I like vanilla more than chocolate.

I also like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate. I love chocolate, but I don't think chocolate ice cream tastes like chocolate.

I like chocolate syrup on my vanilla ice cream, though.

I like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate. I can't eat chocolate anymore because I ate too much of it in one day as a child.

I would take (good) vanilla ice cream over chocolate 99 times out of 100.

Fruit flavoured ice cream? Pah, I want fruit ice or sorbet.

I like alcoholic drinks with icecream because they are so tasty and you can't taste the alcohol. But for a whole night of drinking (not that I do that) it's way too filling. I just know this...

I like chocolate 99/100 times but the 1/100th needs to be vanilla soft served - sometimes just get in the mood for it.

Joyce -- yes! soft-served! I grew up on that stuff. When I was a kid, I used to get soft-served chocolate ice cream, dipped in chocolate. Mmm. Maybe that explains why I was a bit pudgy back then. Still ... mmm.

Vanilla is still the most popular ice cream. It's definitely my preferred choice for hot fudge sundaes or with pie.

Mint Chocolate Chip any time. Serious chocolate cravings require Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

And rum. White, gold, spiced, dark, dark and spiced, over ice or mixed with cranberry juice. Rum is my friend.

Two words: Guiness Float

Does this mean that rainbow sherbet (my favorite) isn't really pineapple, raspberry and orange and I've just been fooled into thinking it was? (Apparently, for a half-century...)

No, rainbow sherbet is sherbet, rainbow ice cream is colored vanilla. EL

Two words: Guiness Float

Adam, is that really a thing? Because my husband loooves Guinness and I think he'd like a Guinness float. Have you tried it? Is it good?

It's true in my household, hubby goes for vanilla (although he prefers it with some peanut butter cups) and I love the Chocolate...especially Chocolate Chocolate Chip...*yum*

Sam, you can still indulge in your soft served cones - just not daily to keep from returning to a pudge state!

FLIRV - I tried Captain Morgan's spiced rum with pineapple juice last weekend. Not the winner I thought it'd be but not bad. It's very good with OJ though!

Another vote for vanilla.

With Chambord drizzled over served with a simple sugar cookie and some good black coffee.

With sauteed fruit (peaches, yumm!) served over french toast made from a day old crusty bread.

I could go on..
(boy could I ever go on!)

Sam - When I was growing up, for a treat, my dad used to take us to Windy Valley for their soft-served vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate. This is before that area became all fancy, and WV still had the pony rides right next to the building. What a great memory!!

Trixie, right next to the building? Hopefully they kept the ponies from digging into the ice cream vats. Could be a ... hairy ... situation.

When I was growing up, chocolate ice cream tasted nothing like the milk chocolate candy I liked, so I acquired a preference for vanilla ice cream. While I've acquired more of a palate for bitter chocolate candy, I still prefer vanilla ice cream. True, the flavor of chocolate ice cream has improved over the years, but the same is also true of vanilla (especially in the super-premium brands).

Yeah Sam, they kept them in a fenced off riding ring!

Crystal Lite used to make a lime flavored drink that went very nicely with Captain Morgan's.

Chocolate and peanut butter...the greatest invention in the history of the universe!

When I was a child, waaay back when you couldn't choose what flavor of medicine the pharmacy mixed, I had to take this vile tasting white stuff. My father, when trying to get me to take it, tasted it and said " Mmmm, tastes like vanilla ice cream." I could not eat vanilla ice cream until I was 30! I'm still not very fond of it.

Last summer, I bought myself an ice cream machine to fulfill my mad scientist aspirations.

Some winners so far:

Ginger and almond ice cream: Fresh or crystallized ginger can give it a real bite. Powdered ginger gives it a far more mellow undertone. I'm thinking about doing something evil with marzipan on top.

Kiwi and Basil Sorbet: The earthy floral notes of nice, ripe basil give depth to punch through the exotic tang of the generally underripe imported kiwi we get.

Still in the lab:
White Pepper Vanilla Bean Ice Cream: Who says only the chocolate lovers get to have a little spicy with their sweet? With apologies to both Iron Chef and Cibo Matto.

Maggie Moos in Fells Point has buttered popcorn flavored ice cream. I couldn't bring myself to try it.

Vanilla over chocolate 100 times out of 100. Bleh Chocolate Ice Cream!

And put some Reeses on top please!

Ray-Ray, I had it with the chocolate and caramel, and it was surprisingly good.

But when it comes to flavors: Coffee, mint chocolate chip and then chocolate. I don't know how vanilla can be a favorite for anyone. It's so boring!

Trixie - I have the same memories of Windy Valley as well.
One of my favorite combinations is a chocolate snowball with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
My beagle "Lily" also loves her scoop of vanilla every evening.

El Generalissimo, I did the same last summer. What kind of ice cream machine did you buy? My goal was to replicate the best gelato I've eaten in Italy, especially in Florence and Rome. I finally perfected Melone, which was as good as what we had at San Crispino according to my friend (it depends so much on the quality of the cantaloupe-- so difficult to find here in the US); bittersweet chocolate and fior di latte (both Sicilian-style); and Candied Bacon (an abomination to the Italians, but incredibly delicious).

Wot?!?!? Beer over a martini?? Philistines.

porky, do you type out your name each time, or do you have it in a txt file on your desktop that you cut and paste... just a totally random thought I had.

Good vanilla ice cream has a clean refreshing taste that for me is more satisfying than other flavors, which can be cloying (especially chocolate varieties). While I do enjoy other flavors like mint chocolate chip or butter pecan, high-quality vanilla never disappoints!

And don't get me started on the "not ice cream" ice creams - every manufacturer has developed these frozen desserts code-named Slow Churned, etc, that are really loaded up with gums and chemicals, and that are so un-refreshing you need to guzzle milk afterwards to clear the taste out of your mouth. Yuck!

If you want to see incredible ice cream flavour combinations, read through the comments in this article on the Guardian's Word of Mouth blog about suggestions for a new Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Trixi and NotableM - Windy Valley! What years are you all reminiscing about.

Speaking of Windy Valley, they had this peanut butter ice cream that was un real, the only places I ever had it at, was there and further north on falls road. I’m talking Hereford north, at a corner pizza shop, that is also closed now. They both had this peanut butter ice cream that was completely different than any other place I've had it, and I've had my fair share of it.

Anyone know the PB Ice Cream I am talking about? I can smell it now, and I want some! HELP!

Bob,
maybe it was Hershey's brand or Greene's ice cream. that is what the little store sold.

The Cone Koan: is the state of the economy bad enough to require a sugar cone or is the state of the economy bad enough to justify a waffle cone?

KitKat - Not sure about NotableM, but mid to late 70's is when the ponies were at WV.

And I have always preferred the waffle cone over the sugar cone.

El Generalissimo, I had red bell pepper ice cream once that was very tasty. Another possibility for your lab?

I sell Ice Cream for a living....somebody's got a do it!
my largest customer their number one selling flavor
Butter Pecan..

I LOVE Cherry Garcia! And, when I've eaten all the icecream I want to eat, I sneakily eat all the cherries out of the rest!

Trixi - Do you remember any of the boys who worked at WV during that time. Mark, Bruce, Brian or Jay? They loved giving the cute girls extra large scoops of ice cream. Probably bankrupted the place.

I was a little young to know the guys who worked there. I was more interested in the ponies at that time!

Vanilla ice cream topped with sliced strawberries that have been mixed with a bit of sugar. The strawberry/sugar mixture should sit in the fridge all day if you can wait, but at least for a few hours.

All of this talk about Windy Valley reminds me of the frozen custard at Emerson Farm just a bit farther up Falls Road. This working dairy farm sold homemade custard which was unlike any of the soft-serve sold today. There was also a summer "strawhat" theater there.

Of course, it, too, is long gone; the property now houses a Montessori school.

Porchetta:
I treated myself to the Cuisinart 2-quart Supreme with the built-in compressor; no messing with block ice and rock salt. I've been slow in trying out gelato bases, but this seems like a good summer for it.

Trixie:
That actually sounds delightful. Spicy and sweet, I find a lovely combination.

I'm working on a savory ice cream concoction -- please don't retch until I have a chance to get it figured out. I'm thinking of a sour cream-chive and bacon mix to top on baked potatoes. If you hear sirens this weekend, think of me.

El Generalissimo - at first you made me blush. I thougt you were giving me a compliment! But I think you meant to respond to KristinB's comment on red bell pepper ice cream. Oh well, a girl can dream...

My absolute FAVE is good-quality peach ice cream such as Breyer's or the brand (whose name, of course, I can't remember) sold at Weber's Cider Mill Farm. Sadly, I can't often find it, so I settle for Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.

My mistake, and my apologies.

Although, you have given me pause to think about firing up some waffle cones to serve the white pepper vanilla in.

When I read about the red pepper...it reminded me of a visit to Kyodai where I tried the Red Bean Ice Cream.

Beans and ice cream weren't really meant to go together. It wasn't awful, but the texture combo was not good.

Prefer chocolate to vanilla (although I like french vanilla).
I think my preference has something to do with never being given the choice as a child. Mom didn't want to think about trying to get chocolate ice cream stains out of our clothes (we were always served cones and sent outside in the heat to eat them, so they invariably dripped on your shirt/shorts).
Sometimes I wonder if Shout,Spray & Wash and or Tide-stick-to-go had been around back then, would I have been given the "chocolate choice"?

lvnbraves, I had red bean ice at Sony's on Main Street in Reisterstown when they first opened. I only have gotten take out for the last couple of years so I don't know if they still have it or not. It was...different...I think I know what you mean about the texture thing.

mitzi, it is... and it's delicious. The first one I ever had was after skiing, in front of a fire, it was a great way to end the day.

Another vote for vanilla. I'm actually not fond of chocolate *anything*, whichmakes me weird - I know.

You know people act like chocolate and vanilla are opposites but all chocolate has vanilla in it.

Slight swerve--I went to a chocolate tasting for charity a year or so ago and was blown away by some dark organic chocolate with hot pepper in it. Wowee zowee!

Dahlink, on the rare occasions that I make hot chocolate, I put chipotle in it. Delicious.