The Gift That Keeps On Giving Till It Kills You 3

The third batch of generously gifted Salt and Straw ice cream was a return to what Salt and Straw does best, making ice cream with the cream. And this month's batch was a "Best Of" box celebrating their epic flavors and crown jewels and something else sounding probably a bit much for an ice cream. There was still an obligatory monthly vegan batch which was pretty good -- and kuddos to them for offering options for those who are lactose- and dairy-intolerant -- but the middling Lemon Cheesecake Crumble aside they were all quality, 7's and above! 

 

- Salted Caramel Cupcake

Me: The cupcake aspect of this remains a mystery to me, but the salted caramel aspect of it inexplicably led me to eat the entire thing the second go after poor, beautiful, darling Liz only had her taster teaser. (I regret nothing).

8.5/10

Liz: I barely got a bite of it, but I don't remember it being very compelling. I hardly remember it. The dough was good?

5/10

- Strawberry Tres Leches

Me: Good. Tasted kind of tres leches-y and kind of strawberry-y and all around was a solid ice cream. I wouldn't write home to the family about it, though.

7/10

Liz: I like the jelly, but I don't like the distribution- just a few big globs and many bites without any at all. The strawberry background is ok, but not exciting.

6/10

- Cinnatopia Cinnamon Bun

Me: Very tasty. Also a bit one note. Like one big cinnamon note. Except for the giant ribbon of molten cinnamon which had a very characteristic blast of cinnamon note. If the ribbon had been distributed a bit better it probably would have added something to the composition, but mostly it was a threatening gel of cinnamon flavor. Though I suppose if you want pure, uncut, super saturated sugar and cinnamon you could always go straight to the source. 

7/10.

Liz: I'd say same as for Strawberry Tres Leches. I could've eaten a bowl of the swirl filling. Somehow an extra hard consistency, had to work to scoop it.

6/10.

- Bacon & Brown Ale

Me: Clearly the best, and not just because I like bacon. In fact, I am not 100% sure I could tell you there was bacon in what I was eating had it not been clearly written on the container. Just something savory and slightly smokey mixed in with the base that itself was also a hard to define delicious. Wouldn't say I was eating a brown ale, but if this is what all brown ale and bacon ice creams taste like I will happily sign up for their mailing list.

9/10    

Liz: (Advisory: although Liz is a vegetarian she is also an extreme ice creamatarian and is known to recklessly tear into ice creams without caution or, apparently, bothering to read their labels.) Good flavor. (See! She won't even acknowledge her disturbing bacon eating behavior!)

3/10 (-5 for bacon)

- Lemon Cheesecake Crumble (vegan)

Me: Probably the best vegan ice cream I've eaten so far which makes it a solidly middling regular ice cream. Given the coconut non-dairy base it would be better titled Lemon Coconut Cheesecake Crumble. The crumble component wasn't particularly memorable -- I'd actually forgotten about it till I looked at the label again -- but, sure, it was tasty too.

6/10

Liz: Tastes like coconut.

2/10

 

Update: to all parties concerned about the fate of our middling vegan ice creams it just so turns out we have some vegan friends that just can't get enough of this stuff. Truly the gift that keeps on giving!

Salty Plum Soda

Many things can be said about the Vietnamese: short, communist, rice paddies; but all my uncultured stereotypes aside we can perhaps add a new word to our Indochinese related vocabulary. Maybe, ingenious?

It seems that while the Western world is still fiddling with adding shots of vanilla and cherry to its sodas or vitamins and dyes to its water, the Vietnamese have taken it to an entirely new level by combining soda, salt, and fruit all into one remarkably vile beverage. A short while back some friends and I went to dine at a local Vietnamese restaurant which we heard was both generous with its portions and cheap on price. It turned out to be both, but what carried the day was not consumer economics but rather the restaurant’s drink selection. I originally purchased what we will, for lack of a better word, call a “coke” for a friend, but in the end we somehow all had a little bit of a taste of what is officially known as “salty plum soda.”

To be brief, it tasted like a mouthful of the Pacific Ocean. The plum, mostly dissolved, from what I could tell only served to give it the texture of what I imagine vomit mixed with mineral water would feel like. There was no hint of plum flavor, fruitiness, or even sweetness. Just the corrosive mixture of a couple table spoons of salt stirred in to your favorite carbonated beverage.
The waitress asked if there was something wrong with it. We told her it was fine as I imagine it tasted exactly like it was supposed to taste like. That being the worse liquid I have ever willingly put to my lips. I would gamble to guess that if it we stuck in an IV bag and stuck it into someone’s arm it’d cure what ails ya. No electrolyte problems too big with salty plum soda in the house. And perhaps that’s what it was intended for by its original creators so many generations ago: a third world treatment for hyponatremia. But beware the random bout of central pontine myelinolysis (http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic50.htm)! Or, perhaps, the Vietnamese just have weird tastes in horrible drinks.

The drink was a disaster, but like much of our third year of medicine it is the times of suffering that bring us together. After tasting the drink and paying the bill we all agreed to remain: best friends forever!