Lorie Davis, the Tillamook Cheese July Fan of the Month

In honor of National Ice Cream Month, we selected a true Tillamook Ice Cream lover to be our July Fan of the Month. We first “met” Lorie when she left a comment on a blog post about our Ice Cream Photo Contest:

“Boy! Would I ever like to send you a picture of this 69 year old grandma diving into a gigantic, heaping bowl of my favorite ice cream in the world: Tillamook Mudslide! If only I could figure out some way to get a massive carton of it sent down her to Austin, Texas! I have to wait 6 months until my semi-annual trip to Portland, at which time I eat several!”

Thanks for being our July Fan of the Month, Lorie! Hope you eat lots of Tillamook Mudslide on your next trip to Portland!

Q: How long have you been eating Tillamook dairy products? When did your “Loaf Love” for Tillamook begin?
A: I’ve eaten and liked Tillamook Cheese for decades. But my love affair began when I toured your Cheese Factory, and had a super-sized cone of Tillamook Ice Cream right there in your gift shop. OHHHHHH! I cannot describe the bliss! The most glorious flavor of ice cream that had ever caressed my tongue!

Q: What’s your favorite Tillamook product?
A: Without question, Tillamook Mudslide Ice Cream! I can’t get enough, and eat it obsessively when it is available! I live in Texas now, and lament bitterly that I can’t get your wonderful ice cream down here!

Q: What’s your favorite Tillamook Ice Cream flavor?
A: As stated above, I adore and crave Tillamook Mudslide: Super chocolaty ice cream with thin layers of chocolate shell (the kind that melts on your tongue) strewn all through and between. (For some, it might be a chocolate overload — but “overload” and “chocolate” have never co-existed in my comprehension. More! More!).

I confess that during my bi-annual trips to Portland, I always buy a couple of cartons of Mudslide and eat them all gone! I have been known to share, but my kids and grandkids have to race me to the freezer. I can take down a carton in a day – little bowls smuggled off to my room so nobody will actually see what a glutton I am. It’s just too voluptuous to resist! (I don’t do this with any other ice cream, by the way. And, of course, I repent at leisure later.)

Q: What are you doing when you’re not eating Tillamook products? What are your hobbies?
A: I write novels! I have four published novels in the Iron Rose series under the name of Lorie H. Nicholes. I have sleep-over dates with my 12 grandchildren, when we do all sorts of fun things together. I’m an artist, love to sew and design clothing, furniture, and homey things. I tell stories in costume to any group who wants me, in highly dramatic fashion (photo of this below:  My Fairy Godmother persona). I enjoy carpentry, silver jewelry casting, and inventing stuff. Twice a month I teach Career Workshops for job-seekers at the LDS Employment Center. And I read 4 hours a day (most delightfully if I am also delicately licking spoonfuls of Tillamook Mudslide Ice Cream!). You can tell I’m retired, right?

Q: Anything else you want to share about your love for Tillamook?
A: You do make great cheese! I love the Mozzarella and Sharp Cheddar especially. Grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade whole wheat! Yum!

One of Lorie's hobbies: dramatic storytelling in costume