| Have you ever tried Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Chocolate | | | | company, the flavors, and fun facts about Ben & |
| Chunk ice cream? If you don't have a Ben & Jerry's | | | | Jerry's. One wall had a timeline of the company's |
| Scoop Shop where you live, then your answer, I'm | | | | "greatest moments". Just the reading material kept me |
| sorry to say, will most likely be no. If I can blame Ben | | | | coming back, though I admit, I'm one of those people |
| and Jerry's for one thing, it's this... They get you | | | | who'll be happy to read the back of a cereal box if |
| addicted to a flavor, and you can't get it anywhere | | | | there's nothing else around to fasten my eyes |
| else. How's that for a marketing ploy?I stumbled onto a | | | | onto.The staff -- at least at the Ben & Jerry's we |
| Scoop Shop while I was vacationing in Cape Cod. For | | | | frequented -- was great. They were friendly, efficient, |
| better or for worse, the shop was about a two minute | | | | and even went so far as to assure me that the |
| drive from the hotel where my husband and I were | | | | sundae's calories would all be negated if I went ahead |
| staying, so every night after the beach, we'd be more | | | | and ordered that Diet Coke. Now that's service.And |
| than ready for Ben & Jerry's.As anyone who's ever | | | | what else can I say? The waffle cones are made |
| tried their packaged pints can tell you, Ben & Jerry's | | | | fresh daily. The toppings are superb and varied -- you |
| has wonderful ice cream. Preservatives beware. This | | | | can even get a cookie sundae. The hot fudge is |
| is the real stuff, as signs around the store proudly | | | | smooth and hot, which is more than I can say for |
| proclaim. The proof is, of course, in the taste.The | | | | many an ice cream stand. And to top it off, they even |
| quality of the ice cream is exceptional. It is perfectly | | | | had a no sugar added flavor each night, which was |
| textured -- creamy, and smooth, and creamy. Oh, and | | | | perfect for my husband, who can't have refined |
| did I mention that it's very, very creamy? Their vanilla is | | | | sugars. You can even buy Ben & Jerry's tee-shirts and |
| probably the best tasting vanilla I've encountered in my | | | | mugs, though I personally, would rather shell out my |
| extensive ice cream travels...and wait until you see the | | | | money for ice cream.If that's not enough, well then you |
| size of the chunks in their Vanilla Chocolate | | | | might like to know what a community-friendly bunch |
| Chunk.What's nice about Ben & Jerry's is the variety | | | | that Ben & Jerry's are. The company is big on giving |
| of their flavors. Although I'm pretty much a vanilla and | | | | back to the communities that make them money. |
| or chocolate kind of gal, even I couldn't resist reading all | | | | Check out some of the pamphlets available at the |
| the descriptions of their flavors. They're amazingly | | | | scoop shop, or their web site. You can even subscribe |
| inventive, and worth a second glance, if not a taste. | | | | to an electronic Ben & Jerry's newsletter.There are |
| Even the names are one hundred percent original. | | | | only two negatives that I found. One is that some |
| Chubby Hubby. Phish Food. Chunky Monkey. Don't | | | | flavors are only available at the Scoop Shops and are |
| forget the classic New York Super Fudge Chunk, and | | | | not prepackaged in pints. Alas, such is the case with |
| who could resist a flavor named after Jerry Garcia? | | | | my beloved Vanilla Chocolate Chunk. I won't be seeing |
| There is even an ice cream with little chocolate cows | | | | it until vacation next year (though happily, Chocolate |
| in it. Now how's that for originality? The point is that | | | | Fudge Brownie is available in my grocer's freezer). The |
| there's something at Ben & Jerry's for everyone. If you | | | | other negative is the price. Take out a second |
| can't find a flavor there that you like, then the quest is | | | | mortgage before you order that hot fudge sundae, |
| hopeless.For the health conscious, Ben & Jerry's also | | | | because these prices are steep. For one waffle cone, |
| offers low fat yogurts, some in many of the same | | | | and one small dish, my husband and I shelled out over |
| flavors as the ice cream, and sorbets in luscious | | | | six dollars.I do have to give them credit for one thing |
| tropical fruit flavors. Why not pick a sorbet flavor and | | | | though. As steep as the prices may be, I can assure |
| have it made into a smoothie? What better treat on a | | | | you -- you'll enjoy every penny's worth. After all, I think I |
| hot summer afternoon?But ice cream aside (as if | | | | found the meaning of life -- in an ice cream flavor.Lisa |
| that's possible), the Scoop Shops are just plain old fun. | | | | is an author on which is a site for Poetry Contests. |
| The tables are plastered with information about the | | | | |