Even though this is Dianne's Walmart account -- this is her husband John, talking.
It was 1985, and it was " love-at-first-bite" -- when our little family lived in Naples, FL. And on a bright sunny day, our close friends, Joe %26 Mary Ann -- came walking excitedly around our home to the pool, asking, "Have you guys ever tasted Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream?!?!?!"
Our son Wesley and I, both looked bewilderedly at each other, before I retorted, "I'm sorry guys, but "Hogs 'n Dogs" -- just doesn't sound that appetizing to me!"
They both laughingly shook their heads, "No, No, Nooooo" -- when Joe finally quipped, "I THINK they were trying to sound Danish -- but all I know, is that they ended up with a "linguistic abomination" . . . Then Mary Ann added, "Obviously none of you have heard of it, or ever tasted it. So what would you think of Joe and I, treating all three of you to the little Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream Shop, we just found around the South Naples Pier."
Wesley, Dianne and I quickly agreed, and soon we all loaded in their car. On the way I asked, "What flavors did you each try?"
Phil shook his head and went, "Ohhhhhhhh, I had the 'Vanilla Swiss Almond' -- and it's to DIE for!"
Honestly, it's been too long for me to remember what the girl's tried, but Phil simply walked right in -- and ordered two more scopes of "'Vanilla Swiss Almond." Since we'd already traveled most of the world with them -- we had learned to trust Phil's culinary palette, so I just looked at the scooper-upper and replied, "I'll take what he's having."
But what I did not realize, is that in my humble opinion, now over 40 years -- Phil was exactly right, and I nearly had a salivary break-down right there.
Even though Dianne %26 Wes tried to tempt me many times, with the numerous and delightful Haagen-Daz varieties, and they tried everything -- ice cream cartons, ice cream pints, ice cream bars, ice cream cakes, sorbets, frozen yogurts, frozen milkshakes, gelatos, and ice cream sandwiches -- I finally told them to just give up! I can say though, that there were a few times they had me wavering a bit -- but to me, the Vanilla Swiss Almond can not be surpassed by any other Haagen-Daz product, as delicious as they are.
I later investigated, and found that Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream was founded in 1961, by Reuben and Rose Mattus, two Polish-Jewish immigrants, in Bronx, NY. They gave it a Danish twist, to give honor to the nation of Denmark -- for giving the Jewish people such valiant help and support during the Holocaust of WWII . . .
