The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

So while I was conducting research in California I ate a lot of delicious local ice cream and had a blast. However, when I'm potentially publishing my research I'm probably not disclosing my research site. So, I decided, to protect the people I worked with, not to write reviews of those ice cream shops in case some random creeper decided to hard core stalk me to try to figure out where I did research. And while it was very disappointing to eat all that delicious ice cream and not be able to review it, I did get so froyo at a California-wide chain, Yogurtland, so I can totally tell all of you all about it! I'm sure many of you may think my 8-step froyo shop review process is a bit excessive, but I'm just trying to keep you, Dearest Readers, as informed about frozen dessert issues as possible! Here are my 8 steps I go through when reviewing a froyo shop! 1) The variety of flavors: is there a good selection? 2) The flavor of my choices. 3) The quality of the com...

The best part about traveling is ice cream. Seeing family and friends is cool or whatever, but nothing gets me quite as jazzed up as trying out another city's local scoop shops. The other weekend I visited Brett in his new home in Cambridge, MA. The week leading up to the visit I would text him and say, "What are our plans for the weekend? Where are we going to get ice cream?" Of course, most people don't put as much time and emotional labor into pursuing ice cream, so I ended up doing an investigation of local scoop shops all on my own. I was incredibly pleased to discover Brett lives close to a scoop shop considered by many to be the best ice cream in Boston! After drooling, and of course, agonizing, over their flavor list for a week, we made the trek with my friend Lizzie, who also lives in the Boston area, over to Toscanini's on Saturday afternoon. The line for ice cream was almost out the door, but luckily, there were many employees and the line moved quickly...

Dearest Reader, you may be thinking to yourself, another 2nd Street Creamery review so soon after the last one? Well since you ask, I am reviewing another 2nd Street Creamery flavor because it is probably the best packaged ice cream you can buy within the city limits of Eldon. And now you're thinking, what?!! Didn't you drive all the way to the HyVee at the Lake to get your last pint of 2nd Street Creamery? I did, Dearest Reader, I did. However, as I was preparing for both members of Big Muddy to be reunited in STL for winter break, I was researching where in STL you could buy 2nd Street Creamery, as it is now definitively a favorite brand of both members of Big Muddy. I was disappointed to find that the closest place to STL you can buy 2nd St. is a Casey's General Store (aka a gas station for those of you not familiar) in Crystal City, MO, 20 miles away from Fenton. Bummer. (However, I do love ice cream brands that have store locators/flavor locators on their websites :)...

I feel like pistachio is a classic yet controversial ice cream flavor.  You either love it or you hate it.  I, for one, stand firmly in the pro-pistachio camp; however, this was not always the case.  I've always liked pistachios and I have fond memories of devouring monstrously large bags of the nuts with my sister and cousins, but for some reason, until recently, I did not like pistachio ice cream.  I think it was maybe one of those things that you think you don't like, but have never actually tried, and once you've tried it wish you had tried it years ago. From Talenti's website: Talenti makes this gelato classic with with whole, fresh roasted pistachio nuggets and homemade pistachio butter, lightly blended together with fresh gelato to create this all natural flavor. The first thing that struck me about this pint of gelato was the color.  It was the most lovely yellowy-green spring green maybe a shade or two lighter than the flesh of a pistachio. ...

Sorry I didn't take any pictures.  I get really nervous when I eat ice cream in a cone, because I would be devastated if my ice cream fell over.  I didn't want my ice cream to start melting during a photo shoot in the summer sun. I mentioned way back in my intro post that I was underwhelmed by  Sebastian Joe's  ice cream the first time I tried it.  I like that they offered unique/weird flavors like Roasted Garlic Almond Chip (which I had a sample of.  It was weird.  Not bad, but I wouldn't want more than a bite of it).  My first time there, I got two scoops in a waffle cone: one scoop of Cinnamon and one scoop of Mandarin Orange.  I probably should have gone with something chocolate-y, but  oranges with cinnamon  is one of my favorite summertime desserts.  I was underwhelmed.  I felt the cinnamon ice cream was way too creamy (like, ok, I know it's ice cream and this is a stupid thing to say), and needed a much stronger ...