Five-Year Anniversary Blog (Post #200)

Welcome to the clip show.

Back in September, this blog hit a landmark. For five years now, I have documented my favorite desserts and sweets discovered in my travels and on the grocery store shelves. In celebration, I have revisited each blog post, cleaned up typos, added some photos (and will add even more!) and added follow-up notes of reflection.

My hope is that you will check this blog when you travel to see what I recommend in your destination city. And if I haven't written about that particular place, I hope you sample the best and report back, maybe even write a guest blog. Below are some of my favorites, but you can check out more by clicking the newly created “Top 20 to Visit” tag.  Please return soon because some of my “Top 20 to Visit” will be featured in blogs that will appear the next few weeks.

Favorite Ice Cream 

Brown Butter

Toscanini’s (Cambridge, MA)

Favorite Doughnut 

French Toast

Mighty-O (Seattle, WA)

Favorite Chocolate 

Toscano Blond, 63% Dark Chocolate with Peach and Apricot

Amadei (Tuscany, Italy; available in fine chocolate stores)

Favorite Fancy Dessert 

Mile-High Blackberry Ice Cream Pie

Skyland and Big Meadows Resort (Skyline Drive, VA)

Honorable Mention
Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream
Creole Creamery* (New Orleans, LA)

But this blog hasn’t simply been about food. Part of the goal has been making you laugh along the way. Here is a short list of my favorite posts that were purely humorous in content, followed by some of my favorite lines.

Favorite Humorous Blog Posts

• "Ice Cream Talk with Oscar-winners"
• "Something Delicious This Way Comes"
• "A Different Game of Squash"
• "Somewhere David Lynch is Smiling"

Favorite Lines

• The greater Seattle area is famous for many things, including a heroin-addicted rock star and, fittingly, a giant needle. (“Seattle is not an Ice Cream City”)
• …my father and I took our time deciding what flavors to try on our once-in-a-lifetime trip through Missoula, even though it was 9pm and we were standing in falling snow.   (“A Growl of Approval”)
• To describe eating this flavor in earthly vocabulary seems unbefitting of the transcendental experience. It would be better if instead I lead you in some guided meditation. (“One Last Taste Before I (Chica)go”)
• If my anatomy were the solar system, my stomach would be the sun. (“Toft’s Ice cream”)
• The correct way to eat a Belgian waffle is au naturel—the waffle, not the consumer. (“Brussels’ Best Deal”)
• Picasso believed in two things: ice cream and zombies. (“Cubism or Zombies”)
• …apparently the most hygienic cicada preparation has not been fully researched. (“Cicada Ice Cream”)
• I thought if I were to die a terrible boiled-alive death, that I hoped never to be made into a kitschy ice-cream flavor. (This line was written by a guest blogger for a “Field Report.”) (“Lobster Ice Cream”)
• George Washington Carver was a bit of a one trick pony. (“Speculoos Spread”)
• When I saw the word speculoos on a pint of ice cream, I got so excited I began weeping loudly and tossing dollar bills at the freezer. (“Häagen-Dazs Class of 2012”)

* The title of this post, "Fleur-de-lis-cious," is easily my favorite from the past five years.