From heroin addict to ice cream junkie – WGNO New Orleans

With flavors like Crushed Candy Cane, Straw Merry Christmas & Gingerbread Friends

by: Wild Bill Wood, with photojournalist Justin Abshire

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) Back behind Blue Dot Donuts, on a New Orleans back porch, a guy named Sam sells ice cream.

Its the ice cream Sam Caruso makes.

And the flavors he makes up.

In the moment.

Its the moment, WGNO Good Morning New Orleans features reporter Bill Wood finds out, Sam wondered if hed ever had.

Sam says, Im experiencing something I never thought was possible.

Bill Wood says, your lifes had a lot of favors.

Sam says, some sour, some bitter, for the most part now its kind of sweet.

Sam Caruso could write a book.

And probably star as himself in the Netflix series.

Hes a culinary school dropout.

A heroin addict for 17 years.

After being in and out of jail more times than he can count.

After losing more jobs than he could count, Bill Wood asks Sam, would you call yourself a loser?

Sam says, I was a loser and wouldve called myself every negative name I could come up with.

I was a loser, Sam says.

I wasnt comfortable in my own skin.

After he broke his foot in a bicycle accident, Sam did nothing for a year, but sit and think.

He thought about life and about the ice cream he once made as a hobby for friends.

And he thought about a Chinese proverb he heard.

Sam remembers it and quotes it Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.

Sam says the quote comes from a guy named Laozi.

And thats now the name on the label of his ice cream.

Its Laozi Ice Cream which you can order by clicking right here.

You can see his Instagram right here.

Sam pronounces the name Laozi like the word lousy.

He knows life can be lousy.

And as it turns out, so is his ice cream.

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From heroin addict to ice cream junkie - WGNO New Orleans