Thursday, August 11, 2005

Dulce de Licious!

I used to be an ice-creamaholic back in India. I've visited the Arun ice-cream in Ashok Nagar countless times and a cup of vanilla ice-cream was a given at the end of the meal at any hotel. Digging into the small ice-cream cup with the distinctive, small wooden spoon was a simple pleasure I remember very well.

But it was always cups for me. I was never a cone ice-cream fan. I've bought a few cone ice-creams when I was out with friends since eating the cone somehow looked cooler and more macho than eating from a cup(the tiny spoon didn't help). Even the shopkeeper looked at me with disdain if I ordered a cup! But I was never able to finish the scoop in the cone before it melted. So my attempts usually ended up with me twisting and turning the cone in a mad race to lick the ice cream up from all sides before it dripped down my hand. And I always lost the race. I realized soon enough that that looked way less cool and manly than eating from a cup! The kuchi ice was worse. Without the buffer of the cone, I was forced to lick even more furiously to keep the ice-cream on the kuchi until I finished it. Needless to say, I wasn't a kuchi ice fan either.

Strangely, I've never been big on ice-creams all these years in the US. I've bought a few cans of ice-cream but after a couple of scoops, they ended up in the back of the freezer, frozen and forgotten. I've also tried out the ice-creams at stores like Baskin-Robbins but never got hooked.

And then I found Cold Stone Creamery. Their Banana Caramel Crunch made me exclaim that it was the best ice-cream I've ever had and made me return to the store for more. More importantly, it helped me zero in on the one ingredient that made the ice-cream taste so mouth-wateringly yummy to me - caramel. So I went to the grocery stores hunting for ice-creams with caramel. After a few tries, I finally landed upon Dreyers Dulce de Leche, which is caramel ice-cream with swirls of golden caramel. With two caramels, how could I go wrong?! I didn't. It tastes amazingly good and has me completely hooked. Even since I started buying it, my day isn't over until I have a couple of scoops of it.

I'm having it even as I'm typing this and as the caramel and the ice-cream together melt in my mouth, I'm truly in ice-cream heaven...

15 Comments:

At 11:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I'm having it even as I'm typing this and as the caramel and the ice-cream together melt in my mouth, I'm truly in ice-cream heaven..."

Idhukku Paer thaan VAYATHA-erichal-a kottikardhu!!!!!

my favorite haunt is Cool Cats in Adayar...andha butter-scotch crunch irukkey...en favorite Aish-cream adhu thaan!! here in the US, i really havent had many ice-creams...like the "simple" vanilla with chocolate sauce and nuts @ baskin robbins...

 
At 2:30 AM, Blogger Kaps said...

Haagen Dazs also has a similar flavour.........why are u reminding us about ice creams when the weekend is round the corner. I'm trying hard to keep away from it.

 
At 4:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

BB, can't beat Namma Real Ice-cream (Santa Clara)..Their homemade Indian Ice-creams are simply awesome!They have an impressive list of indigenous flavors - Pistachio, Mango Kulfi just to name a few..And their chaats are also very good! :-)

 
At 6:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you're a caramel fan, try Haagen Daaz's Dulce de Leche - the best ever! Haven't tried Dreyer's you talk about but do give HD a try!

 
At 6:22 AM, Blogger Me too said...

I love Dairy Queen(esp. Brownie Earthquake!!)! Om cream cream... Ice cream cream!!!

 
At 6:57 AM, Blogger Munimma said...

My favorite kind is the one with choc. syrup and nuts :-) - butter pecan with choc.and caramel syrup. out of this world! One of the reasons I like fried ice cream.

Try Gelattos (Italian ice crean), they taste like the Indian ones. lighter than here. TGI Friday has a brownie ice cream thingie, it is sooooo good!

 
At 8:26 AM, Blogger Raju said...

Nice nice nice.. I LOVE ICE-creams.. FYI, I have just written a post on ice-cream and me.. check out

 
At 11:51 AM, Blogger Balaji said...

ram, if u like caramel, do give dulce... a shot...

prasanna, the list of places to visit in chennai seems to be growing! i remember hearing a lot of these places on the last trip too but didn't make it... and u had such a lame excuse for not taking me... something about u getting married!! :-)
and the news is dulce de leche for my ears :)

kaps, LOL. hope u give in to the temptation :)

vijays, my wife is a huge fan of their chaats. i'm ok with them. i think the only flavor i've tried there is mango. was quite yummy...

anon, will do. i don't think i've seen HD's version but if i spot it, i'll surely pick it up when i buy my next can :)

me too, LOL @ om cream cream... i used to be a big dairy queen fan when i was in MO. but don't remember seeing any in the bay area. not sure if it doesnt have stores here or i just didn't notice them...

munimma, fried icecream?? i remember eating something like that at an ethiopian place. kinda like a fried vadai with ice cream inside... that what u r talking about?
gelattos... will try to remember that. only prob is, italian dinners r so heavy i never order dessert!

 
At 1:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

balaki, irrespective of the flavor Haagen daaz is the best in Ice creams in US. The mere texture of their ice creams puts other brands to shame. Just melts in your mouth. Try their Mango, or your Dulche de leche or pretty much any flavor you like. Wont last long in your freezer , if you are an inc cream connoisseur :-)

 
At 1:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That was me, last post. I must admit though that in Madras the flavours/varities for creams appear to be countless, all having some very inventive names better sounding than the ones here in US :-)

 
At 9:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Balaji, in Mt. View downtown (Castro St?), there in an Italian Gelato place. And there's a pretty good Chinese place there. Tien Fu, I think (Gosh, I have to clean some of the junk from my head!). So maybe Chinese followed by gelato for dessert? Gelato is pretty light. So unlike Coldstone, you can go in with a full tank and not feel bloated coming out :-)

Check out the 'Indian' flavors at Real. Used to be yummy. And they are eggless, which is an automatic winner with my parents.

For the most part, hate Baskin Robbins. DQ is ok. Maybe it's the flavors I've tried, but they always seem too sweet and not 'milky' enough. Like Ben & Jerrys, and Haagen Daazs better.

 
At 11:49 PM, Blogger Balaji said...

vijay, its decided now. i'm buying HD's dulce de leche next :)
and that defly wasn't the case when i was in madras few yrs ago!

prakash, also got a reco about a malay place near castro. castro st sure is a food conoisseur's delight. can find pretty much anything there...

 
At 1:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Plain Strawberry...when I get around to it :)

 
At 12:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cool blog, interesting information... Keep it UP »

 
At 12:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

you should try dulce de leche cake from lucky which was earlier called albertsons in the bay area. awesome cake.

 

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