-old me for the half-dozen shots a doctor had just injected into my heel (to this day the most painful thing I've ever experienced) with a milkshake stop at Tastee-Freeze. Grandma's freezer seemingly always had a container of Carnation 1880 Neapolitan. We had Fred Meyer's My-Te-Fine in our freezer.
Ice cream comes in a seemingly endless number of styles, flavors, and even textures. From soft serve technically too lean to be ice cream (making it ice milk) to concoctions so rich in butter fat they're really frozen custards, we love them all.
These are my favorites.
Tillamook Udderly Chocolate - Originally called "Brown Cow" before the Brown Cow Cream Top Yogurt people had a...cow...this is the best ice cream in the history of the world as far as I'm concerned. Chocolate ice cream, white chocolate ice cream, and dark chocolate shavings. The chocolate ice cream is as tasty as pudding. There's simply never been any ice cream better.
Haagen-Dazs Strawberry - Technically my second favorite Strawberry ice cream of all-time. My favorite was Frusen-Gladje Strawberry, but that brand died years ago in a bizarre ownership dispute that went something like "YOU own that brand now." "No...YOU own that brand!" "We SOLD you that brand." "WE DID NOT BUY THAT BRAND!"
Jeni's Queen City Cayenne - Cincinnati, the Queen City, is one of my five favorite cities to binge eat in and lay in bed staring at hotel ceilings pondering the shallowness of my life and wondering why I bother go on living at all. A signature dish of the city is Cincinnati chili, and the name of this ice cream is a tribute to that dish. It was this flavor that Columbus, OH-based Jeni Britton Bauer concocted that inspired her to start Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, who make some of those $10 pints you find in Whole Foods and other uppity grocers. This is a fabulous deep chocolate with a flavor profile somewhere between Fudgesicle and chocolate cheesecake, with a spicy kick to the aftertaste. It's simply incredible. If your local uppity grocer doesn't have it, you can mail order, or visit one of their 25 Scoop Shops in 8 markets. Also try: Churro, Brambleberry Crisp, Brown Butter Almond Brittle, Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk...oh God, just mortgage your house already.
Speaking of...
Jeni's Brown Butter Almond Brittle - Have you ever had Baskin-Robbin's Pralines & Cream and though to yourself "I wonder how they could improve on this?" No you haven't, because such a concept is unthinkable. Until you try this. Then your mind is blown.
Baskin-Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip - It's probably childhood memory association, but as far as I'm concerned, no one makes a better mint chocolate chip. Jeni's makes a nearly identical one and promotes it as being "just like you remember." And by "just like you remember," they're very much referring to Baskin-Robbins.
Braum's Birthday Cake - I already talked about it at the top of the page. What...did you start reading halfway through? Are you just skimming this post? LAZY.
Kemps Orange Cream Dream - A limited edition that stuck around seasonally for years, it's your classic vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet swirl taken further with little orange vanilla candy cups. I still look for it, but haven't seen it in a couple years.
Cold Stone Creamery Cake Batter with Cookie Dough Mix-In - A rich, creamy, perfectly mixed balance. Best in a waffle cone.
Freddy's Funnel Cake Sundae - Put a 5-inch or so funnel cake on a plate topped with Freddy's vanilla custard and cover it with strawberries in syrup and you have a simple, yet unique, winner. Available seasonally around State and County Fair time. In fact, it just made its 2017 debut this past week and I had one yesterday.
Dairy Queen Cherry Dipped Cone - Nothing like a small town DQ on s hot Summer day. Especially if it's an old school location with a walk-up window. While not a problem at my local DQ's, I occasionally run into ones that don't have the cherry dip.
Jerks.
