Sweet Childhood Memories – Ice Cream

April 17, 2009 Nicole Brady

When I was growing up, my dad wasn’t much of a picky eater. My mom is a great cook and dad ate whatever she put in front of him. Before she started becoming more health conscious, she would whip up fun desserts and parfaits, even if they took hours. On special occasions, she would do the tilted jello and whipped cream dessert and I always thought that was cool. But through thick and thin, the one dessert that I remember my dad liking most was ice cream. Some things don’t change because when my girls go to visit him, he still has ice cream for dessert.When I was selected by Mom Central to participate in a Haagen-Dazs blog tour, I was very excited and it brought back a lot of memories of my childhood and ice cream with dad. The great part is that my husband likes to share it with our girls too so I’m sure they’ll grow up with wonderful memories also.

The ice cream arrived last week – on my birthday of all days. (Hey Mom Central, did you plan it that way?) I opened the package to find four containers of Haagen-Dazs “Five” ice cream packaged in dry ice. Yippee! I didn’t even have to go to the store to pick it up. Instant gratification at my doorstep.

It’s called “Five” because there are only that many ingredients. Five. That’s it. Basically each contains skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and one ingredient for the specified flavor.

“Five” Mint contains mint extract

“Five” Passion fruit contains, duh, passion fruit juice

“Five” Ginger contains, of course, ginger.

You get the picture? Here’s the rest of the current list of flavors in the “Five” line:

Brown Sugar, Coffee, Milk Chocolate, Vanilla Bean

I mentioned that our package contained four flavors. We tried out the Passion Fruit, Brown Sugar, Ginger and Mint. All four flavors that we tried were rich and decadent. I didn’t feel the need to scoop out a bowl full but have been quite satisfied enjoying it a spoonful at a time when the sweet tooth hits. The brown sugar was sweet as can be and is by far the family favorite. If you’ve ever had a grasshopper (Blended Creme de menthe, Creme de cacao and ice cream) then you know exactly what the Mint one tastes like. That awesome grasshopper flavor without the alcohol. The Passion Fruit actually reminded me more of a sorbet… light and refreshing. Finally, the ginger smelled and tasted like ginger root. We just bought some ginger root at the store for a recipe and the ice cream smells exactly like it. It’s one of those adult flavors that you can enjoy like a nice glass of wine. Savoring it.

I’ve had other Haagen-Dazs ice creams and sorbets and honestly have not met one that I didn’t like. But these are especially interesting because all the ingredients are things you would have in your home anyhow. No funky ingredients that you can’t pronounce.

Now here are a few ways for you to enjoy Haagen-Dazs for free. First, if you have a Haagen-Dazs near you, mark your calendar for May 12th. Check to see if your local store is participating in the “Try a flavor on us” promotion. “Come in for a FREE scoop of any Bee-built ice cream flavor at participating Häagen-Dazs® Shops between 4-8 pm” Or you can enter my giveaway for a coupon for one complimentary 14 oz product. (Sorry, no dry ice packaged instant gratification delivered to your door.)

The Prize: Coupon for one free Haagen Dazs 14 oz product (2 winners!)

Participants –
…must provide an email in the first comment, email me directly with an email address or have email accessible from their profile. Winner has 72 hours from posting/notification to respond. If winner cannot be contacted, I will move on to the second random selection.

Sometime on April 30, 2009, two winners will be chosen at random (using random.org) from all valid comments left.

How to enter: (CONTEST CLOSED)