Aiiight, here’s the deal. I first tried ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery when I was in AZ back in 2004. I was hyped when I first when to that joint. Before that day, I had never been to an ice cream place where they mixed ice cream in front of you like that. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain. Ice cream is made on the spot customized to the customer’s request. You first select the ice cream that you want, then one or more mix-in’s (Cold Stone’s toppings) are added into the ice-cream on the cold granite slab, which keeps the ice cream from melting. They mix it all together to give you the ice cream that you desire. The formation is then served in a bowl, a waffle cone or waffle bowl.

These Cold Stone locations are popping up all over the DC & MD area and have been since last summer. I now have at least 3 locations which are in close proximity to where I live. I’ve been a huge fan of Baskin-Robbins my entire life, I even worked there when I was in the 10th grade making $3.65 an hour. When it came down to me getting my ice cream fix, Baskin-Robbins was king. However, I can’t front, there was a series of 4 consecutive weekends where I was up in Cold Stone getting my ice cream tailor made. Now, I’m real easy as far as that goes. My favorite ice cream is strawberry and most of the topping that people get on ice cream, I hate. I don’t like chocolate, candy, broken up cookies or anything like that on my ice cream. The most I might put on ice cream is strawberries (almost all the time), an occasional banana and maybe some almonds or caramel if I’m getting a sundae.

When I go to Cold Stone I usually get the Strawberry Shortcake Serenade which has sweet cream ice cream, strawberries, yellow cake, and whipped topping. Sometimes I’ll substitute strawberry ice cream for the sweet cream ice cream. On occasion I’ll get the Berry Berry Berry Good which has sweet cream ice cream, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. My favorite mix is one that is not one of their so-called creations, it’s one that I create myself. It’s simply strawberry ice cream with 3 mix-in’s of frozen strawberries. I call it Strawberry Celebration. There’s nothing in this world like having strawberry ice cream with actual strawberries in it. I mean, how many times have you had strawberry flavored ice cream with some strawberry seeds in it?

Anyway, for those of you who have a Cold Stone nearby I suggest you get over there fast. The lines are gonna be long, but it’s worth it. I won’t talk much more about the experience there, but I assure you that if you go to a good location, it’ll be a lot of fun. For those of you who have to suffer with the ‘other’ ice cream places in your area, my condolences. Oh yeah, I haven’t kicked Baskin-Robbins to the curb yet, they still got my favorite Daiquiri Ice sorbet. Not even Cold Stone can’t duplicate that.

–Cold Stone Creamery
–Baskin-Robbins