Obsession of the Week

O...M...G. Best ice cream EVER!

Blue Bell is new to South Florida. For several weeks now, I've been hearing them run a ton of ads on local radio advertising it as available in Miami supermarkets for the first time ever. Just from listening to the commercials, I figured it would be good. Their ads conjure up images of a lazy summer afternoon in the countryside, with a big family gathered around a picnic table or on one of those huge, plantation-style wrap around porches, enjoying bowls of thick, creamy home-churned ice cream. When I had the opportunity to try the product, it did NOT disappoint.

At last Sunday's Family Dinner (more on those later), my uncle, who knows what a strawberry fan I am, insisted on walking to his house and coming back with a half-empty bucket of their Strawberries and Cream flavor. It was to die for. Then last Thursday, my good friend Lauren offered to bring dessert for a girl's night dinner. So glad she did, because she brought the yummiest brownies I've ever had, along with a delicious pint of Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla. The combination of the warm, gooey, dark chocolate brownies, with the cool, pure flavor of the vanilla was orgasmic, to say the least. My husband Gaby had been away on business on the night of the girl's dinner. When he arrived on Saturday, I told him about the leftover brownies and the vanilla ice cream in the fridge. He took one spoonful of the ice cream and quickly declared it the BEST vanilla ice cream he had ever had in his life. It was so good, in fact, that he was hesitant to mix it in with the brownies and continued to eat the ice cream by itself...and this is a man who LOVES brownies. Ever since he tried the ice cream, he's been obsessed with it, repeating over and over again how he never thought plain vanilla ice cream could taste so good.

I made a quick run to the supermarket this afternoon and called G to see if there was anything he needed that I might forget. He begged me to bring home a small container of Blue Bell chocolate, "just to see if it's as good as the vanilla." Mind you, we're both supposed to be watching what we eat, especially on weekdays. But believe me, he didn't have to twist my arm very hard for me to give in. I went practically straight to the freezer aisle and was so disappointed when I saw that they didn't have any smaller pints of Blue Bell, nor any chocolate. Not so disappointed, though, that I didn't go with plan B - buying the big half gallon tub of a different flavor. I opted for Candy Jar...reminiscent of a Cold Stone concoction, this baby features their signature vanilla ice cream (cannot stress how delicious this is) chock full of mini peanut butter cups, chocolate chunks, peanut brittle, chocolate crisp pieces, and swirled all around with ribbons of caramel. To die for, I tell you!

The irony in this post is that later this week, I plan to blog about my favorite weight loss tool, "Lose It!". HA! A post about ice cream and weight loss in the same blog, much less in the same week. I'm a walking contradiction.