Ice Cream Passion Poll - A Call To Ice Cream Lovers!

Hurrah! July is here - National Ice Cream Month has arrived. A great time to talk about Ice Cream Passion!

Here's the thing .... the number of visitors to ice-cream-recipes.com builds year on year by an average of 33%. I don't think the percentage of people around the world getting connected to the Net every year is as high as that in fact, and if I am right, it can only mean one thing - that the popularity of ice cream is growing. This is backed up by the fact that from the 1.15 million people who visited ice-cream-recipes.com in 2008, 4 out of 5 were new visitors.

People search consistently for "vanilla ice cream", "homemade ice cream", "strawberry ice cream recipe" all clearly indicating a passion for learning more about ice cream making.

So I've been asking myself how I can appease this passion a little more .... how can I make people feel like they are making a contribution to ice cream know-how?

The answer - "The Ice Cream Passion Poll"

I have opened up this blog post to comments and invite anyone with a passion for ice cream to CAST YOUR VOTE. Want to take part?
Sign in via your Google account and just state the following information:

1. The country where you live
2. If you are male or female
3. Your favorite, all time ice cream flavor
4. Your favorite ice cream topping/sauce
5. If you have a favorite ice cream memory

This is an exciting experiment for SERIOUS ice cream fans and if it proves popular (and doesn't get abused with junk posting!) then it will be an endorsement of the good side of the Net - allowing people around the world to share their ice cream thoughts with each other. So climb on board and join the Ice Cream Passion Poll!

Raspberries & Ice Cream With Fleur's Flair

It's the time of year for enjoying fresh fruit and ice cream. Personally, I think there's nothing better than fresh, ripe strawberries with a scoop of ice cream! Here's a picture of some fruit picked freshly from my own garden. My strawberry patch is quite small but VERY productive as is my raspberry patch and rhubarb patch and I only have 2 cherry trees but these alongside there are blackcurrant bushes, redcurrant bushes, gooseberry bushes, blueberry plants plus several apple trees, 2 plum trees and a pear tree, meaning that the summer months offer me and my family plenty of opportunity for enjoying fresh fruit - whether with ice cream, in fruit salads or even in fruit pies.

This brings me to a conversation I had recently with a dear friend who lives in London; it was one of those conversations where we found ourselves digressing from one subject to another. It had just been released in the news that the American painter and writer Fleur Cowles had died, aged 101 and I knew that she had been a good friend of my friend in London. Though I had never met Fleur, I knew of her and her delightful husband Tom, having read one of Fleur's books "She Made Friends And Kept Them" - a fascinating read. So naturally my friend and I chatted about Fleur a little and she volunteered a wonderful story which she has happily consented to my sharing with you here .... "I'm sure Fleur would have approved" she said.

One of Fleur Cowles' passions was arranging regular dinner parties at her London home and weekend get-togethers at her Sussex home to which she would invite her 'famous' friends -artists, actors, politicians, writers and so on. Luciano Pavarotti, Yehudi Menhuin, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Laurence Olivier, James Stewart, Cary Grant ... these are just a few who appeared on the guest list. My friend in London was invited to spend the weekend at Fleur's Sussex home on several occasions and remembers very fondly the pride with which the home-grown fruit was served as a dessert - when in season, it would be raspberries freshly picked from Fleur's garden served with ice cream. Although quite a few years ago now, my friend insists she can still recall the wonderful taste and how it represented a definitive "English Summer". A marvellous memory and a reflection of how Fleur Cowles touched the lives of many people - even mine!

My friend paid a delightful tribute to Fleur Cowles recently in her own "Letters From London" blog - called simply "Dear Fleur" it offers an intriguing insight into one of the most fascinating, individual women of the 20th century.

Connecting Ice Cream, Famous People & Dyslexia

I've written before about famous people and ice cream such as Elvis Presley, Jackie Chan and others as well as a number of former US Presidents who enjoyed ice cream. It's an interesting connection but there are lots more connections that are just as fascinating. Such as famous people (including US Presidents) who have been/are dyslexic. Walt Disney suffered from dyslexia but it didn't stop him founding one of the biggest and best entertainment corporations the world has ever seen. Here is an interesting list of dyslexic famous people - it spans centuries from Da Vinci through to Tom Cruise.

I know several people personally who are dyslexic and one of them, David Allen who is a successful chartered accountant and businessman, was recently presented with a 'Businessman Of The Year' award in recognition of his energy and commitment within the local business and sporting communities. David is one of those people who is always coming up with new ideas, wanting to move forwards and make progress with everything he does.

He even writes an accountants blog where you can read about some incredibly diverse things .... the progress of the football club that he owns .... the fibreglass cows installed on the lawn outside his business premises ... and lots more. Of course David has also written about living with dyslexia on his blog. It's a great post and makes for inspiring reading.

I know that David likes ice cream too which made me wonder just how many successful people with dyslexia also enjoy ice cream. An interesting thought .... some research to be done there I think .... and another blog post for another day!