My new favorite ice cream maker

In preparation for Jennie's upcoming party, at which she is considering serving a new brand of ice cream, some of us convened Friday night to taste-test these previously unknown (at least to her and to us) options. Jennie couldn't take the risk of serving untried ice cream to her friends, and we couldn't let her face this daunting task--there were nine flavors, after all--on her own, so we simply had to help. What can I say? We're that kind of people.

The verdicts ranged from, "Wow, this is great!" to "This is my new favorite ice cream brand." I'm in the latter camp. This stuff is amazing.

And just what is this brand of creamy goodness?

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, a small, family-owned company based in Columbus, Ohio. I've never particularly wanted to go to Columbus before, but now I look forward to visiting there for the World Fantasy Convention in 2010.

I have to warn you that this stuff is not for those afraid to clog their arteries with creamy goodness. It's so rich, and we had so many flavors, that none of us ate whole bowls of it. Instead, we tasted a single spoonful of each of them, and then we went back for second spoons of those we particularly loved. My favorites were the Wildberry Lavender, which was smooth and creamy and wonderfully rich with berry flavors; the Goat Cheese with Roasted Cherries, which managed to be even richer than the Wildberry Lavender; and the Dark Chocolate, which the site accurately describes as a "chocolate made with the most amount of chocolate and the least amount of anything else." I have never tasted a better chocolate ice cream.

If you're an ice cream fan, you definitely need to try Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.