TGIM @ Ben & Jerry's...Buy 1 Get 1 Sundaes

Mondays are never fun but they are now at Ben & Jerry's all summer long! All you have to do is mention this offer of "Buy One Get One Free Sundaes on Mondays " at participating Ben & Jerry's until August 31st and you can buy one sundae and get one free...TGIM!

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Ben & Jerry's "Do the World a Flavor" Contest

Seriously, with the sunshiney months upon us, ice cream events are starting to pop up all over!

You've got a couple of weeks for this one...Ben & Jerry's is sponsoring another flavor contest: Do the World a Flavor. Like flavor contests past, you have to use their fun site to choose a base, chunks, a swirl, and a name (and design the packaging if so inclined) and you're done! Oh, that is until you win -- then we want a full report!

Seventeen countries are participating in this contest. They are: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom ("UK") and the United States.

Prizes are as follows (text below is directly from Ben & Jerry's Official Rules):

Second Prizes: One (1) per country (17 total): Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Prize awarded in the form of 12 Ben & Jerry's coupons each good for 1 pint of ice cream.
First Prizes: One (1) per country (17 total): A trip for the winner to the Dominican Republic. Trip includes round trip coach airfare for one (including applicable sales and airport taxes) from internal airport nearest winners home and hotel for 6 days. Trip also includes three (3) meals per day for six (6) days and ground transportation.
Grand Prize: One (1) Grand Prize winner awarded to one of the First Prize winners. The winner's flavor launched as the 2010 global flavor. Flavor will be produced as a pint for Europe and Turkey and as a limited Edition Scoop Shop Flavor for US, Mexico, HK and Singapore. Grand Prize has no monetary value.

All this is being done to promote their fair trade efforts, for which we give a big thumbs up. Visit us in coming weeks for future fair trade ice cream posts!

1 can gets ya 1 scoop for 1 buck @ Ben & Jerrys...Tues, 3/24

Sort of last minute but if you have a Ben & Jerry's nearby swing on in Tuesday, March 24th and donate one (or more is accepted of course) non-perishable food item and receive a scoop for $1! What's better than that, getting a scoop for a buck and doing good for others.

All donations will be supplied to your community's local food bank.

Yes, Pecan.

Today, more than a million joined together in the nation's capital to welcome in the 44th president of the United States. If you were not among those out there in the bitter cold, have no fear...you too can simulate the cold by enjoying in our favorite treat -- ice cream!

A while back we shared with you someone's idea for Yes, Pecan ice cream, and Ben and Jerry's has finally, um, created it (truthfully, in all actuality B&J has simply renamed their butter pecan ice cream for the month of January)! For the remainder of the month, stop by your nearest scoop shop for the buttery ice cream with roasted pecans. Added bonus: All proceeds from the sale of Yes, Pecan will be donated to Common Cause, "a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest." (from the Common Cause "About Us" page)

Well, I am off to watch the parade on TV. I love parades!

(Image from the commoncause.org webpage.)

TO DO TODAY: 1. Vote 2. Eat Ice Cream

For the first time in the history of this blog, we are telling you to put the ice cream eating second. Just for today. First thing today, go out and vote. On your way back from the polls, head over to Ben & Jerry's to get your free scoop! Happy Election Day! May the best flavor win!

Candidates for Ice Cream, or Ice Cream for Candidates?

Out of curiousity (or boredom? -- I am waiting for the few trick or treaters who actually walk up the large hill of our dead end street...yes, it will be a long night) I did a Google search for "[candidate name] ice cream" and here are some of my favorites.

Back in the early days of the 2008 race for the White House, slate.com got us excited for a new flavor idea for Ben & Jerry's, Yes, Pecan!...this name was thought up by Aaron Nathan. Or was it? Rumor (or comments below) suggest this was on the Obama site some while before Aaron's submission, but it seems that Aaron was not aware of this when he came up with the idea in the library. Either way, it's a great name and flavor idea, and we wish B&J would make it! Go here for the rest of the story and some other great Obama ice cream names.

Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 called for entries Photoshopping John McCain...the first entry (and undoubtedly our favorite) involved McCain and a big ice cream cone...if only I could be John McCain in that photo.

Not much of note on Sarah Palin and ice cream. Turns out she is a fan of Moosetracks Ice Cream. According to the LA Times, that's what the Republican VP chose when she, John, and Cindy stopped at an ice cream shop in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Big news on the Sarah Palin/Ice Cream front. To make this banal story a little more interesting, the Denver Latest Word Blog notes a little faux pas made by the Denver Post: Apparently, in a story about a crash into a Baskin Robbins, someone mistakenly inserted Sarah Palin's picture instead of the scene of the crash. Nah, still not much more interesting.

Whatdy'a know Joe? In Biden/ice cream news, the basic story is that Joe Biden has been to a lot of ice cream shops. As the SeattlePi puts it "[Biden] is simply out there visiting ice cream parlors and keeping his famous mouth shut except for a lick or two after a couple of somewhat embarrassing gaffes -- a tendency for which he has been notorious throughout his career." (from "The Disappearing Joe Biden", Dan K. Thomasson, Seattlepi.com). Now there's nothing wrong with that, Joe. We've been known to shove ice cream in our mouths too, instead of risking making inappropriate comments.

If you haven't decided on your candidate yet, maybe your favorite ice cream story can help you shed some light!

"Yes, Pecan" image from Slate.com and McCain/ice cream photo from Indecision2008.com.

Scoopalicious Count Down to Election Day

As NPR reminded me every few minutes today, Election Day is in five, count 'em, FIVE days. As with any event, we do have the incredible talent of connecting it to ice cream, so for the next five days and all posts will be connected to the election. And then, for four more years, no more election talk...

OK, to start off the countdown, we want to remind you that if you vote our friend at Ben & Jerry's are giving out free ice cream! All you have to do? Show up at a participating Ben & Jerry's on November 4 between 5 and 8. (Apparently their original plan was to offer free scoops to only the people who voted, but since there seems to be a legal issue in doing so, they changed the event to an "everyone welcome" election day party, which makes it nice too for the under eighteen crowd.) Either way, if you are eighteen or older, I think you should still play by the original rules, show your patriotism, and vote! (This Google map makes it easy to find out where you vote this coming Tuesday, so no "I didn't know where my poling place was" excuses!)

As American as apple pie? We think not. As American as ice cream.

Ben and Jerry's Factory Tour

Sometimes I act just like a kid: I get so excited for something that when it finally happens, I am a little bit disappointed. That happened on Friday. Seeing as I love to see how things are made and I love ice cream, I had hyped up the Ben and Jerry's tour so much in my head and when we finally went on it, it just wasn't as wonderful as I expected.

The tour was quick, crowded and pretty standard. It started off with a quick film about the history and the 3-part-mission (which I really admired) of Ben and Jerry's and then our lively tour guide took us through the plant for the eight step process of making the ice cream (each step was labeled in the factory room as we looked down from the catwalk and she talked us through it). Our tour ended with a small scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

I do have to say, as a collector of ice cream paraphernalia, I did enjoy the gift shop! (I can either look at it as being unfortunate for my collection or lucky for my wallet that the shop is currently unavailable online!)

Afterwards we visited the flavor graveyard up on the hill, which was kind of fun and it inspired me to create my own flavor graveyard beginning with brother-in-law Liam's Lime Spoom. [Appropriately, at our next stop to the Rock of Ages (a great tour, I might add), I was able to pick up some flat granite scraps to use for this purpose!]

I couldn't take pictures for you on the actual tour, but I did manage to get a couple on the grounds and some photos-allowed sites.

Bethany and Kevin as Ben and Jerry

Bethany coming out of a carton of ice cream?
(It's really just an ice cream carton podium
in the sample room.)

I did have fun with my parents, husband, sister and brother-in-law, so spending time with them was well worth it...! Wished my little sister was there too, but alas, she was enjoying her own ice cream down in Virginia, and hopefully she'll be guesting with a field report soon! (Thanks, Arianna!)

Today, July 1, is Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day

We start July off with National Ice Cream Month as well as today being Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. What could be finer?

Many things come to mind with Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. It brings back to mind the list I made a while back of the Top 10 Craziest Ice Cream Flavors. In the meantime, Arianna sent another good one: Thai Black Bean Ice Cream.

This also makes me want to visit Udder Delight Ice Cream House and Jeni's Ice Cream which were also in that post and certainly had some very creative flavors. If you live near Rehoboth Beach, Deleware or Columbus, Ohio, today might be the day to pay them a visit!

I think my most creative flavors have been:

1. Lisa's White Chocolate Cranberry Cookie Crunch (I promise to post this recipe soon!)
2. Vanilla Bean Jelly Bean (OK, maybe I just like the name the best!)
3. Shirley Temple Ice Cream
   

There are a couple of good ones in the works, but I don't want to post them until they are tried and true!

What is the most creative flavor you have ever tried or made? Post a reply and let us know (be sure to include your email) and enter for a chance to win a coupon for a free pint of Ben and Jerry's! Change of date: Let us know by this Saturday, July 5.

It's Free (or Cheap) Ice Cream Week!

It's that time of year again...back in 1979, to celebrate their first anniversary, one Vermont ice cream company decided to have a free cone day. As you know, it's all about keeping up with the Joneses. Lucky for us, two other companies followed suit and this week, starting Tuesday, you can hop from shop to shop and get your fill of ice cream!

Tuesday it's free cone day at Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shops! Stop by, but be prepared to stand in line, because this freebie always draws mad crowds.

Wednesday, search under your couch cushions for loose change. If you find 31¢, you're in luck...take your 31¢ and head over to participating Baskin-Robbins between 5 and 10pm to take your pick of their 31 flavors...a scoop is only gonna cost you one quarter, one nickel, and one penny (Or three dimes, and a penny. Or thirty one pennies. You get my drift.)

Thursday, head over to Carvel after work for some caffeine and cream. Carvel is offering a free arctic blender or blended coffee.

Friday, no free ice cream, but buck up. There's only one day until the weekend.

Win a Year of Ben and Jerry's and Reddi-Wip

Table for Five is holding a contest on their blog for all you ice cream sundae lovers out there...a year's worth of Reddi-wip whipped cream and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Enter here by 9:00 AM on Tuesday, April 29th! Good luck!

A special thank you to Table for Five for offering such a great contest!