ICE CREAM TASTING: JAPANESE EDITION

You would think that 39 flavors would be enough. You would think that after spending my summer eating ice cream that I would have had my fill. Well, if you thought that, you were wrong.

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GOAL SET, JOB ACCOMPLISHED!

When we finished trying the last three flavors at , I wanted to hear Queen blasting We Are the Champions, balloons being released and confetti to be shot out of a canon. and I wanted to celebrate! 39 flavors! We did it! We didn’t get confetti canons, but we were able to get a behind the scene tour of the Twist N Shout.

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THE FINAL THREE!

You’re closing!? I can’t bear to look!

You won’t be open until the spring!? I’m not listening, I can’t hear this!

It’s over? No more ice cream!? Don’t say such things!

I can’t hear such things! We finally reached the end of our journey. Our has finally come to a close. With the final three flavors to try at , it seemed appropriate to have Wyandotte Mayor Joseph Peterson join us for this momentous event. But our last tasting almost never happened.

I had scheduled the tasting with the mayor weeks in advance. Everything was all set and then I saw on Facebook that Twist N Shout was closing for the season two weeks earlier than I had anticipated. No! This can’t be! We still had three flavors left to try! Luckily, the mayor was able to change his schedule and meet us at noon on the last day of their season, Sept. 24.

So we went ahead and booked it not realizing that Twist N Shout didn’t open until 3 p.m. Oh man, I should have thought this through. My ice cream finale was falling apart at an exponential rate. But alas, the great staff at Twist N Shout agreed to open early for us, preventing me from asking the mayor to change his schedule yet again. Finally, everything was in place.

When we pulled up and got out of the car, there was a sense of finality in the air. It was cool out, but the sky was blue and the sun felt warm on my face. It was the beginning of a perfect fall day. It really was perfect. We were officially saying goodbye to summer by closing the Twist N Shout adventure, but saying hello to fall with a beautiful, sunny fall day.

While workers made the ice cream for us, we discussed some of the previous flavors–the highs, the lows and the surprises. And then, they brought out the last three flavors–peach, black cherry and strawberry. The mayor chose black cherry, Aya picked strawberry and I got stuck with peach.

We normally do our tasting quietly off to the side by ourselves, but this time, we had an audience. There were five or six employees there, along with the two owners, Larry and Kathy Spiers (whom I had never met before). The pressure was on. Was I sweating because I was nervous or because of the sun?

Strawberry

This is one of the most typical ice cream flavors. It’s always in the Neapolitan trio of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. I’m actually surprised that no one selected it before and it made it to the end. Would it live up to the high ratings the and got, though? Sometimes it’s good to save the best for last. I really loved this strawberry and gave it 5 plastic spoons! However, Aya and the mayor thought it lacked that extra oomph and gave it 4.5 plastic spoons.

Peach

I wasn’t expecting this to be that great. I thought it would be weak in its intensity and be boring. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of peaches. I like them, but I don’t love them. And as we’ve seen through this whole series, personal preference plays into the mix a whole bunch. But, it did have a lot of flavor. It did have intensity. It did taste like peach, or at least it tasted like peach-flavored things. The mayor and I gave it 4 spoons, while Aya gave it 3. I also learned that if a flavor isn’t as strong as you like it, just ask them to make it stronger and they can do that.

Black Cherry

I was worried there would be no difference between black cherry and . I got them so confused so many times when looking at the menu. But they are very different. In my opinion, blackberry was much better. But black cherry did indeed taste like black cherry. Aya gave it 3 spoons and I gave it 4 spoons. This was the mayor’s favorite. He liked this more than the strawberry and gave it 5 spoons! He also said that when he comes back next season, he would order this instead of his usual chocolate. That was until Larry had him try the strawberry malt shake. After he tried that, he declared, “This is the mayor’s choice!” And once more before he left, he reminded the staff: “Don’t forget. The strawberry malt shake is the mayor’s choice.”

Well folks, we did it! at Twist N Shout. While this last tasting did not include , , , or , it did have three great flavors and two 5-plastic-spoon ratings!

Check back tomorrow for my final thoughts and to see what I learned from this project. And maybe, just maybe, we all learned a thing or two.

SLIM PICKIN’S WITH ONLY SIX FLAVORS LEFT

With six flavors remaining to choose from, it probably wasn’t very thrilling to be one of the remaining guests for our taste-test adventure at .

But Wyandotte Board of Education member Stephanie Miello confidently chose Crème De Menthe. Stephanie was sworn in as a new member of the school board in July. It seems the school year is off to great start with

Of the six remaining flavors, there were three stinkers in the mix, in my opinion. I wanted to end our taste test next week on a good note, so I was hoping we’d try the three suspected stinkers for this trip. But it all depended on what Stephanie chose. When she chose the Crème De Menthe, it was decided. We would try the three dreaded flavors–Crème de menthe, peppermint and coconut. I’ve never been so unexcited to try ice cream before. But this was our job, and we must complete the mission.

Peppermint

I was expecting peppermint to be like mint chocolate chip, but without the chocolate chips. I don’t hate it, but I’m not really a fan. I was assuming it would be green, but I was very surprised when it was served up red. Not a diluted pink red, it was red and it looked like it was going to burn my mouth. I didn’t think I could taste something else . But I was wrong. It tasted like angry candy canes that had circled around me and started calling me names while they punched my taste buds. “Hey jerk face! You thought black licorice was mean!? Think again!” Stephanie described the flavor like chewing on a mouthful of pine needles. Stephanie and I gave it a zero, and Aya have it two spoons.

Coconut

If you like coconut flavored things, you’ll like this. If you hate coconut, like me, you’ll hate this flavor, too. However, when tasting this directly after trying peppermint, this tasted heavenly. This got two spoons across the board.

Crème De Menthe

If you like mint chocolate chip, this would be very similar to that, minus the chocolate chips. After tasting the other two, this tasted by far the best. I’m not a big fan of the mint flavor in ice cream. I feel like someone put a tube of Crest in the freezer and decided to eat it. And then in a desperate fashion to fancy it up, they added chocolate chips to it. I’ll eat it, I just don’t get it. It’s like eating ice cream and brushing your teeth at the same time. Aya gave it 3.5 spoons, while Stephanie and I gave it only 3 plastic spoons.

The quest of trying all 39 flavors is finally coming to an end. Check back next week for the final three flavors.

PAY ATTENTION, EAT MORE ICE CREAM!

One way to avoid going to the principal’s office is by taking him out for free ice cream. We invited Principal Patrick Hickey to join us for a tasting over at . It’s so come out and support at this Friday’s game as they take on Truman. Go Bears!

Rum

If pirates ate ice cream, I think this would be their flavor because this certainly tasted like rum. But that doesn’t mean it tasted good. If you like rum, or rum-flavored things, this may be the flavor for you. I think if I really wanted that rum flavor, I’d rather just get a drink instead. Patrick gave it 3 spoons, Aya gave it 4 spoons and I gave 1.5 spoons.

Irish Cream

Maybe it’s because of his Irish heritage, but this is the flavor Patrick picked. I don’t mind Irish cream every now and then, but this was a little off. It tasted like Irish cream with a coconut aftertaste. It was like listening to U2 sing the Pina Colada song. It just didn’t fit, and it didn’t sit well with me. Aya and Patrick liked it and gave it 4 plastic spoons. I, however, gave it 2 spoons. So far this trip to the Twist N Shout was not working in my favor. But there was still one more flavor to try!

Blackberry

They have a blackberry flavor and a black cherry flavor. I was a little confused to what I had ordered at first, but when I finally confirmed I had ordered the blackberry flavor, I was not disappointed. This had the intensity I expected from a berry-flavored ice cream. This flavor made up for the shattered dreams I had for raspberry, and was miles ahead . Aya gave it 3 spoons, Patrick gave it 4.5 spoons, and I gave it 5 plastic spoons!

We now have six flavors left! Will there be another 5-spoon rating in the remaining few? Who will be our last two guests? What flavors will they pick? So many unanswered questions! Check back next week to find the answers!