Latest news with #CreamiSwirl
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Daily Mail
I tried the new Ninja Creami Swirl that users are calling 'a dessert game changer' - Here's my honest review
Imagine a world where ice cream was at the tips of your fingers 24/7... Well, you don't have to because thanks to Ninja the dream has become reality. The viral Ninja Creami ice cream maker has been a hot ticket item since its launch in July of 2021, with millions of shoppers flocking to try it. But, if you thought the delectable Creami machine was good, wait till you try its new partner in crime— the Ninja Swirl. Ninja® CREAMi® Swirl 13-in-1 Soft Serve Ice Cream Machine Serve up a good time with the kitchen appliance that is changing dessert forever. Back in July 2021 the original Ninja Creami was launched but fans have a whole new way to enjoy this summer with the Ninja Creami Swirl! This innovative device makes delectable pints of scoopable ice cream, sorbet, Fro-Yo, and more instantly — and even soft serve. $350 Shop Launched in February 2025, the new Ninja Creami Swirl is an ice cream innovation like no other. Taking after its big sis, the Ninja Creami, this device makes perfectly smooth ice cream at the touch of a button but with a twist (literally!). I decided to take the wildly hyped kitchen appliance for a test drive myself to see if it lived up to not only its proceeding fame but the proven track record of its original iteration. As a self-proclaimed ice cream connoisseur, I of course tested the Ninja Creami in 2021. Although it certainly did make delicious ice cream, I can't say I was blown away. However, I went in with high hopes for the new and noticeably larger Swirl. HOW I TESTED I started my Ninja Creami Swirl test the same way I would normally use the Creami, by creating a vanilla ice cream base in one of the Ninja Pints to freeze overnight. Both version of the machine come with an included recipe book for ease which I truly appreciated. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shopping Finder US (@shoppingfinderus) The only major difference I noticed during this stage was unlike the other machine's pints, these had a notable protruding nozzle for connecting to the soft serve port later on (but it caused no change in prep time!). There is a reason the Ninja Creami Swirl is blowing up on social media, and it's due to its 13 different modes. You can make ice cream, gelato, milkshakes, and now even soft serve. The original iteration of the machine in its deluxe form only has 11 modes leaving out soft serve, custard, etc. I prepped by vanilla ice cream on the 'soft serve' mode which roughly takes four minutes of mix time (nearly identical to the timing of the original Creami). To get the full effect I decided to also do a mix-in of Lucky Charms! What I found exciting was this feature still functioned the same way for soft serve dispensing as it had in the pint version from the original Creami. My mix came out seriously seamless in just one minute too! Of course, the real test came at the dispensing time. The Ninja Swirl is known for one major thing and it's the handle dispenser. Surprisingly, despite my worries, setting up the soft serve function was easy as pie. All I had to do was take my blended pint, snap it into the port on the front of the machine, pull the lever to dispense — and enjoy! (No, seriously, it was that simple!). At first bite I definitely noticed there was a more 'melty' consistency, unlike the typical thicker blend of the Ninja Creami modes. I enjoyed the fact that the soft serve feature truly MADE soft serve right down to the texture — it made the legitimacy of the overall machine more solid for me. PROS Growing up in Vermont, my summer traditions consisted of visiting 'Cremee' stands (aka soft-serve but better!), and thanks to the Ninja Creami Swirl, I now have a way to bring home to me even in New York City. Users online said it was, 'a dessert game changer,' and now I seriously see why. The pros were clear to me from the first use: experience, flavor, and clean-up. As someone who deeply enjoys a sweet treat after dinner I found the Ninja Swirl exciting, fun, and downright delicious! The process is an activity in itself and the clean-up is near to none (at least for a single adult whom lives alone). CONS All in all I do not have any major complaints against the Ninja Swirl other than cost. There is no denying that at $350, this device is not cheap. The cons? Price and size. The Ninja Swirl is significantly larger than the Ninja Creami and heavier, making it a device that is much less moveable. If you struggle with counter space this device is NOT for you (let's just say I had to say goodbye to some beloved mugs to make this work!). Furthermore, the price as it stands now for some may not be that worth it. The only thing the original lacks is a soft serve dispenser and the modes that come with it otherwise the two are identical. IS IT WORTH IT? At first, I was intimidated by just how many modes there were on the Ninja Swirl, but after a few uses, it became second nature. By far, the stand-out feature of the Ninja Swirl is its interactive soft-serve dispenser. Powered by a handle on the right side of the machine, I was able to serve myself my ice cream directly onto a waffle cone!After trying out both the After testing the machine against its original iteration, I can confess the Swirl is worth the hype for one reason — nostalgia! I can picture my younger brothers having a blast with it all summer long and have a feeling even my partner and I will have fun using the playful dessert creator. However, if soft serve is not your jam the original Ninja Creami more than suffices. The key difference between the two models is the interactive soft serve dispenser which for me made the extra money worth it. But for those looking to just whip up delicious ice cream in any form efficiently the much cheaper Ninja Creami is our recommendation. This viral countertop 'dessert game-changer' is easily the best kitchen product we have tried in 2025 thus far. We can guarantee that you won't have mixed feelings about ordering the Ninja Swirl by Creami because well — we didn't! Shop it now ahead of summer on Ninja's website, Amazon, or Best Buy.
Boston Globe
17-02-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Julie Thurlow, whose career began by accident, is making waves at Reading Cooperative Bank
Now she has found a way to fill it, by merging with a smaller bank between those areas, Wakefield Co-operative Bank . The depositors of Reading Cooperative approved the merger last week, following a similar vote at the smaller bank. The deal is slated to close this spring, and will bring Reading Cooperative into Wakefield, Melrose, and Lynnfield. Wakefield chief executive Jeff Worth will join as president, and Reading Cooperative will have $1.2 billion in assets across 14 branches. With a few other midsized banks north of Boston getting swallowed up, Thurlow said, her team is in a good position to take advantage of the market disruption. Advertisement Even before these deals, Thurlow had become one of the most prominent women in the Massachusetts banking scene. Her career began by accident: She graduated college in the 1980s with a music degree, but school music budgets were being cut, and a career as a performer seemed out of the question. So she took a low-level job at a community bank in Winchendon and fell in love with it almost immediately. She then went to work for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and helped manage its oversight of several local bank failures in the early 1990s, before returning to the private sector. One reason she's stayed at Reading Cooperative for so long: She has had freedom to try new innovations, such as starting to offer Venmo money transfer services on its mobile app in 2022, and becoming one of the state's largest writers of Paycheck Protection Program loans, early in the pandemic. The mutual ownership structure helps, without the quarterly earnings pressure and bottom-line focus of a publicly traded holding company. Advertisement 'I didn't have to leave to have an opportunity to experience new things,' Thurlow said. 'The beauty of mutual [ownership is] we can decide what we want to invest in without having to report to shareholders.' Always be diversifying SharkNinja could soon be coming to a supermarket near you. During an earnings call on Thursday, chief executive Mark Barrocas said the consumer products company is broadening its presence in sporting goods stores, such as with its portable grills and coolers. Some products, such as its slushie-maker and its cutlery, will show up in grocery stores, too. This follows a big push into beauty chains, particularly with the launch of CryoGlow, an antiaging face mask that sells for $350 — a new product that could account for $100 million in revenue this year. This is good news for the Needham headquarters, where SharkNinja's 1,100-person workforce keeps growing. A spokeswoman said SharkNinja has nearly 80 open positions to fill there, most of them new. The company has come a long way from the days when its primary focus was on Shark vacuums and Ninja blenders. Just last week, it launched a soft-serve ice cream maker, called the Creami Swirl, also with a list price of $350. Barrocas expects revenue to grow by at least 10 percent this year, a slowdown from the 30-plus percent increase reported in 2024, when the company generated $5.5 billion in sales. But the pace of innovation won't slow: The company is launching 25 new products in 2025, a similar amount to last year. 'We have 1,200 engineers around the world. We're constantly developing products across 36 different product categories,' Barrocas said in an interview. 'That's the secret sauce of SharkNinja.' Advertisement Rolling the dice on sports bets Did Wynn Resorts make the right call with sports betting at its Encore Boston Harbor casino? It didn't quite work out as planned, as Encore president Jenny Holaday explained during a wide-ranging discussion with Arun Upneja , Boston University 's dean of hospitality administration, at Responding to an audience member's question, Holaday conceded that Wynn executives thought sports betting would be more lucrative. Massachusetts lawmakers allowed casinos to offer sports bets on their premises DraftKings and the like. Wynn converted its 'Buffet' restaurant to a sports bar after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and that area 'We thought that 95 percent of sports betting would be done on the phone, and that 5 percent would be in person,' Holaday said. 'And we were wrong. Ninety-nine percent of it is done on the phone. So . . . we thought we would make more money than we have. We spent $28 million turning our Buffet into one of the coolest-looking sportsbooks. . . . Have any of you been there?' Holaday didn't seem surprised by the muted reaction to that question. 'It's really impressive [but] that thing is never going to ROIC, ever,' Holaday said, using the abbreviation for 'return on invested capital.' 'It's a great place to watch the Super Bowl, March Madness, a big event. But it is not what we thought it would be because, as I like to say, you can't compete with the couch.' Upneja asked how she persuades her 3,300-person team to provide a 'five-star' experience. Holaday attributed it to the employees' dedication, their pride in the building where they work, and the camaraderie they developed in the pandemic. (Staffing at the casino, which opened in 2019, still is short of its prepandemic level of nearly 6,000 people.) Advertisement Upneja also asked: How close are flicks like 'Casino Royale' to real life? 'It's just a very high-energy, intense, really really fun business, but it's not like you see in the movies,' Holaday said. Upneja, smiling, acted disappointed. 'Despite what you said, I still want to protect that image of that glitz and the glamour of James Bond,' he told Holaday. 'Next time I enter, that's kind of . . . what I'll be looking for.' To which she responded: 'Duly noted.' Berkshire, Pentera snag Super Bowl slots Instead of rooting for quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts on Super Bowl Sunday, some Greater Boston workers cheered on a Celtics star, Derrick White . Others applauded a CGI goat with computer hacking skills. Every year, a few slots are made available for ad slots in regional markets during the Super Bowl broadcast. These coveted slots cost nowhere near the $8 million price for a nationwide ad. This time, Berkshire Bank jumped at a regional slot during the game's third quarter, to highlight its Berkshire One digital suite of products — and its new agreement with White. Meanwhile, cybersecurity firm Pentera unveiled Gary, the talking goat, walking through a standard corporate scene boasting about how he finds and fixes 'cyber exposures.' Or make that a talking GOAT, as in 'Greatest of All Time, in cybersecurity, not sports. Pentera even produced an online guidebook for IT pros, with quirky drawings of Gary at work. The company was started in Israel, opened a headquarters in Burlington a few years ago, and is building its name recognition here. The ad, 'Scapegoat to Cyber GOAT,' aired in the half-hour before kickoff on Boston's Fox affiliate, WFXT . Advertisement 'We couldn't hire a Tom Cruise or a Matthew McConaughey,' said Aviv Cohen , chief marketing officer at Pentera. 'We didn't want to do babies or cats.' So a Cyber GOAT it is. Much of the work was handled by Pentera's marketing team, with a script and co-direction by a Florida freelancer, Aron Fried , and digital effects from an Israeli firm, Shortcut Playground . Berkshire Bank also used some digital effects, though they're not as obvious: White stood in his Berkshire One uniform, expressing surprise at Berkshire One's numerous benefits on what appeared to be a basketball court, but was really a green screen shot in a Newton studio. White signed on with the bank last June, in an agreement that lasts until the end of the year. By that time, Berkshire will actually have a new name: The bank is merging with Brookline Bank , and the two banks plan to announce a new brand for the combined institution sometime in the second half of the year. In the meantime, marketing director Mark Pedrotti said, 'we'll have a lot more to come with Derrick in the next six or seven months.' Jon Chesto can be reached at
