What is better than melted ice cream?

Un-melted ice cream is better!

Cold pizza. There is doubt? Really?

Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill and a mouthful of strawberry Pop Rocks.

I prefer my ice cream pre-melting. Some yummy chocolate is always a winner for me. Or some tim tams!

Cinnabons. Also cherry strudels.

Fiercely cold, solid ice cream, so firm you have to chew it. That’s what’s better.

Those half-popped popcorn kernels that are always found below the fully-popped kernels, and above the stubborn still-kernel kernels. Especially popcorn popped on the stove, topped with paprika and parmesan.

Seeded watermelon. And siblings to use as seed-shooting target practice.

Hot water refills at the coffee shops with delicious loose leaf tea. Because although their teas are nicer than the ones I buy for home, getting a second cup for the same price always makes it even better.

Chocolate. 60% minimum. Absolutely no PGPR cutting the cocoa butter and creating an unpleasant tangy aftertaste.

But speaking of tang, lemons. Just lemons. Seriously. That back-of-jaw tingle reserved for sour foods is hard to beat.

Opiates.

Unmelted ice cream in Coke.

Rootbeer float with real French Vanilla ice cream and whip cream on top. The best part is where the ice cream forms ice crystals and you bite into a spoonful of the ice cream and you get that crunch of the yummy delicious ice cream in your mouth! And those final sips of the creamy vanilla rootbeer through the straw…Yum!

Marzipan, sucked from each nipple of a former Miss Dwarf Universe

The best part is where the ice cream forms ice crystals

Yum! My favorite as well.

Dove Dark Chocolate, room temperature on a warm summer day.

Ice cream – chocolate – should be eaten with a liberal dose of milk poured over. Crunchy, slurpy ice cream to start, and a spoonable milk shake to finish.

Melted chocolate. Especially if it’s still warm and mixed with cream to make ganache.

All you solid ice cream people are savages! ~

I prefer the best of both. Still firm ice cream floating in the soft stuff. Say a scoop of chocolate adrift in a bowl of soft butter pecan.

@Soubresaut “Half popped pop corn.” YES!!!!

Chocolate milk.
(I like slightly soft chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup. Did I ever mention that I like chocolate??)

Melted ice cream makes me shudder. Yeek!

What’s better is a lick from the spoon in which you just started to stir the powdered cheese mix into the buttered noodles from Kraft macaroni and cheese. It’s sort of dry on one side of the spoon, and kind of gooey on the other side, and oh so cheesy : P

There is a perfect consistency of ice cream somewhere between fresh from the freezer and starting to melt. The ice cream is definitely still solid, but very creamy.

I also like frozen dark chocolate.

Butter
It’s the old “bacon”. Goes with anything.

I’m surprised no one said “bacon” here. Can it be that the bacon obsession is finally waning?? Please!?!

Give me a square of cold lasagna as a picnic breakfast. Like cold pizza, but a bit messier and therefore better.

Sacrilege! @BellaB. Nothing compares to cold pizza!

@ibstubro I’m surprised there aren’t “craft” cold pizza places sprouting up. What could be more hipster than that? I would totally be into a restaurant that served up gourmet cold pizza. Maybe it could be the next big thing, ya think?

@ibstubro… have you had cold lasagna as a picnic breakfast?

I do love that cold pizza in the a.m. but lasagna adds a glorious touch of messy

Personally, I think that sounds like a keen idea, @Kardamom. Funny that I don’t know of a single place that sells cold, cooked pizza. I’ve bought cold fried fish, but never pizza. Now that you mention it, what’s the point of letting the pizza sit under the heat lamp until it has to be thrown away? They could have cold pizza to sell, and fresher hot pizza!

Actually, I’m king of the leftovers, @BellaB, and I tend to eat them all cold. Everything from mashed potatoes and gravy to lasagne. Just hold the meat, please. :-)

Fried cheese is better than melted ice cream!
And I don’t mean the battered-and-deep-fried curds and sticks. I mean cheese on a hot surface until it’s brown and crispy on the outside. Like saganaki. I fried some ‘Italian Blend’ shredded cheese last night and gave it a little splash of lemon. OMG good.

@ibstubro, I just read the Wikipedia page on saganaki, which is new to me. A video shows how the cheese is prepared and delivered to the table in a restaurant. What do you do next? If I ordered this in a restaurant, how would I serve individual portions? Or is this a single portion? Do you tackle it with a fork, a knife, a piece of bread, or what?

Sometimes saganaki will be in pieces, sometimes in a single slab, in my experience, @Jeruba. I have always seen it served with pita bread wedges.
I cut a small piece of cheese and tear a piece of pita. Dip the pita in the liquid around the cheese, put the cheese on the pita, and eat.

Or some combination of the above.
I have seen it served as a plate of pita wedges and a (usually sizzling steak) platter of cheese. Small, empty, individual plates for each diner is restaurant-optional (and preferred). If everyone is given a small plate it’s not that different from eating bread and butter or any other appetizer. However, the liquid on the cheese platter (oil and lemon juice) should not be wasted , IMO. As long as you’re not double-dipping make sure to get bread, cheese, and ‘juice’ each time.

I think saganaki and a Greek salad (chopped or not) is a perfect lunch or light dinner. Nice balance between heavy/light, fresh/fried, hot/cool. Flavorful without what we traditionally associate with “spicy”.

^^You can tell I’m a believer.

@ibstubro and @Jeruba Trader Joe’s now carries that cheese. I think it would be good on sliced baguettes too.

Which of the cheeses used for saganaki does TJ’s carry?

It’s called Frying Cheese

I have seen cheese designated as “frying” some place else, but it’s not coming to me at the moment, exactly where.

OMG!
O
M
G
I just read @Jeruba‘s Wiki link.

Other dishes cooked in a saganaki pan include shrimp saganaki (Greek: γαρίδες σαγανάκι, garídes saganáki), and mussels saganaki (Greek: μύδια σαγανάκι, mýdia saganáki), which are typically feta-based and include a spicy tomato sauce.

Surely consuming such a dish would send you straight to Hell?

:-)

I see the word saganaki and all I think (after I think cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese) is Opa!!!!!!!!

Cheese!