Ben & Jerry's Fest 2011 (Still Not Done)

This summer's experience in the lab has taught me that it takes quite a bit of dedication to do the experiments and analyze the necessary data to publish papers. In other words, experiments are time consuming and can make your brain hurt. Sometimes it's necessary to take a moment each day and do something you truly enjoy. So for the past month I've been trying all sorts of Ben & Jerry's flavors. Some were excellent and others were not-so-stellar. Here's what came of it:

Ben & Jerry's Peach Cobbler

The peach syrup swirl was quite impressive.

Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra

Having the caramel swirl between both bases was a pretty good way to keep them separated.

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie FroYo

The pieces of brownie were pretty good, and it didn't feel like I was eating frozen yogurt.

Ben & Jerry's Half Baked FroYo

There were brownie AND chocolate chip cookie dough chunks in it!

Ben & Jerry's Phish Food FroYo

I completely forgot that there is marshmallow in this flavor. Win.

Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia FroYo

Not as good as the original...

Ben & Jerry's Pistachio Pistachio

There were big chunks of pistachio throughout the pint.

Ben & Jerry's Clusterfluff (now known as What a Cluster)

The peanut butter swirl was massive!

Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie

I was surprised that the ice cream wasn't green.

Ben & Jerry's Imagine Whirled Peace

The mix-ins were amazing.

There was writing on the inside of the pint (very cool).

Ben & Jerry's Berry Voluntary

The pieces of white chocolate were pretty big.

Ben & Jerry's Crème Brûlée

It wasn't too impressive, in my opinion.

Ben & Jerry's Banana Split

It definitely hit the spot on a hot summer day.

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia

The mix-ins were great (simple yet effective).

Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Caramel Fudge

The swirls made a good presence, but the overall flavor wasn't too impressive.

Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch

It was basically vanilla ice cream with Heath bar

In addition to the legendary amounts of Ben & Jerry's that were consumed over the past month, I recently took a 3-day weekend to go to most of the restaurants on my Boston To Do List. A good friend came to town and shared the Boston experience. Simply put, it was epic. Here are a few photographs that highlight that weekend as well as some other days of meandering around the city:

Boston Public Library

John Hancock Tower

The Mother Church Extension of the Christian Science Headquarters

The original Boston Cream Pie from the Omni Parker House

My first ever Frappuccino from Starbucks

Epic panini from the North End

Paul Revere's house!

Crispy pad thai from Thaitation

Fried ice cream (best idea ever)

Godiva Dark Chocolate Raspberry Freddo from Peet's Coffee

Legendary pancake stack from Zaftig's

The past month has been loaded with good eats and even better adventures through the city. Experiments will be wrapping up soon, and the writing process will begin with a fun trip to the coffee shop for some caffeine-laced beverages. In the meantime, I'll be chipping away at the last few Ben & Jerry's flavors that are available to the general public.

Gelato Fest 2011

Okay, maybe there wasn't a real "Gelato Fest" going on in Boston (not that I know of, at least), but Talenti gelato was on sale at the local store last week. So being the frugal yet avid ice cream aficionado that I am, I bought a pint a day for 7 consecutive days. Too bad the store only sells 7 flavors of the stuff, otherwise it would have been closer to two a day. I'm pretty sure the lab had this arranged on purpose so I wouldn't arrive to lunch with more than one pint of gelato every day. (For some reason it makes people cranky to see you eating top quality frozen desserts every day, but gelato seems to be a pretty good way to relax when there are lots of experiments being conducted at the lab.)

Talenti Black Cherry

There were actual bits of cherry in the gelato!

Ben & Jerry's Fair Goodness Cake got into the mix somehow, but it was still very good.

Talenti Caramel Cookie Crunch

The crunchy cookie and smooth caramel flavors worked well together.

Talenti Mediterranean Mint

Talenti Double Dark Chocolate

It was like chocolate chip ice cream, but better since it had a dark chocolate base.

Talenti Belgian Milk Chocolate

Talenti Sea Salt Caramel

The sea salt caramel was actually inside the pieces of chocolate. Win!

Talenti Tahitian Vanilla Bean

In other news, the doctor cleared me to resume training, so I broke out a new pair of running shoes that has been patiently awaiting the summer training season. Running will be the primary method for maintaining form this summer since the road bike stayed back in New Orleans. It's truly amazing how quickly the human body can repair itself once a surgeon takes a scalpel to it and throws some stitches in for moral support. After a 2.20-mile litmus test of a run on Tuesday, I decided to venture out on a longer run to test some limits. Fortunately, a colleague was nice enough to escort me on a 5.83-miler through the nicer parts of Boston and Cambridge. Felt like a million bucks afterwards, so I did it again today. The city is absolutely gorgeous at sunset, and I couldn't think of a better city in which to resume training. Last week's Bruins win is just the icing on the cake.

Oh, and I found Frankenberry cereal on sale at a random store in the suburbs today. Yeah, I can go to bed happy.

Frankenberry cereal is pretty good, even in the off-season.

Yup, that's a massive bowl, and it's filled with strawberry goodness.

Until next time, folks.