The Ice Cream Smile - A Unique Phenomenon

I love to see people eat ice cream - because they invariably smile! And it's a smile different to any other you will see. I demonstrated this last summer in a my ice cream blog when I wrote a post which featured a wonderful little ice cream parlour. People of all ages it seems are happy to be photographed eating their ice creams and very few ever have straight face when doing so!

I think this is a phenomenon unique to ice cream.

And if you need more proof, just look at this ....

Captured on camera by his dad Paul, sweet little Dylan Robinson happily tucks into an ice cream cone.

Without a care in the world for where it ends up - on his nose and face, hands, his high chair or indeed on the floor where apparently the faithful family dog Nelly patiently waits to lap it up - the look on his face is unquestionably what I call ....

THE ICE CREAM SMILE

David Cameron - The New Ice Cream Man

Ice cream and politics go hand in hand - didn't you know?

Last year, I wrote in the Blog Of Ice Cream about how President Obama enjoyed ice cream more than once whilst on the election campaign trail and in my website there's a whole page dedicated to US Presidents and ice cream.

Well, as British politics enters a new era it was with great interest that I read about Prime Minister David Cameron's associations with ice cream ... here are just a few of them.

During the recent election campaign he was happy to be photographed by the press eating a vanilla ice cream cone - see this Daily Telegraph piece

His speechwriter, Clare Foges, apparently worked for a time back in 2006 serving ice cream from a van in Guildford. She joined David Cameron's team in 2008.

Writer and comedian Stephen Fry recently used ice cream in a wonderful analogy when assessing the possible aspects of a coalition deal between David Cameron and Nick Clegg (before it was formally announced) ... see his blog post Stalemate: PR and PR, Ice Cream, Bananas and Fudge

The world of politics it would seem cannot live without ice cream any more than the rest of us!

Iron Man Ice Cream

I was watching an interview with Robert Downey Jnr the other day; he was talking about the up-and-coming release of Iron Man 2 and how he expects to be in the UK in the Fall to film a Sherlock Holmes sequel. Personally, I'm a big fan of Robert's - a powerful and committed actor who gives 100% to his work and who also happens to have a terrific cheeky smile!

Anyway, I'm getting off the point here somewhat .... :) Watching the interview reminded me of how the first Iron Man movie featured a super little scene with kids eating ice cream cones whilst on a ferris wheel ride. As I've said before, I'm always fascinated to note just how many movies feature or refer to ice cream in some context or other. I've made a list of a few notable ones which you can read about on my ice cream in the movies page.

We are big movie fans in our house so I continue to add to my notes and it shouldn't be long before I publish some new movie ice cream anecdotes.

Will Iron Man 2 be amongst them? I wonder ....

A Vote For Vanilla Ice Cream ... and Laurel & Hardy

Today's headline news around the world is without doubt the UK General Election result. Many blog writers, Twitter and Facebook members are busy jamming up the web with their take on the situation .... quite understandable perhaps BUT I would rather write about voting of a different kind .... a vote for vanilla ice cream!

Yes, when the rest of the world goes mad about politics, I find the thought of ice cream very appealing and somehow comforting. So earlier today, in a telephone conversation with a complete stranger, I asked what they would vote for as their favourite ice cream flavour.

The 'stranger' turned out to be Lee Cox from Sheffield in England (for most people Sheffield is synonomous with Sheffield steel and the Crucible Theatre which stages the Snooker World Championships). A bubbly, intelligent and very helpful young man, Lee did not hesitate in casting his vote ....

"vanilla ice cream with hundreds and thousands sprinkled on top" he said

Quite a remarkable reply .... why? Well, vanilla ice cream is also #1 in my book, it is also the most popular ice cream recipe downloaded from my website (see the statistics for 2009 on my top 10 ice cream recipes page) AND one of my favourite photos of ice cream featured throughout my ice cream recipes website is of .... a vanilla ice cream cone with hundreds and thousands sprinkled on it! See the photo left.

In talking further with Lee, he revealed that was brought up enjoying Laurel and Hardy movies - a love he shared with his late father. Another coincidence, as my late father had the same influence on me! So here for you Lee is a Laurel and Hardy ice cream scene. ENJOY!

Making Ice Cream Can Be Fun!

Most people love ice cream yet only a small percentage have ever made their own ice cream at home. That's amazing to me - and to anyone who DOES make their own ice cream - because it is not difficult and can be enormous FUN!

Whether you have an electric ice cream maker (photo on the right shows me using mine at home) or not makes only a little difference - it will just take you longer to make your ice cream without a machine that's all. A good analogy would be that of breadmaking with or without an electric bread maker.

I have written a page called Making Ice Cream in which you will find 3 different methods of ice cream making plus links to pages on key ingredients, what a custard base (cream base) is and other types of ice cream you can make such as gelato and sorbets (water ices). There is also a link to my measuring guide for both dry and liquid ingredients.

So what are you waiting for? Enjoy the moment and have fun - and if you have any doubts, think on this:

"We are always getting ready to live but never living" Ralph Waldo Emerson