Strawberry Oat Frozen Dessert

Between my lactose intolerance and B's allergy to eggs, we don't buy very much regular ice cream anymore. Lucky for us, Trader Joe's keeps coming out with new vegan ice creams to try, made with different types of plant-based milks. One of the ones we tried earlier this fall was this strawberry oat frozen dessert with almond brittle and candied strawberries ($3.99). 

The base of the ice cream was oat milk, and the ingredients also included tapioca syrup, coconut oil, and agave syrup, with color provided by beets, annatto, and strawberries. This was the second vegan ice cream we tried from Trader Joe's, and we didn't like it as much as the other one (the vanilla one made with almond beverage that we still need to write a review for). A thought it felt more crystal-like and icy in texture because of the oat milk, while my biggest issue with it was the almond brittle. I found that I was still chewing the hard little bits of almond brittle even after all the strawberry flavor of the ice cream was gone, and I just wasn't a big fan of the almond brittle on its own. We liked the flavor of the strawberry ice cream itself, but noticed few candied strawberries. The overall ice cream was fine because the strawberry was good, but it wasn't as good as some of the other flavors, especially the vanilla.

Buy again? No. This was fine, but we prefer the vanilla-almond ice cream. If they were out of that one, we'd probably wait for it to come back or see what other new flavors TJ's comes up with next!

M's Favorite Food Memories of 2017

Somehow it's already May, and we still haven't posted our favorite food memories from last year. We originally planned to do it by Chinese New Year, and then wanted to finish them before we moved, but things got so busy and so hectic (multiple all-nighters level of busy), much more than we anticipated despite knowing we had 12 years of stuff to move, and we never got to it. A lot of our stuff is still in boxes, and we still don't have a complete living room, but we don't want to neglect this blog forever. So this post is long overdue, but before summer officially kicks off, here are my favorite food memories from 2017. We ate a lot of good food in 2017, both at home in NYC and on our trips to LA, Seattle, and Vancouver. In (sort of) alphabetical order, here are my 10 favorite food memories of 2017.

1. Eatsa (NYC)

I went to Eatsa for the first time early in 2017 (we posted about it) and returned several more times over the course of the year. (It probably would have been many more if I had still worked in a Midtown office.) Eatsa revolutionized the eating scene in two different ways: the ordering process (automat-style from a kiosk/phone app without any human interaction) and making healthy quinoa bowls affordable (pretty much everything was under $10). In the end, the price may be part of what did them in, since quinoa isn't cheap, and they closed all their non-SF stores in October. (The cynical part of me still wonders if all the stores were just a test run for their tech.) I'll always be sad that I can never have another no worry curry (what ended up being my favorite) bowl again, with its tasty quinoa, spaghetti squash, apple-cabbage slaw, pickled onions, red Thai curry sauce, and more, but all the tasty bowls are a happy memory of 2017.

2. Bollo de pescado from Ecuadorian Delights at the Queens International Night Market (NYC)

I love going to the Queens International Night Market (which has already started up for 2018 before I finished this post). In 2017, we made two visits and sampled Burmese, Guyanese, Antiguan, Salvadoran, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Persian, Nigerian, and Filipino cuisine. There really isn't anywhere else in the city where you can do all that in a short period of time and at affordable prices. My favorite thing at the night market last year was the bollo de pescado from Ecuadorian Delights, a green plantain tamale with tuna and peanut sauce wrapped up in banana leaves and topped with pickled onions. It was so delicious, and tasted like something that was just made in someone's home kitchen. We got it on both visits because we liked it so much, meaning we were too full to try their hallaca or corviche, and now I have no idea where to go to get any of those.

3. Corn ice cream taco from Empellon (NYC)

We went to the Midtown Empellon to celebrate my birthday, and one of the desserts that we heard a lot about before our visit was the corn ice cream taco. I figured it would be good, but I wasn't prepared for the explosion of corn flavor in every bite. Corn and ice cream are a great combination, one of my favorites, with some sweetness, saltiness, and savory flavor all in one bite. It wasn't a big dessert, so we were also able to get the avocado dessert and a seasonal apple dessert sampler, but it was probably my favorite dessert of the year.

4. Acai and pitaya bowls from Fruit Wonders (Palm Springs, CA)

Our big trip last year was to California, and we spent a few relaxing days in Palm Springs. It was really hot during the day, and the perfect way to cool down was a visit to Fruit Wonders. We got an açaí bowl the first time and a pitaya bowl the second, and both were really good. Sweet smoothies with granola, hemp seeds, oatmeal, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, coconut, and agave. We'd been wanting to try açaí bowls for a while, but this was our first time, and we were hooked thanks to Fruit Wonders.

5. Los Tacos No. 1 (NYC)

Los Tacos No. 1 has been open in Chelsea Market for years, but they finally opened a second location, right near Times Square, last summer. Their tacos are some of the best in the city, and this new location was so much closer to us. We went there a lot since their opening, getting tacos, quesadillas, mulas, and nopal plates topped with (most commonly) pollo asado or adobada. Even with all the new spots in Hell's Kitchen/Midtown West over the past year, its arrival was the most exciting thing that happened for us. One of my few regrets before we moved was that I didn't manage to go there even more.

6. Salmon oshi sushi from Miku (Vancouver, BC)

We had a lot of things on our Vancouver to-try list for our few days there, and one of the must-dos was aburi oshi sushi, a special type of sushi that is not very common around here, pressed and flame-seared. We went to Miku, an expensive restaurant on the downtown waterfront, and sat at the bar for a light meal just so we could try the sushi. The salmon was BC wild sockeye salmon, and it was topped with jalapeño and Miku sauce. This was unlike any other sushi we'd had before. It basically melted in your mouth, and was so full of flavor. Pretty much a perfect bite of sushi, and I still dream about it.

7. The famous chicken for two from The NoMad (NYC)

We went to The Nomad for A's birthday, and we were finally able to try their famous whole-roasted chicken for two. We weren't sure if it would live up to the incredible hype, but it definitely did. They bring the chicken out to you once it's done, but then bring it to the back and plate it. You get a large piece of white meat chicken, so juicy and tender, with foie gras, black truffle, and brioche bread crumbs under the skin, on a plate with potato puree and leeks, and then you get the dark meat in a small bowl like a stew. It was amazing, and its stellar reputation is well-earned.

8. Cheddar garlic roll from Piroshky Piroshky (Seattle, WA)

I'm not big on waiting in line for food, but we waited for Piroshky Piroshky. We had tried their salmon pate piroshky years ago when a relative gave one to us to try, so we got that again along with some other stuff that looked good. While the salmon one was as good as we remembered, what we really loved was the cheddar garlic roll. Layers of perfectly chewy pastry with cheddar cheese, garlic, and scallions, it was a combination of some of my favorite things. We went back again on the day we left to get some more, because it was just that good.

9. Sisig tacos from various spots around NYC

We don't have any Filipino restaurants in our neighborhood (last year or now), so before last year, we only ended up getting Filipino food once in a (very long) while. Last summer, we got some sisig tacos at a street fair, and that ended up kicking off an unplanned summer of Filipino food exploration. We got so much Filipino food last summer, everything from halo halo to sisig bangus to chicken adobo to buko pandan, but of course, more sisig tacos all over the place. They may not be traditional Filipino cuisine, but they're fun to eat and delicious.

10. Sockeye salmon sashimi from Sushi Itoga (Vancouver, BC)

Last but certainly not least, the sockeye salmon sashimi from Sushi Itoga in Vancouver. Sushi Itoga was another one of those must-try things I put on our Vancouver list. It was a small spot where you ordered sushi at the counter, and then they brought it to your table. Even better, it was incredibly affordable. We got six rolls, a plate of sashimi, seaweed salad, and the included miso soup and tea for like US $35. Even better than the price was the quality. That sashimi was so fresh, and it was so soft that it really just melted in our mouths. (I realize I said the same thing about Miku, but it's true.) We went there on our last day in Vancouver, and we were talking about the sashimi the entire way back to Seattle on the train.

There you have it, my favorite food memories of 2017. Somehow it took over four months to put it into words, but it's finally done!

Oakland Goodbye

Our last morning in Pittsburgh started out with some free orange juice and mini muffins at the hotel, and then it was time to pack up and hit the road. We had plans to stop for lunch and ice cream before leaving the city, and then to drive the old Lincoln Highway all the way east until we hit Gettysburg. We were deliberately taking the "back roads" instead of the interstate, but we had a whole list of places we wanted to visit on the way, the types of roadside spots you would miss on the toll road. It was our Pennsylvania road trip, so we wanted to see as much of Pennsylvania as possible.

We decided to spend our last moments in Pittsburgh in an area called Oakland, home to a lot of universities in the city. We were mostly heading there because A wanted to take me to an ice cream shop that he liked, and before we left, I looked up places that might be nearby for lunch on Yelp. There was a taco joint with good reviews down the street, so we decided to try that. What we didn't realize was that it was actually a Mexican grocery store with a griddle and taco bar on the street outside, but that was actually better for us since we weren't entirely sure whether we were parked in a legal spot (signs were a bit confusing) and eating outside would mean we could keep watch on our car.

We got three different tacos -- chorizo, chicken, and pork -- which came on doubled corn tortillas with no toppings. The reason for that was because they had an entire bar of toppings and salsas next to it so you could pile on whatever you wanted. For us, that meant some guacamole and salsa verde, and tons of pico de gallo, onions, and cilantro. We love eating tacos with a garden on top of them, and this one had lots of options.

We don't remember a ton of the details about the tacos four years later, stuff like which one we liked best, but we do remember they were really tasty. I wish we had taken notes, because they look really good in the photos and I would love to remember more about the experience.

After the tacos, it was time for ice cream from Dave & Andy's, known as one of the best ice cream shops in Pittsburgh. A had been there once before when he was in college and really enjoyed it. The thing Dave & Andy's is known for, besides good ice cream, is that they put an M&M on the bottom of the cone to prevent the ice cream from dripping out. Smart idea.

We each got a cone. For me, it was a no-brainer to get birthday cake, which made my favorite food memories list back in 2013. They mixed yellow cake and sprinkles into the ice cream and it was delicious. The waffle cone, even though I'm not usually a cone person, was crispy and sturdy, and it was just a great ice cream cone all around. A doesn't remember exactly what he got (maybe something coffee-based), and back then we didn't always take pictures of the menu board, but he does remember he liked it.

Back when A went there the first time with other Pittsburgh folks, they told him that the thing to do there was to try to guess the color of the M&M at the bottom before you got to it. No idea if this is a real tradition or not, but we did it anyway because it was fun. I guessed blue, and it was blue. A guessed orange, and his was orange. We were pretty happy that we both guessed right.

After our tacos and ice cream, we drove over to the Lincoln Highway to start meandering our way across the state. We had a lot of stops planned -- the Flight 93 Memorial first, followed by a really fun and mind-boggling trip to Gravity Hill (completely worth it), and more -- but for now, it was goodbye to Pittsburgh!

PNC Park

One of the things that prompted our PA road trip was the desire to knock another ballpark off our list in our attempt to visit them all. A had been to PNC Park before but I hadn't, so now we could even out our lists again. (The opposite was true when we made our visit to Camden Yards a couple of years before that.) PNC Park was gorgeous on a clear (but chilly) fall night, and I was stunned at how beautiful the city and river views were from our seat. At least you've got an amazing view even if the game isn't going so well.

If you ask anyone about Pittsburgh food, one of the things that comes up often is Primanti Brothers, now a mini-chain, which is known for its sandwiches stuffed with French fries, cole slaw, tomatoes, and meat. I think the only time we had ever passed one together, the lines were really long, so it was nice to find an outpost at the ballpark. Love when there's local food at the ballpark. We got the Pittsburgher (cheesesteak) option. Good, solid sandwich choice, but I'm not sure it really lived up to the insane amounts of hype surrounding it.

Since A had had Primanti Brothers before, he also picked up a single order of wings from Quaker Steak and Lube, another chain that has its origins near Pittsburgh. (There are apparently branches not too far away in NJ now, but not sure if they existed back then.) He had had them before, and these were fine. Not the best wings he'd ever had, but fine.

At some point during the game, we also got some chili cheese fries from one of the stands on the upper level. Don't remember anything about them, like whether they were from a local chain or not, or whether we had marked that down in advance to try, but they were probably good, because it's hard to go wrong with chili cheese fries and we love them.

To end the night, despite the fact that it was in the 40s and my hands were freezing, I went for some Dippin' Dots. It's just so hard to not get these at the ballpark, since I can't really get them anywhere else and I really like them. And they were birthday cake flavor, another thing I really like.

When the game ended, we got to witness a spectacular fireworks show with the backdrop of the city behind it. It may have been cold, but it was a pretty nice baseball experience overall. Pittsburgh folks are pretty lucky when it comes to baseball games that they get to go to games in such a gorgeous setting.

Flushing Food Crawl

Considering how many food options there are in Flushing, we don't get out there nearly as often as we should. It's only a (relatively) short trip on the 7 train, yet almost all of it has been unexplored by us. For that reason, for one of our dining resolutions for 2017, we decided we should go on a dumpling crawl in Flushing. Last weekend, we did just that (and can finally check off our first fully completed resolution!).

Our first stop was Tianjin Dumpling House at the Golden Shopping Mall in the basement food court. Out of all of our stops on the food crawl, this was the one we had actually been to before, grabbing some dumplings before a wedding a few years ago in case it was like a typical Chinese wedding and the food wouldn't be served for hours. Their specialty is the lamb and green squash dumplings, although the lamb/carrot and pork/chive ones we got the last time (because they were out of the squash ones) were good too. (Just as a side note, probably best to not think of this as your typical "mall" or mall food court; it's a bunch of stalls in a cramped basement that have been there forever just serving good food.)

Each order of dumplings at Tianjin has 12 dumplings, and they range in price from $4 to $7. Really inexpensive. The lamb and green squash ones were $6, which was a great price for 12 dumplings. They were cooked to order so they did take a little bit of time to get, but they were totally worth it. One of our favorite things about the dumplings was the nice chewy wrapper which had sort of an al dente texture to it. We assume that the wrappers are handmade because you can't get that type of elasticity from a machine-made wrapper, and also because the dumplings are all different sizes.

The dumplings themselves had a mild lamb flavor but not an overpowering gaminess. The green squash added an interesting texture. We didn't get much flavor from the squash, but it added something of a "wetness" to the dumplings that helped ensure that they didn't get too dry. For dipping sauces, this no-frills place doesn't have any pre-prepared sauces available. Instead, they have bottles of soy sauce and vinegar and containers of chili sauce and a green-ish garlic sauce. We have no clue what made it green, but it was delicious and had a really nice sharp, garlicky flavor. This was our first stop of the day, but after discussing, we both agreed that it was the best.

Next up was probably the one we had been most excited about - White Bear. We had wanted to go to White Bear for ages, and every time we saw pictures of the wontons in chili oil, we wondered why we hadn't made it yet. These were also $6 for 12, and they came topped with scallions and some pickled vegetables along with the chili oil. (It's #6 on the menu if it's not obvious.) They were also supposed to have good dan dan noodles there, but we didn't want to overdo it and end our food crawl after two stops, so we didn't get those.

We liked the flavor of these dumplings, but we thought that they would be better. The way some people talk about White Bear, we expected this to be something like a life-changing dumpling experience, and it wasn't. It sounds like maybe our expectations were just too high, but while they were high, there was also the fact that we thought our first set of dumplings from Tianjin were better. The wrappers here were handmade and thinner, like a lot of wonton skins are, but that made them less chewy and in some cases, easier for them to fall off the filling. A couple of our wontons were either broken or broke as we tried to pick them up. Flavor-wise, we noticed that despite the chili oil, they weren't really very spicy at all. We've had wontons or dumplings like this before that were much spicier and thought those had more flavor. These were also on the salty side. The pickled vegetables here added some nice freshness and differentiated it from other dumplings we had in the past, but they also contributed to the saltiness.

We intended for our next stop to be more dumplings, but as we wandered around, we found ourselves in the food court at the New World Mall (this one, a more typical mall and mall food court). We walked around looking at all the stalls and all the many food options until we stopped in our tracks at Cheers Cut. When we were back in Vancouver, we had tried Taiwanese large fried chicken for the first time (post coming eventually in our trip recaps) and it was incredible. We had heard rumors that places in NYC were starting to make this, but didn't really know where to go yet. When we saw that Cheers Cut had large fried chicken, we had to stop the dumpling crawl and get some chicken.

Cheers Cut (apparently with two locations in NYC, as well as one each in Tampa and Philadelphia) had two sizes of large fried chicken - large (samurai) and extra large (ninja). We, of course, went with the ninja ($7.95) so we could try more, and in the choice between pepper and chili topping, went with pepper since it was closer to what we got in Vancouver. In style, it was very similar to what we got in Vancouver (and presumably what they serve in Taiwan, but A never had this there, and M hasn't been to Taiwan) - a chicken breast and thigh flattened into one large piece of chicken, breaded, and deep fried. The dark meat retained some of the bones, even in this flattened form, but there was a mix of white and dark meat in every piece.

While this chicken was good, we preferred the one we got in Vancouver. The breading on that one attached more to the chicken and didn't really get soggy and flake off at all like this one did in parts, there was a little more flavor in the topping, the breading, and the chicken itself in the Canadian one, and the chicken was a little juicier there. That said, until we hear about the location of another Taiwanese large fried chicken joint in NYC, we don't have anything to compare it to in this city, so guess it's the best one for now. Maybe someday there will be other places here to compare, but right now it's much cheaper going to Queens than flying back to Canada.

Our next stop we figured would be one of our last, since it was a full-service restaurant instead of a quick service place - Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao. We were going, obviously, for XLB, but we also heard that they made good scallion pancakes. Since we'd pretty much been eating heavy food without vegetables all day, we also figured we should balance that out with a plate of cucumber and garlic ($4.50). That was nice and refreshing with good garlic flavor, although a couple of pieces of cucumber were a little on the bitter, softer side. It felt really good to eat all those cucumbers though, since we were incredibly dehydrated.

The scallion pancakes ($3.50) came first, since soup dumplings take a little bit of time to make. These were crispier and flakier than the scallion pancakes we're used to getting. Despite the crispy exterior, though, the insides were still soft and chewy just the way we like them. While these were quite good, the ones A's mom makes are better.

The last thing to arrive was the steamer of six pork soup dumplings ($5.95). These were quite delicious. The soup inside was rich and flavorful without being too scalding. The filling was also flavorful and soaked up a lot of the flavor from the soup. The really nice thing was that the wrappers were thinner than most versions you get in NYC. That was always our gripe with the offerings in NYC. While in overall rankings we'd rank higher the ones we got at Din Tai Fung in Asia and others we got in Vancouver, these are probably our favorite of the ones we've tried in NYC. We haven't tried everywhere in NYC though, so we're open to further comparisons, but so far, these are the best we've had here.

After all of that savory food, it was time to end the day with some dessert. We headed back to New World Mall to the food court, as we had been hearing a lot recently about some stall there named Erqal that served Uyghur ice cream. When we went on our walk through the food court earlier, we had seen it and mentally bookmarked it for dessert. With tax, a regular ice cream was only about $3, which was pretty good for such a large cup.

The first thing we noticed about the ice cream was how it was made. There was a giant whirring motor spinning a frozen metal bowl holding the ice cream base. In the bowl was also a large wooden paddle that provided the aeration required to make the ice cream. When it's fully frozen the wooden paddle is then used to scoop out the ice cream into another container so that it resembles a large clump. The ice cream definitely had a different texture from most of the ice cream we usually eat. It had hints of brown sugar and caramel in the flavor, and texturally it wasn't as creamy as any other ice cream we had ever eaten. It was more icy and watery for lack of a better term, and it lent itself to being eaten very quickly. It was an interesting experience, and we really enjoyed the ice cream.

We had a pretty productive day exploring Flushing, trying different foods from all over China, checking off our resolution to go on a dumpling crawl, and even seeing bits of history from the colonial era on our walk, like the Kingsland Homestead. We should definitely explore more neighborhoods in the city more often.

Pome-garita Ville

Last year, we were really invested in Ample Hills' Flavor Frenzy competition, rooting for the ultimate runner-up, Breakfast Trash: Frooty Edition. We were hoping that one would be back in the competition again this year so we could get some more, but sadly it wasn't. It wouldn't have mattered if it made it to the final two again though, since we missed the taste-off weekend because we were in Seattle.

As we followed Flavor Frenzy this year, we found ourselves rooting for a sorbet called Pome-garita Ville, a combination of pomegranate, tequila, Corona, orange, and lime. Unfortunately, just like last year, it lost. (Not liking this pattern.) We figured that since we hadn't ordered any pints during the competition that we probably wouldn't ever have a chance to try it, but we were pleasantly surprised when we showed up at Gotham West last weekend and it was there. It was refreshing, the flavors were bright, and it just seemed like the perfect treat for warm weather. Too bad it didn't win. Hopefully next time, we'll be backing the winner...

Goodbye Milkato

After our last dinner in Naxos, we decided to make another trip to Milkato to say goodbye and grab some more gelato. We had gone previously and gotten two flavors that were really tasty. We opted to try a couple different flavors this night, and from what we remember, they were stracciatella and cookies.

Stracciatella is vanilla gelato striped with chocolate and also flaked with chocolate within. It was incredibly creamy, and at the end of the day chocolate and vanilla are a great combination. The chocolate stripes on top were interesting because since it was striped melted chocolate it "froze" and became like a hard shell. The flakes within were softer and much more like regular chocolate chips you'd find in chocolate chip ice cream.

Cookies was, as we expected, just like cookies and cream ice cream. It was vanilla gelato studded with broken up cookies similar to Oreos. For all we knew it could actually have been Oreos. Cookies and cream is one of our favorite flavors overall, and this was definitely a good one.

We really enjoyed our trips to Milkato, and we hope that they're still around. Their Facebook page hasn't had a new post or picture in a little bit, and that worries us. If it is still there, we highly recommend that you sample the gelato they have to offer. We know we certainly will!

Port Zante

After our lunch at Ballahoo, we strolled around Basseterre some more and made our way back to the ship. M's parents were calling it a day, so after we parted ways, we went off to see more of the village around the port since we hadn't investigated it much earlier in the day beyond buying a couple of postcards. The area was called Port Zante, and not only was it where the cruise ships docked, but there were restaurants, bars, and shops all around the terminal. After a bit, we decided to go for a snack at a place called Scoops (which seemed to support all New England sports teams, but we won't hold that against them). Scoops was a local ice cream shop that, from what we remember, advertised themselves as being completely homemade.

A loves ice cream and it was a pretty hot day, so some ice cream and sorbet sounded great. We tried a couple of flavors and then decided to get a cup with two different flavors. One was Cookie Monster, of which we got two scoops. This was basically cookies and cream with a fudge swirl in it. We also got a scoop of guava sorbet because M really wanted that, thinking that guava would be better in the Caribbean. It was nice since it was so late in the day that they just gave us the rest of the sorbet that was in the tub. The sorbet was more icy than some others because it clearly was made from real fruit. We weren't sure how well they would mesh together in one cup, but they were surprisingly good together.

We also got some ginger ale to drink which was actually made and bottled in St. Kitts. This was good with a really natural ginger flavor, not as strong as the Bruce's one that has real ginger in it. A was hoping there would be more ginger flavor to it but thought it was refreshing and not too sweet. It was very carbonated though, which limited how much of it M could drink.

As we headed back to the ship from Port Zante, some sadness set in as our vacation was ending. This was our last port and soon we would be back on the ship for a few sea days and then back home to cold, gray December. We had a nice time at the ports, even if we didn't get to do everything we would have wanted, and they were definitely one of the highlights of this Quantum trip.

Hop on Pop Ice Cream Shop

We haven't posted in a bit (feels like longer than 9 days), first due to excitement over the Cubs World Series win and then pre-election stress and anxiety that made it hard to focus. But now that we've moved into post-election despair, time to try to restore some sense of normalcy and get back to posting every day if we can. First up, finishing the few recaps we have left from our Orlando trip from 5 years ago, since who knows when we'll be back to Florida next. - M&A

After our day of wandering around Universal Studios Islands of Adventure we decided to get another snack. If you've been reading us consistently, first I'd like to say thanks, and second you know that I really like ice cream. We opted to stop off at Hop on Pop Ice Cream Shop, a Cat in the Hat inspired shop.

The first thing we noted was that, due to its inspiration, the shop itself was very whimsical. M left it to me to order our snack, and I went a touch overboard. One thing that tends to happen on vacation is that we overeat really badly. This was no exception. I opted to get a large waffle cone filled with cookies and cream, topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry.

The ice cream was really rich and creamy and tasted fantastic. It was a good, balanced sweet with just the right amount of broken up cookies. The hot fudge, whipped cream, and cherry seemed a tad excessive, but, again, it was vacation. The waffle cone was nice and crisp, and didn't actually leak that much somehow. While we probably should have gotten a smaller snack, I was more than happy with our choice.

German Chocolate Cake

Ever since our favorite ice cream at Target (the Market Pantry birthday cake flavor) was discontinued, we haven't bought much ice cream there. On a recent trip, we found this German chocolate cake ice cream in the clearance section and figured we would give it a try. Almost all the pints of ice cream in the freezer until this point had been Ample Hills (side note: how have we still not written about their Star Wars ice cream yet?), and we thought it would be fun to try something new (and cheaper).

M's review: This tasted just like chocolate ice cream to me with little hints of coconut and caramel. The caramel flavor wasn't very strong, but I mostly associate German chocolate cake with the flavors of chocolate and coconut, so that was okay with me. This was pretty good chocolate ice cream, but nothing so special that I would put it on our shopping list for our next trip.

A's review: This was a really rich chocolate ice cream with some chocolate chunks and flecks of coconut mixed in. I didn't get any caramel flavor, and the coconut was all but nonexistent. I do like a good chocolate ice cream, and this did taste good for that, but it certainly wasn't a German chocolate cake.

Breakfast Trash

The Ample Hills Flavor Frenzy tournament ended about a month ago, and we're still sad about the results (and still catching up on posts). It was a multi-round bracket tournament between ice cream and sorbet flavors that would lead to one flavor making it back into the permanent rotation for the year. We voted in every round, and the majority of our choices all lost. It was pretty sad. For the last round, the votes were tallied based on how much ice cream sold. We went multiple times to "vote" for our favorite and were pretty invested in our candidate. Which, of course, lost. Sigh.

The battle came down to Peanut Butter 4 President (the reigning champion, who we're hoping can now be retired from competition since it has won twice), a peanut butter cream cheese ice cream with peanut butter chocolate ooey gooey butter cake, and Breakfast Trash: Frooty Edition, a cereal-infused ice cream with clusters of Froot Loops and Fruity Pebbles. We tried both of them, but the Breakfast Trash completely won us over. Not as surprising for me since I seem to like lighter flavors (my favorites there are both marshmallow based ice creams), but for A, a huge lover of peanut butter, to choose Breakfast Trash should prove to you how good it was.

We were completely invested in the Flavor Frenzy tournament (which I'm sure was the goal), which led to me repeatedly refreshing all the social media channels all the time to find out who won. We were hoping we'd be able to get more of that sweet cereal milk ice cream with all the cereal bits in there all year, but as we watched how quickly the peanut butter was selling out at our local location, we became increasingly resigned to the fact that this might be the last time we would be able to get this (unless we got lucky and it made a surprise appearance some other day or unless it made it to the finals next year). When the inevitable news popped up that Peanut Butter 4 President won, we were so sad. Next time, Breakfast Trash. Next time. Until then, we've got some pints of Light Side (we'll write about the Star Wars ice cream soon) in the freezer to console us.

Black and Walt

This summer Ample Hills Creamery, quite possibly our favorite ice cream shop in NYC, introduced a special item to their menus. At first it was only in their Brooklyn locations, but one day they made the announcement that their Black & Walt would be making an appearance at their Gotham West outpost, and M knew what she had to do. On her way over she asked A whether she should get one for the both of them to share or if she should just get them one each. The answer from A was pretty obvious, one each.

The Black & Walt is an ice cream sandwich made with Ample Hills' vanilla malted ice cream slicked with malted fudge with one of Brooklyn's Baked Bakery's black and white cookies and an unfrosted black and white cookie sandwiching it and then covered in malted chocolate crunchies.

This was, easily, one of the best ice cream sandwiches either of us had ever eaten. In fact, it's quite possibly THE best either of us had eaten. A noted previously that he was not sure he had ever eaten a real black and white cookie before, but he certainly has now. The only issue is that, because of all of the other delicious ingredients, you don't taste the cookie as much if you eat everything together. You get a hint of citrus from the cookies, and the white and chocolate frosting are really sweet and chocolatey, respectively. The vast majority of the rest of the flavors are malted, and you can certainly taste the rich malt flavor. At first neither of us realized that there was a fudge ripple in the middle. We thought it was just part of the chocolate frosting from the cookie, but once we got a little hit of malt, we knew we were wrong.

A couldn't figure out what his favorite part was as he really just loved this ice cream sandwich. M knew immediately that the crunchies with the ice cream would be her favorite, and after eating it she confirmed that. It's like the best parts of a Carvel ice cream cake, but even better. She prefers ice cream to ice cream sandwiches since she finds the sandwiches harder to eat, which is why she was hoping to try the Crushin' on Walt ice cream flavor this summer. A companion to the Black & Walt, this was vanilla malted ice cream with fudge swirls, cocoa crispies, and pieces of black and white cookies. For M, this would be like eating a Black & Walt but not in the sandwich form - perfect! Unfortunately we haven't been able to try this yet, but hopefully it will still be around after the summer.

Overall, we both really liked the sandwich combination, but we agreed that A liked it more. Ice cream sandwiches are more his thing. The Black & Walt was a great menu addition for the summer, and we'll probably check it out again if it comes back. This is the last weekend it's going to be out at Ample Hills, so try it while you can!

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

The main purpose of our visit to Baltimore back in 2010 was to go to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. I had been once before when I spent a summer in Baltimore, but it was A's first time at the ballpark. We still hope to someday visit all of the MLB ballparks, so this was another one we could check off our list.

From what I remembered from my last visit (which was over 10 years earlier), the food at Camden Yards was interesting with crab cakes and other Chesapeake area favorites. I didn't remember eating much on my last visit, but hoped we'd find something interesting this time. At the very least, we got some Old Bay seasoning packets for free, so that was a nice Baltimore souvenir!

It's been 5 years, so I don't remember if we couldn't find the crab cakes or other Baltimore favorites, or if they were just too expensive to try. In any event, we started with some turkey and pork sandwiches from Boog's BarBQ, which was named after and owned by Boog Powell, a former Orioles player. They were good, but not as amazing as we thought they would be from some of the rave reviews we read at the time.

We also picked up a half smoke from somewhere, which we thought would be like the chili-covered dogs we got from Ben's Chili Bowl at Nationals Park. (Those are so good.) It wasn't. It was just a charred hot dog with some peppers and onions on a bun. It was fine, but not what we were hoping for.

Partway through the game, we got so fed up with all the screaming Red Sox fans (seriously 90% of the ballpark was Red Sox fans) so we went to get some more food from The Greene Turtle, a ballpark location of the Baltimore sports bar. We picked up some Boardwalk fries (standard fries, although they had skin on them and did taste like potato, which was good) and some cheeseburger sliders (pretty good but not amazing, although it was nice to have the grilled onions).

We also got some ice cream treats at Carvel. We have Carvel at home but some soft serve on a hot summer night is always good.

We were happy that we tried a bunch of different eats at Camden Yards, but we didn't have anything amazing during our visit to Oriole Park. Looking at the ballpark options now, I see all these things we would have wanted to try back then, like crab mac and cheese hot dogs and crab dip-topped waffle fries. If these were all there 5 years ago, then we completely missed them despite walking all around the park surveying the food options. All I know is that we need to return to Baltimore at some point for some more delicious Maryland crab!