REVIEW: My/Mochi Classic Pickle Mochi Ice Cream

Marvo 1 Comment

I imagine some of you are mentally saying “ew,” like you just caught someone picking their nose as you looked at the photo above. But you should flip that “ew” around, add an H between the two letters, and stick a bunch of Es at the end because this flavor is surprisingly fun. Wheeeeeee!

Well, that is if you can get your hands on My/Mochi’s Classic Pickle Mochi Ice Cream because it’s only available at mymochi.com and select SoCal Bristol Farms locations. But if pickle-flavored things tickle you or you want some entertainment at a holiday gathering this year, I recommend spending the green for a box.

The soft mochi coating is only green in color and provides no additional taste, but the off-white ice cream filling is unmistakably pickle. I understand that might sound awful regarding ice cream, but think of it as a pickle that’s sweet but not salty. It has a noticeable dill flavor, but there’s no brine taste, and there’s a lot more sugar, milk, cream, and vanilla, which makes the ice cream taste surprisingly good. Every time I ate one, I thought the dill had sort of a holiday spice kind of vibe to it. I’ve enjoyed this more than any of the odd Van Leeuwen pints that have come out. Although, I have yet to try the recent Dill Pickle one.

Call me weird. Call me a picklehead. Call me pickleweirdhead. But I genuinely love eating these. My/Mochi sent two boxes, and I’ve eaten a whole box already. And this will sound even weirder, but I’ve been craving them. (Am I pregnant?) I’ve been looking forward to eating one every day. I also want to eat more than one of these creamy treats daily, but I’ve been holding back because I know I’ll never get to eat them again once they’re gone. Unless My/Mochi decides my words are powerful enough to warrant a nationwide release. But my words have never been that influential.

Yes, most of you have no desire to eat pickle ice cream, and that’s fine. I’m not going to convince you to take adventure bites and expand your palate with the one life you have. But if pickles tickle you, you should try to pickle these up.

DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples from My/Mochi. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 6 pieces/box
Purchased at: Received samples from My/Mochi
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 piece) 80 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 15 milligrams of sodium, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar (including 10 grams of added sugar), and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Arby’s Big Cheesy Bacon Burger

Holly 7 Comments

My post-race routine is fairly simple: shower, stretch, and stuff a burger in my face. I recently completed a half marathon and, due to a series of events after that race, I had to postpone the burger part of my routine. Two weeks later, I was craving the thing I never got. Right on cue, Arby’s sent an email advertising its new Big Cheesy Bacon Burger.

It’s one of the two limited edition burgers currently being offered at Arby’s. The Deluxe Wagyu Steakhouse Burger is the base version (a wagyu blended beef patty, burger sauce, American cheese, tomatoes, red onions, lettuce, and garlic & dill pickles on a toasted brioche bun) with the Big Cheesy Bacon Burger having all the same ingredients but with the addition of Swiss cheese and bacon.

It had some heft when I pulled it out of the bag, but didn’t seem very big. Like a mattress in a box, after I took it out of its wrapper, it seemed to expand. Size-wise, it was reasonably comparable to what I’ve gotten from Red Robin. Taking a peek under the bun, I was surprised at the produce’s freshness. I wasn’t expecting rotten tomatoes or anything, but the two vibrant red tomato slices took me off guard. I’m used to fast food tomatoes looking half the time like someone took a red Sharpie to styrofoam.

Even though it looked good, I was ready to find out if it tasted good. In my first bite, I got a bit of every component. All I could think as I took my time taking it all in was, “Wow, this is a really balanced burger.”

Too often, when fast food sandwiches have a laundry list of toppings, they become a mess of competing flavors. In this case, everything was working together to create something extremely delicious. The balance of the sweet burger sauce, hickory bacon, juicy tomatoes, crisp pickles, salty cheeses, and savory meat created a flavor that I could only describe as the most perfect “burger” flavor.

The meat on its own was a bit dry, but the dryness wasn’t noticeable when eaten with the other components. Multiple times (I assume for legal reasons), Arby’s reminds us that the patty is 51% American Wagyu and 49% ground beef. I can’t speak on the American Wagyu being anything special, but the meat quality was above any other fast food offering I’ve had.

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with Arby’s Big Cheesy Bacon Burger. It was delicious and filling and exceeded my expectations from a fast food restaurant. The high quality of the ingredients is what made it stand out. It’s only around for a limited time, so if you’re thinking about trying it, I’d go sooner rather than later.

Purchased Price: $7.99
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 824 calories, 51 grams of fat, 21 grams of saturated fat, 118 milligrams of cholesterol, 2085 milligrams of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 15 grams of sugar, and 48 grams of protein.

SPOTTED (SEASONAL EDITION): 11/22/2023

Marvo

Here are some new seasonal products found on store shelves by your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of them, share your thoughts in the comments.

Trader Joe’s Cinnamon Swizzle Sticks
Trader Joe’s Over The River and Through The Woods Advent Calendar

(Spotted by Robbie at Trader Joe’s.)

Brach’s Elf Candy Canes

(Spotted by Robbie at Target.)

Jello Strawberry Candy Canes

(Spotted by Robbie at Dollar Tree.)

Peet’s Coffee Peppermint Mocha K-Cups

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Target.)

Sam’s Choice Mini Pretzels

(Spotted by Robbie at Walmart.)

Crafty Cooking Kits Mickey Shaped Cookie Sandwich Kit

(Spotted by Robbie at Walmart.)

Festive Feast Breakfast Set

(Spotted by Robbie at Target.)

Kellogg’s Froot Loops Mug Muffin Kit

(Spotted by Robbie at Five Below.)

Favorite Day Holiday Magic Hot Cocoa Spoons
Good & Gather Garlic & Dill Pickling Kit
Favorite Day Hot Sauce Sampler

(Spotted by Robbie at Target.)

If you’re out shopping and see new products, snap a picture of them, and send them in via an email (theimpulsivebuy@gmail.com) with where you found them and “Spotted” in the subject line. Also, if you want to send in photos and are wondering if we’ve already covered something or if they’re new, don’t worry about it. Let us worry about it.

REVIEW: Little Debbie Chocolate Christmas Tree Cakes Ice Cream

Mark Leave a comment

Back in 2021, I reviewed Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes Ice Cream. Two years later, Deborah hasn’t aged a day, but she has brought us an additional frozen flavor inspired by one of her yuletide treats: Chocolate Christmas Tree Cakes! (I’m tempted to spell “treat” as “treet” for this review, but I will forbear. You’re welcome.)

Besides the obvious flavor difference, there are some subtle differences between regular CTCs and chocolate CTCs. The regular ones feature a red icing drizzle with green sugar crystals, while the chocolate ones have a white icing drizzle with red and green sprinkles. Hudsonville, the maker of the ice cream, did not overlook these small details.

The regular CTC ice cream features vanilla ice cream with white cake bits and a red swirl with green crystal sprinkles. The chocolate version has a chocolate base with chocolate cake bits and red, green, and white sprinkles. White swirls were swapped out for the white sprinkles.

The chocolate base is wonderful. It’s not that exciting, but it’s a classic ice cream flavor for a reason. And I also really enjoy the cake bits. They almost have the consistency of brownie bits you find in ice cream, so they’re a textural delight.

And speaking of texture: I am so glad the chocolate variety uses sprinkles instead of sugar crystals! The crystals were my biggest complaint about the regular CTC ice cream. They had a gritty, sand-like texture that seemed out of place in the creamy treat.

The sprinkles in the chocolate version, however, have a slight crunch from the cold, but I don’t feel like I’m munching on quartz granules. They are a sensory pleasure. And, of course, we can’t overlook the festive appearance they give this dessert.

My other biggest complaint with the original CTC ice cream was that, although it was good, it was just kind of boring. And, I must admit, this one is also kind of boring. The color of the sprinkles is the only thing festive or seasonal. Chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake are nothing new.

But, you know what? I’m going to overlook the boringness because it’s still a delightful dessert that I will be more than happy to finish.

Purchased Price: $2.74
Size: One pint
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup/97 grams) 230 calories, 10 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 21 grams of sugar including 17 grams of added sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Little Debbie Cherry Cordials Ice Cream

Brandon 2 Comments

For better or worse, I have had every Little Debbie ice cream flavor since its partnership with Hudsonville took flight a couple of years ago. The most interesting part of the whole thing isn’t the novelty of turning America’s most beloved snack cakes into ice cream, though — at least not for me. It is that there is seemingly no correlation between my personal enjoyment of a snack cake flavor and its corresponding ice cream.

To wit, Fudge Rounds, my favorite Little Debbie, is one my least favorite of the ice creams. Ditto Oatmeal Creme Pie. Star Crunch, which I find okay but would never intentionally purchase a box of, has been my unparalleled ice cream favorite.

Another wrinkle to add to this already-too-complex equation: I have also tended to really enjoy ice creams stemming from snack cake varieties I’ve never eaten. This happened recently with the Apple Pie and Chocolate Chip Creme Pie offerings. The ice creams were stellar; the snack cakes from whence they sprung, however, remain unconsumed by me.

So, if I tell you that I’ve never had a Cherry Cordials snack cake, well, maybe you can guess where this is going.

Hudsonville’s website says the new Cherry Cordials Ice Cream is “Cherry flavored ice cream with cookie pieces, chocolatey flakes and a cherry variegate.” I had to look up “variegate,” by the way. To save you the same effort, should we be shipmates, here you go: “In the food industry, variegates (also referred t’o as ribbons, ribbonettes, swirls, spirals, revels, etc.), are textured flavor dimensions primarily used in ice cream and frozen desserts.” Okay, this is a cherry ice cream with cookie pieces, chocolatey flakes, and a cherry ribbon.

The ice cream base has a mild cherry flavor, like kissing your aunt who just had a Wild Cherry Halls cough drop. The “chocolatey” chips are your standard issue chocolate chips you’d get with any other kind of ice cream. There are many of them; they are of varying sizes and taste semi-sweet. The cookie pieces don’t have much of a standalone taste, but the crunchy texture provided a nice respite. And the textured flavor dimension, see, that’s where the magic happens. If you like hardcore artificial cherry flavor, you’ll be in heaven. My only complaint, as it is whenever there is an enjoyable component with these Little Debbie ice creams, is that I could have done with quite a bit more of the cherry variegate. I guess you could say it was varie-good?

I’ll show myself out.

Purchased Price: $2.74
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (97g) 230 calories, 11 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 mg of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.