The Vermonster at Ben & Jerry's

Tonight a group of us (six in all: four women, two men) went to Ben & Jerry's to tackle the Vermonster. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, this is a bucket of 20 scoops of ice cream (all your choice), four bananas, three cookies, one brownie, nuts, Reese's pieces, nuts, hot fudge, whipped cream and a giant waffle cone.

We each chose three flavors and then let the employee pick two. It then took another 10 minutes to finish making the Vermonster, as he had to chop the cookies, brownie and bananas.

We took a lot of before and after pictures (one of which, by the way, will be put up on the wall at the store). We dug right in, only to realize that we had a deep layer of bananas and cookies before getting to the ice cream. Each time someone discovered some ice cream, we would all attack it.

In the end, it took us about 30 minutes to polish it off. At first we were worried that most of the ice cream would melt, and then we would have to pass it around like a boot at the Essen Haus, but fortunately this didn't happen. We also got to keep the bucket; we will share it like a traveling trophy, such as the Stanley Cup.

Recommendations: First, the Vermonster costs about $36 with tax. Thus, the cost per person goes way down with more people (we each spent $6).

Second, do this on an empty stomach. Although ice cream may not be the best/healthiest of meals, it still fills you up. Each scoop was 250 calories x 20 = 5,000 + all the other toppings = 6,000 calories total. For our group, we each devoured 1,000 calories (and who knows how much fat!).

Third, don't add fruity flavors to the Vermonter. We had one scoop of strawberry-kiwi, one of mango and one of apple, and they all tarnished the chocolaty flavor of the Vermonster. You'll get enough fruit from the bananas!