Saturday Scribbles Vol 27

Yes, I'm very much aware that I haven't had a Saturday Scribbles for the past two weeks. I've had emails and texts asking about it. All I can do is apologize. I really don't have an excuse other than not having anything ready.

So summer's over. But Blue Bell ice cream is back. This will probably be the summer that people in Texas refer to as "the Blue Bell drought of 2015." Why the fuss over ice cream, you may ask? Well you see, in Texas, Blue Bell is THE ice cream. Sure the stores sell other brands, but Blue Bell is, in my opinion, the best there is.

Now my favorite kind (mint chocolate chip) isn't back in stores yet, but I plan on picking up some yummy Dutch chocolate over the weekend. I've given it a week to be back so hopefully the grocery store will have a ready supply.

The main Blue Bell plant is located in the heart of Texas's hill country. It's in a little town called Brenham, which is about an hour and a half North West of Houston. The plant is so much fun to tour.

I remember the first time I got to tour the plant. I was as summer camp. I think that was the year that the dining hall burned down (Gwen, were you there that year?) and the staff had to figure out something to do with us every day while the kitchen staff headed to the grocery store. You see that happened early in the week, like on Monday or Tuesday, and camp didn't end til Saturday. So one day we were at Washington-on-the
-Brazos. Another day we were skating. Another day, we were somewhere else. And one day, we all went to the Blue Bell Creamery. We got to tour the place, visit the little country store that is part of the Creamery, and of course end the tour with a scoop of ice cream. I can't remember what flavor I had. Probably chocolate. But it was a lot of fun.

A few years ago, my cousin and I did a day trip up there. We toured the plant again. This time, I sampled Krazy Kookie Dough. It was a cake batter ice cream with icing chunks and a sugar cookie flavor. I've got say that the creamery has changed a lot over the years. I mean it was still in the same basic building, but the tour changed. I actually remember enjoying the history behind the creamery this time around. Maybe going as an adult meant I could actually understand what was going on better than just anticipating the big scoop of ice cream at the end.

So in Texas, there really isn't any other kind of ice cream. Some of my coworkers don't understand that. The conversations going around the cubicles all week have been talking about Blue Bell. It's been rather funny to hear someone say "I don't under stand what the big deal about Blue Bell is. Isn't that just another brand of ice cream?" Some of my coworke
rs would get pretty defensive. Me, I just laughed. Because they didn't grow up here, obviously.

What about you? What is your favorite type of ice cream? Flavor and brand?