Thanks, everyone. PartyM, there seems to be an unofficial EICFBreakfast Day Website that has the story of its origin. Even gives the name of the mother (now a grandmother) who "invented" the holiday. Of course, many an ice cream parlor advertises the "holiday" and has parties and specials to commemorate the event. There's a place in Seattle that has a big party and awards gold cones (silver and bronze too) for the best customer-written limericks. Real or not, I just couldn't let this "holiday" go by. Karen, I'm glad to be back. For one thing, this place is great for the ego. Everyone is so nice! Jeanne and Kay, thanks for "double posting." That is so nice of you to take the time. I tell myself that I don't care about the number of comments I get, but the ruth of it is, I sometimes feel a little silly with only three or four comments and other blogs have zillions. It does make me wonder if anyone really knows I'm out there.

I have a wolfgang puck ice cream maker that has a built in compressor. I love it. I bought if off of ebay and it was cheaper than buying the cuisinart model that had the compressor. One word of caution. They are quite heavy and really shouldn't be moved around very much, especially not tipped or tilted. If that happens you have to wait a day or two, for the machine to stabilize before using. Other than that it works great, and you can continuously make ice cream in it. Claire de luna, I found this article online and saved it. The poster claims that it's not the cooking process but the eggs that affect the ice cream. The woman's ice creams are supposed to be amazing. I am going to try this the next time I make ice cream. I am making an olive oil basil ice cream for work with a strawberry balsamic glaze for the topping. (its a contest we have monthly). Anyways here's the post I saved. "We followed the recipe for her vanilla bean ice cream, adding some chopped flakes of dark chocolate while churning. Here are our thoughts: The texture of this ice cream was amazing!! It was soft, rich, and creamy. Where our eggless ice creams are usually icy and hard, this was incredibly soft and velvety. The process of simmering down the cream and whisking in a little cornstarch was much easier and faster than our usual custard process. We did overcook the cornstarch a bit; you can see how thick our "pudding" was. This gave the ice cream a little too much flavor of cornstarch. But this wasn't too noticeable; our taste testers raved over it. The addition of cream cheese for scoopability and softness is brilliant; it gives the ice cream just a slight tang, but not a noticeable flavor. It does seem to affect softness a lot. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe by Jeni Britton This exceptionally creamy ice cream relies on two unexpected ingredients: cornstarch (to help thicken it) and cream cheese (to make it more scoopable). 2 cups whole milk 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened (3 tablespoons) 1 1/4 cups heavy cream 2/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt Directions Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch. In another large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk with the heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla bean and seeds. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves and the vanilla flavors the milk, about 4 minutes. Off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in the salt. Set the bowl in the ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 20 minutes. Strain the ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions. Pack the ice cream into a plastic container. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream and close with an airtight lid. Freeze the vanilla ice cream until firm, about 4 hours. " Shelley S.

Ice Cream is one of those things that doesn't ship well long distance for some strange reason! VBG!!! Having lived all over the country I can say in each area there has been a "local favorite brand" that wins out hands down over the others, even the big name brands like Bryers that seem to be produced in several different plants around the country. Here in Texas, I like a lot of the HEB store brand flavors such as Banana Nut, and the Lemon one in the summer. Sometimes eat the Blue Bell, DH prefers Sherbet, and now that we have found a source for Strawberry Sherbet he is in 7th heaven when I can get some and bring it home.(it is popular and sells out about as soon as the store gets it in!) Ellie

First of all, I'm impressed that this person got a gig where she got paid to eat ice cream I think though that there are more complexities than have been mapped out. One eats soft serve ice cream acquired at a DQ Drive Thru and eaten as a car passenger when the AC is battling with a 101 Texas afternoon in a different way than the traditional half gallon eaten at home with a girl friend when breaking up. A glob of vanilla in a Coke Float is eaten differently than sprinkle laden banana split birthday sweets. Many complexities. Too overwhelming for one author. Should Dr. Kemp be interested, my services as an assistant would certainly be available....