This is going to be hard to explain to non-ice-cream-lovers.
Then we stopped at the Tillamook plant in central Oregon. Tillamook is one of the top cheese companies in the US, but at their plant we learned that they also make ice cream. In fact we bought two kinds of their ice cream at the plant, Caramel Butter Pecan and Marionberry Pie. Both were among the best ice cream I've ever had.
When we got home to the SF/Monterey Bay areas, I looked into buying their ice cream here. It seemed that the furthest south that Tillamook ice cream was delivered, was to a Tower Foods store in San Francisco, about 60 miles north. I called Tillamook and several of their distributors, but it seemed that this distribution pattern was written in stone!
I tried writing to several grocery chains with stores in our area, but never got any response. So it was with special anticipation that I looked forward to our trip up to Oregon, last June and July. Marionberry Pie was every bit as wonderful as I remembered.
Again we returned home with ice-cream-envy for people in Oregon. I've returned to working on the house while dreaming of road trips. Recently we made a regular stop at our local Safeway store in Los Gatos. Without much enthusiasm I went through the frozen food aisle.
Which just goes to show you, if you want something, keep on promoting it. Maybe my email(s?) to Safeway helped this wonderful product appear at our local store.
Had to laugh when I read this post. And I lived in DC when Marion was Mayor. So that's exactly what I think about when someone says the name. I may not like ice cream but it has to be tons better than the Mayor.
ReplyDeleteSometimes ice cream fills the right spot! Glad you could find some in your area.
ReplyDeleteOooooh! We used to love to buy and eat Marionberries when we spent months at a time in Oregon. Marionberries are a hybrid of blackberries and boysenberries, I believe, and have the best aspects of both. Tillamook ice cream is every bit as good an ice cream as Tillamook cheese is a cheddar. We need to campaign with Safeway here in Arizona and get some of that wonderful stuff down here!
ReplyDeleteGoing to have to look for this ice cream when we get to Oregon. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I live in Oregon - it's on sale this week at Market of Choice for $2.99!! And Jerry is right, their cheddar cheese is just as good as the ice cream. I think every diet should have room for a tablespoon of good ice cream once in a while. ☺
ReplyDeleteGoing to have to make a stop on way back to California to try some, sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteMerikay, sometimes ice cream grabs my fancy, too. Then Annie makes me a banana-and-whatever smoothie, and makes everything better. By the way, we found some powdered peanut butter, if you're a PB fan, that is delicious in smoothies.
ReplyDeleteOh sorry, I meant to say the point of powdered peanut butter is that it has only a tiny fraction of the fat of PB.
ReplyDeleteWe agree about Tillamook ice cream, it is incredible. We found it in a Wal-Mart in Idaho earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteWe also like Craig's suggestion on the blueberry candy bar.
Yup yup, Tillamook is the best! Here in Seattle, not only is it everywhere, it's frequently on a two-for-one deal at my nearest grocery store.
ReplyDeleteI do not envy you Merikay! Ice cream in the fridge is always deadly for the diet in my house.
ReplyDeletedid you know that Marion Berry just got re-elected again in Va...I cannot have ice cream in the house...do not bring the enemy home!
ReplyDeleteAccording to his Wikipedia page, Marion Barry has been re-elected a bunch of times, including as mayor, and presently serves on the DC city council. Rumor has it that he's a hybrid of Barry Bonds and Richard J. Daley :-)
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