The Parlour - Durham, NC

I'm always freezing while other people sweat. In my messed-up mind, 75 is comfortable, 70 is borderline, and 68 is an arctic chill. You'd think that the last thing I'd want to do is walk a few freezing blocks to have ice cream at The Parlour, but on a brisk November afternoon, I just had to give it try.

If I'm going to risk turning into a giant pillar of ice a la Anna from Frozen (spoiler alert!), my ice cream better be a creamy, caloric nightmare. The Vegan Devil's Food, a dense, somewhat bittersweet bite of flourless cake in liquid form did the trick. 

The Salted Butter Caramel was pure sugar in several different strains, a buttery vanilla based laced with gooey strands of caramel. 

When it comes to ice cream, I like the caramel classics best, but I dig this crazy-creative Coconut Curry with Candied Cashew. The sweet, crunchy cashews caress a smooth coconut curry like a sweetened version of Massaman for a taste Thai on the tongue.

I was visibly shivering in The Parlour despite the central heating, and I was freezing my gluttonous gluts off for the entire walk back to my car. But nothing was going to get between me and my homemade ice cream that day, come hell or high wind chill, and I think my parlay with The Parlour was worth freezing for.