We all scream for ice cream !

I had a lengthy conversation about ice cream with someone at work today. I asked them ( in advance of my inflicting some pain on them) to imagine their favourite scene, in order that they would relax. She imagined she was on the beach in Bettystown on a sun bed with a huge ice cream cone. I was surprised admitting I would have had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc in my hand. She informed me that she rarly drank but her weakness in life was always ice cream. She particularly loved the old tubs of ice cream you used to get in the cinema, with the green bit in the bottom, you had to try to get with the supplied wooden paddle-shaped spoon. She reminisced about a local newsagent who, for a while, had the green syrup to pour over cones.Now although this woman is about 75, she admitted to loving "Ben and Jerry's " which surprised me, I opting for Carte D'Or and fantasising about trying the new Rum and Raisin, my favourite flavour. As a child and teenager I was loyal to the "Brunch" except on the evenings Fat Freddie would arrive home with choc ices for us...he still does this. I graduated to the magnificent Magnum when I met GASP who is a big fan but is a real lover of the cone. I remember him bringing me to a newsagents in Kingscourt for a "spin" one Sunday just so he could buy me the best cone he had ever tried...and also the largest....tis no wonder I married him !He also loves an ice cream wafer so there is always a block of HB in the freezer.Ice cream is comfort food, cinema food, beach food, restaurant food, party food. We used to have ice cream birthday cakes when we lived in Dundalk and they were amazing. Tomorrow I will journey to Duleek to the Sage and Stone Artisan Food and Craft Fair where I plan to sample, among other things, some more "Burkes Ice Cream"....mmmmmm !I am however a purist. I disagree with mint choc chip , brown bread, baileys or toffee ice cream etc. Ice cream should be vanilla ( with pods evident), strawberry, banana, chocolate( although this is in fact my least favourite). Heston Blumenthal may be a genius but Bacon and Egg ice cream.....please !Keep it simple, keep it creamy, keep it slightly soft, eat it with a small spoon and enjoy it !