Contact!

Imagine my excitement this afternoon when I saw an e-mail from the folks at Häagen Dazs. I mean, I really didn't expect them to be telling me I was the winner (though I hoped so), but at least it was official contact. That meant something was happening. Well, that something is they will notify the contestants of the winner next week. I can't wait! So exciting!

On another front, I got some "secret" info from a knowledgeable source last night. My friend, Charles, stopped by the Häagen Dazs scoop shop in SF Center (or is it in the Westfield portion?) last night and asked the employees about the contest.

One of them happened to be working in the store on July 14, the day they held the taste testing promotion. Charles asked her (?) what flavor was popular, and she responded "the Caribbean one". He said he didn't think there was a Caribbean flavor, and she said it was the coconut one with chocolate. She mentioned Chrissy's next, and couldn't remember Leslie's flavor. I think this was based on votes, not just her personal preference for flavors. At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself. So, if this is an accurate poll, then my intuition that SF and Miami would swing my way is at least half true. I'll find out next week.

Stay tuned...

Gourmet Magazine, September 2007

I just got my latest issue of Gourmet. Of course, my first inclination was to check for any updates on the Scoop contest. On page 22 of the issue is another ad for Gourmet/Scoop. Here's the latest blurb:

"The competition continues as the three finalists -- Christine Hanusi, Ken Wan, and Leslie Zoerb -- fly to California to see their flavor dream turn into a reality. With the help of Gourmet Executive Chef Sara Moulton and our panel of flavor experts, the contestants ferfect their ice cream vision in the Häagen-Dazs® ice cream flavor labs.


WATCH THE COMPETITION HEAT UP WITH SPEIAL WEBISODES AT HAAGENDAZS.COM/SCOOP.

Whose flavor will make the cut? Will Ken have the chance to meet someone special by becoming the flavor winner? What does "Lady Pear" Leslie think of Christine's Blueberry Belgian Waffle? Find out at HäagenDazs.com/Scoop.

TUNE IN TO "GOOD MORNING AMERICA" ON SEPTEMBER 21, WHEN SARA MOULTON REVEALS THE WINNER ON LIVE TELEVISION!"

So there it is, the "public" announcement that the winner will be announce on September 21. But, you already knew that from my post on 7/29/07. Well, I will be roaming the Yucatan peninsula in search of the finest ingredients for Coco y Cacao. :-) They'll have to fly me out from Tulum, straight to NYC. Perfect, huh? And luckily, it sounds like the damage from Hurricane Dean wasn't too bad in Tulum. I haven't heard much about the rest of the Yucatan, but it didn't seem too bad. Or, maybe because it isn't the good 'ol US of A, we don't hear much about it.

Haagen Dazs website updated (sort of)

I checked the Haagen Dazs website today, looking for new webisodes (there are none) and noticed they made the change that I suggested back on July 15. They now have the webisodes tab as the default (i.e. when you go to http://scoop.haagendazs.com, you go directly to the webisodes). I wonder if they got a lot of complaints or maybe someone in the company just knows what s/he is doing. Or, maybe someone is actually reading my blog!?