Few desserts are as perfect as ice cream when strolling around on a warm summer evening.  Not only is ice cream portable, it also comes in a dizzying array of flavors – Baskin Robbins has created 1,000 flavors alone!

When choosing, I tend to lean toward any flavor combination that includes chocolate, key lime or pumpkin.  Given the variety of choices for ice cream, what would you guess are the top selling ice cream flavors in the US?

According to the International Dairy Farmer’s Association, who tracks this sort of thing, the top five ice cream flavors are:

1. Vanilla (26%)
2. Chocolate (12.9%)
3. Neapolitan (4.8%)
4. Strawberry (4.3%)
5. Cookies n’ cream (4.0%)

Not sure who’s buying all that vanilla ice cream, but if you like trying new flavors, here are some recent introductions by Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs. 

• Mayan Chocolate (H-D) – Dark chocolate with a hint of cinnamon
• American Pie  (B & J) - Apple Pie ice cream with apples and pie crust Pieces
• Neapolitan Dynamite (B&J) – Cherry Garcia and Fudge Brownie, side by side
• Black & Tan (B&J) – Cream Stout swirled with chocolate
• Vermonty Python (B&J) - Coffee liqueur ice cream with a chocolate cookie crumb swirl & fudge cows
• Strawberry Kiwi Swirl - Chunky Strawberry sorbet swirled with kiwi sorbet
• Sticky Toffee Pudding (H-D) - rich vanilla ice cream swirled with a sticky toffee sauce and morsels of moist, brown sugar cake 

Having lived in Vermont, I’m partial to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. If you happen to be in northern Vermont, be sure to stop by the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory in Waterbury for a unique tour and sample some freshly made ice cream.  Yum!

Ben & Jerry’s web site  |  Haagen-Dazs web site 

Here are some highlights from July:

• The Getty Museum (Los Angeles)
• Summer Travel Specials
• Local Getaway - have fun in your own home town
• Summer Entertainment Sampler
• Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, Oregon)
• Win a trip to France!
• Top Ten Bakeries
• Organizing a Girls Trip? Check out TripHub.
• San Juan Islands, Washington
• When the Girl is away…
• San Juan Island Lavender Festival
• Who’s the queen of chick flicks?

I live for dessert.  The expression, “Life is uncertain - eat dessert first” describes my outlook pretty well.  When I visit a new city, one of the first things I do is search out the best bakeries and dessert places.  Enjoying a slice of decadent chocolate cake with a cup of decaf coffee definitely puts me in a happy state of mind.   

Here, in no particular order, is a top ten list of my favorites from around the US: (more…)

Here’s a quick recap of what appeared in June:

• Where the Girls Are
• Chocolate Martinis
• Westin Kierland Resort & Spa (Scottsdale)
• Girl (Trip) Interrupted
• Mackinac Island, Michigan
• Spa Recap
• Vinotherapy
• Deals: Travel & Leisure’s Spa Week
• Stowe, Vermont
• Sharing photos? Try Flickr.
• Flip-Flop Style
• Nantucket
• Booking a Flight?
• Green Valley Resort & Spa (St. George, Utah)
• Beach Reads
• Carmel, California
• Things to do around Carmel
• Women may Benefit from Moderate Drinking
• Want to be on the Today Show?

Whenever I stop into my local Starbucks - which I do way too many times per week - I’m always surprised by how many of the tables are filled with groups of women.  You’ve probably heard the expression “third place”, a term that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz popularized.  In our smallish town, Starbucks serves as that third place and is a common meeting place for girlfriends, mommy & me groups, and a myriad of other social and volunteer groups.  It’s not necessarily the best coffee shop for meetings, but given that the other choices around here are fast food joints, there really isn’t much of a contest.  (more…)

I may be biased because my husband grew up in Stowe and we lived there in the early 90’s but it’s one of my favorite places in all of New England. Although Stowe is mainly known as a winter skiing destination, it’s also a fantastic place to visit in the summer.  The village of Stowe is located near Mount Mansfield and has a classic white steepled church and plenty of charm.  This quaint village is perfect for exploring by foot and browsing through local shops, galleries, cafes and pubs. 

For places to stay, Stowe offers a selection of inns and authentic ski lodges. One thing you won’t find is a chain hotel. (more…)

There’s a little joke Nantucket Islanders play on their visitors. When giving directions, they’ll tell you to “just go down Centre Street and turn left at the gray shingled house with the white trim.”  The joke, of course, is almost all of the houses have gray shingles and white trim. That sort of lighthearted teasing is indicative of the spirit of this tiny bit of paradise located only a short ferry ride from the Massachusetts coast. (more…)

I don’t know about you, but I love hearing reasons why I should order that frozen margarita with my enchiladas.  A recent study highlights the positive effects on older women who drink 1 to 3 alcoholic drinks per day.  Now for the bad news.  The study only applied to women between 65 and 80 years of age.  Oh well, there’s no reason we can’t get started early! 

Here’s what the Science Daily says about the findings:

“The study, available on-line in the journal Neuroepidemiology, found that compared to non-drinkers, women who reported drinking up to two or three drinks per day performed better on measure of global cognitive function, which includes concentration, language, memory and abstract reasoning.”

This follows another encouraging development for all women when, at the end of May, CNN reported on a study that showed milk chocolate increases cognitive activity.

Sounds like I need to head over to Chuy’s for dinner and frozen margaritas and then to Mozart’s for chocolate cake!