My Favorite _____: Ice Cream

So I had a headache last night and ended up not cooking.  Since no one would care to see pictures of the take-out Chinese food I ate (though delicious), and I didn't bother to take any, I had to think of something else to post.

I may try to do a "My Favorite" series, depending on inspiration.  As summer is drawing to a close (or at least I hope it is) here in the DC area, I thought starting with ice cream was apropos! 

I actually have several favorite ice creams.  In no particular order: Baskin Robbins Pink Bubblegum flavor (ahhh...childhood), Ben & Jerry's discontinued Festivus flavor, and good old fashioned chocolate custard (when dipped in chocolate and consumed at the beach, of course).  And let's not forget any flavor of ice cream ever made by my Grandpa Skeen.  His peach is quite good, but the year he made black raspberry is fondly remembered by all Skeen offspring!

All of those ice creams aside...the BEST I ever had was in France this past May.  For anyone who has been to France, ice cream (or glace as they call it) is sort of a tradition.  You get one to eat while walking through the park.  You get one to eat while walking along the beach.  Perhaps it's because the servings are so much smaller (in general) that the French can get away with eating so much ice cream?  Or is it that everyone else in line was American like us?  Ha! 

We had tasty ice cream in Paris on our honeymoon in 2009.  We had yummy ice cream in the small village of Gigondas (known for their red wine) in the Cotes du Rhone area of Provence (salted caramel and real coffee flavor--mmmmm!).  But the BEST?  Had to be at the famed Fenocchio in Old Nice.  It was so good we ate there three times during our 4 days in Nice.

It was busy, even at 11 o'clock at night.

Fenocchio is famous because of it's 80+ flavors of ice cream and sorbet.  Some of which are unusual, but all of which are delicious.  See the menu below (in French, of course).  Some of the flavors change with the seasons.

Our first night there was the most memorable.  We'd just arrived in Nice after a rather miserable train ride from Avignon (short version: train was waylaid in Toulon for 2+ hours, during which the air-conditioning was shut off, and we were trapped in a car with no food and screaming French toddlers with uncaring parents).  After a delightful Italian-French dinner, we headed straight to Fenocchio.  That night I went a bit crazy and tried three boules (scoops, but smaller than those we have here).  I tried lavender (ice cream), rhubarb (sorbet), and strawberry (sorbet). 

They were all delicious.  The rhubarb sorbet was just like you'd expect--tart and tangy and refreshing.  The strawberry was pretty typical, but I'd gotten it just in case the rhubarb was too strong on its own.  But the real treat?  The lavender ice cream.  Oh my heavens.  It was like...Provence on a [teeny-tiny] spoon.  Sweet, floral, creamy.  It was so amazing that I didn't really want to share with my husband, and in fact, had to go back later in the week for more.  I've been looking for recipes for lavender ice cream online since we got back, and debating buying my own ice cream maker.  But I don't think my waistline (or kitchen cabinets) could take it.

As I said, we went back twice more during our stay in Nice.  The last night (our last night in France before flying home), I tried poppy flavor--like the flower, not the seed.  It was pink.  And only slightly less awesome than the lavender.  Here, my husband demonstrates that it's time to return to the States because he cannot handle this many flavor options.

And that, my friends, is the story of my favorite ice cream.  Ever.  What's yours?