There are many times I wish I'd be showered with money and goods in exchange for my blogging prowess, but sadly I continue to toil away in relative obscurity.  Which means that I received no money, free samples or anything weaselly in exchange for the following review.

As just about anyone who's spent more than 10 minutes with me in the last five years knows about, in my thirties I developed what would probably be referred to as an "unfortunate" dairy intolerance.  I can still tolerate butter and hard cheeses, but if I eat soft cheese, cream cheese, milk, cream, or ice cream, I find myself rushing for the bathroom within a few minutes.  And occupying it for a long time, and worst of all--rendering it uninhabitable for anyone else.  About the only thing I can tolerate milk in is when it's cooked or baked fully--I can have cookies and pancakes made with milk, but not french toast, b/c the milk doesn't always cook out of it. 

Now, I happen to live in New England, and I've often heard the factoid that more ice cream is sold here per capita than anywhere else in the country.  I would like to explain that this is because MY family lives in New England.  Growing up, my dad considered it a parental duty to make sure the fridge was always stocked with multiple cartons of ice cream.  Back then, buying Breyers instead of the cheap store brand was considered a splurge, and my dad ALWAYS got the good stuff.  The Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl, the Vanilla Chocolate Chip, the Oreo Cookies and Cream.  My friends loved coming over to my house because they could have as much ice cream as they wanted, and if we ran out, my dad would go get more.  During the summer months, we supplemented this stockpile with a steady stream of soft serve visits, and in the winter, those of us who ran errands in the evenings with Dad DaWezl often found the car pulling up to an AC Peterson's or other ice cream parlor for a quick treat before we got down to business. 

Pretty much everyone in my family is an ice cream connoisseur in their own right.  Many family gatherings have revolved around our favorite local ice cream shop, The Scoop.  It's a bit of a drive for almost all of us, but there are many evenings where we all end up there, sitting around a table and enjoying their fine products.  Well, all of us, except for me these days.  The Scoop does make excellent sorbets, only they don't always have a flavor I like.  So there have been a few nights when everyone is happily downing ice cream while I nurse a water. 

The hardest thing for me about becoming intolerant was that, while I logically want to avoid the gastro-intestinal results, I still crave ice cream incessantly.  To the point where I was considering the thought of clearing my schedule on a weekend, and eating a whole pint one Friday night, and using the rest of the weekend to get my digestion back on track.  I missed it *that* much.  As a counter point, when I stopped being able to tolerate milk on my cereal (which had previously been one of the four main food groups for me), I never once felt a pressing urge to go crazy and pour myself a bowlful.  But then again, I discovered Silk soy milk relatively early on in my new life as a dairy-free soul, so I haven't had to deny myself cereal in years.  

A couple of years ago, we bought a few pints of different soy-based "ice creams".  Now, I don't mean to disparage any of them as frozen dessert treats, but the texture and taste was so far away from the ice cream that I knew and loved, that I just couldn't bring myself to eat them.  I preferred sticking with Haagen-Daz Sorbets, which at least were close in texture, if not flavor.  (Though I'm still waiting for them to come out with a Raspberry Chocolate Chip Sorbet for us poor intolerant souls who still like chocolate chunks!)   A few weeks ago, I noticed a new entry in the Dairy Free section, Coconut Milk Ice Cream, which I ignored.  Why waste more money on horrible fakes?  But then I heard from some friends that it actually was very close to regular ice cream.  So I begged Dean to pick me up a pint.

The name of the ice cream is Turtle Mountain Purely Decadent with Coconut Milk.  (They also make one of the many soy substitutes that I didn't care for, although I will say theirs was the best of the bunch)  I really really REALLY want to try the Chocolate/Peanut Butter variety, but alas my store only carries Chocolate, Coconut and Mint Chocolate Chip, and I am NOT a fan of mint ice cream.  So, chocolate it was.  Opening the container, I was struck by how close to "regular" ice cream this was.  The color, smell and texture all looked like "real" ice cream.  My intial impression of the taste was pure joy.  It is an incredibly rich chocolate flavor, and oh so creamy and delicious!  Now, it's not a perfect match.  The coconut does impart a slight flavor to the chocolate, but slight is probably too excessive a term.  A hint of coconut.  I happen to like regular coconut flavors, so it didn't bother me in the least, but I could see how some folks might find that off putting.

The first pint was finished on Tuesday.  The second pint was cleaned out today.  The third pint should hopefully NOT be cracked open today, but you have to remember...I'm making up for a few years lost time!  In addition, Dean bought the Coconut to try for himself.  It's a very tasty natural coconut flavor with actual flakes of coconut in it.  I would definitely eat it if it was the only flavor in the fridge, but as long as I have access to chocolate, it's not going to win out.  If I ever get a hold of the Chocolate/Peanut Butter, you might not see me again for weeks.  Oh, and as you may have noticed, non-intolerant people find this stuff yummy too.  Every time I crack it open, Per comes running around to try and get some.  He actually chose it over "real" vanilla ice cream the other night.  Tomorrow, we're planning on the ultimate test--we're going to serve some to my dad, and not tell him it's coconut milk, and see what he says.

So, as I said, I received no financial or ice cream-cial consideration for this gushing review.  I just really really LOVE the product.  But if they want to send me a case or two of the chocolate peanut butter, I will gladly accept it.  I'm a sell-out just waiting to be bought!