Top Ten Reviews of 2023 & Other Stuff

It's that time of year again. Boy did 2023 go fast. So I went to gather the stats for 2023 when I realized that I never added the new Google Analytics 4 tag to the theme. In other words, no analytics for 2023.,, Whoops! Thankfully, Blogger has some basic stats which should be good enough to get us a top ten list (I prefer the more accurate analytics version, but it is what it is). Oh, we'll talk about why the blog looks different two, but first the list after the break!

Who will be this year's winner?

#10 Tillamook Holiday Sugar Cookie Ice Cream. Not their greatest holiday offering, but at least I can say "Welcome to the Top Ten list!". It just barely beat out a pair of Ben & Jerry's flavors.

#9 Dr. Bombay Ice Cream. I actually had high hopes for this, and there are those that enjoy it, but I feel like the vast majority of people feel like it's just junk budget ice cream/

#8 Tillamook Peppermint Bark Ice Cream is a fun one. Now that I'm officially a Tillamook fan, it's cool to see them on the Top Ten list twice. 

#7 Haagen-Daz Cultured Creme. H-D only gave us this and the new butter cookie cones this year. I sure hope 2024 has something big in store for us.

#6 Ben & Jerry's Churray for Churros! was a little spicier than expected.

#5 was technically a news post, but I'm still going to mention it. It's Ben & Jerry's Pecan Pie ice cream.  Maybe I'll try it next year (or maybe not).

#4 is the awful Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream at Walmart. This stuff is junk and I think it's on the list because of curiosity, not because it's a quality product. No one came to it's defense.

#3 is the DQ Oreo Brookie Blizzard. I'll never complain when DQ makes it to the top ten.

#2 is Van Leeuwen King Cake Ice Cream. Technically I posted this on Dec 30th, but it kept interest for awhile so I am going to let it slide in here.

 

and the winner by a mile is....

BLUE BUNNY SOFT (!?!!?!)

That's right, the most sought after topic on this blog for 2023 is the food science known as Blue Bunny Soft. It's definitely a polarizing subject as you have the people who go "what is this mess?" versus the people going "you're all dumb, this is the best stuff ever". Ok, not everyone who likes this stuff is super defensive, but it was a reoccurring theme. Me, I'd much rather talk about the fun Stuffed Puffs Sandwiches they put out.

And now for the elephant in the room....

Are you asking yourself "Dubba, why are you messing with the look of the blog after all these years?". Well, for a long, long time, I've been trying to ignore the fact that the blog isn't terribly useful on a mobile device. I have toyed with fixing it a few times, but I always wind up giving up. When I was looking at the year long stats yesterday, I realized that I can't keep ignoring mobile devices when they make up the majority of blog traffic. In fact, since enabling google analytics again, the stats say that only 16% of people are checking the blog from a desktop device.

So, I need to make the blog more readable for our mobile friends. I don't want people to go "this old site is awful on my modern phone" and then just move on to another site. I want them to realize there is over 15 years of history here. That said, I would like everyone to feel free to comment about any changes I make. A blogger theme has about two thousand lines of code, and my skills are kind of rusty, but I'll do what I can and will try to be open to suggestions.

Thanks everyone and here's to a good 2024!