Loyal to Ben and Jerry’s

I am an impulsive person who enjoys sweets way too much. This becomes a problem when you’re trying to save money and not to indulge yourself every time you pass by the ice cream or candy aisles at the grocery store. Buying a chocolate bar once in a while seems fine, but when you start to regularly spend over $7 on ice cream and sweets, or worse, when you spend $10 on frozen yogurt because you were feeling too generous with yourself, it’s time to set some boundaries. That’s why I’ve developed a reward system for myself: when I get through a particularly rough week, whether because of mental health issues or school requirements, I treat myself to a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (a different flavor each time), and maybe something else if I feel like I deserve it. Throughout my college years, I’ve tried a myriad of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavors, but have yet to find a favorite that is not limited edition. I’ve had Strawberry Cheesecake (delicious, in my top 5), Red Velvet Cake (disappointing), Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (not as good as Haagen Dazs), Pumpkin Cheesecake (definitely my favorite, though sadly, it was a limited edition flavor), Salted Caramel Core (good but not as good as I hoped), Americone Dream (in my top 5), Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Core (also in my top 5), and more that I can’t remember right now, but this leads me to this week’s current Ben and Jerry’s flavor endeavor.

As some of you may have read in my Currently Listening piece last week, I had several major assignments all due in the same week (update: no all-nighters! Though I didn’t get anywhere near the recommended eight hours of sleep per night). After turning in the last assignment on Thursday, I spent the train ride home deciding whether to treat myself to ice cream or not, and then I remembered I received my paycheck that same day and suddenly it didn’t seem debatable anymore.

When I exited the train, I walked right into the bodega, straight to their ice cream section and searched for a flavor that I had yet to try and that seemed appealing (sorry to Cherry Garcia fans, I’m just not a fan of cherries). Although I hadn’t tried several of the flavors available, none of them seemed like the right choice, then my eyes landed on a pint of Half Baked ice cream. Half Baked had always seemed like every cookie dough lover’s wet dream, yet I’d never gotten around to trying it. As my hand reached for the pint, my eyes landed on something even better than Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream: Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked Froyo. As much as I love ice cream, I am a firm froyo enthusiast, and so my hand quickly changed course and grabbed the newly found pint (in my excitement, I accidentally caused a second pint of froyo to fall). As of now, I have only had a few spoonfuls of it (I would’ve eaten it all on Thursday had it not been for an incident involving a pack of Pepperidge Farm S’mores Cookies that I will not get into,  but moral of that story is: if I never have another S’mores cookie, it’ll be too soon). Even though I’ve barely had any, I can already tell this flavor will land in my top 5 flavors, and I assure you that the froyo will all be gone before this post sees the light of day.

-L