In the Mix

It's not a bad one, this first day of spring. The daffodils are booming and the robins are everywhere.

In thinking about writing a spring column, my first thought was to write about barbecuing, or grilling out for you 'barbecue is a noun' folks. I was thinking it was time to dust off the grill and get ready for barbecue season. But all I could come up with was Cook Out Calisthenics. You know, the barbecue workout.

This was a strange idea, even for an offbeat food column. I decided it'd be best for all parties if I just wipe down my grill without fanfare.

It was on to another warm weather topic: ice cream. Specifically, I've decided to write about mix-ins. Not toppings, but things one mixes into a bowl of ice cream.

The inspiration came from my friend Jon's rant about how much he despised Cold Stone Creamery. This well-named amigo hated how Cold Stone latched onto the mix-in idea that ice cream expert Steve Herrell created in the 1970s and began running smaller stores out of business.

As for me, I think their ice cream is too creamy and too sweet. Plus, despite not being a wrestling fan, I always seem to call it Stone Cold by mistake. To be fair, Stone Cold, er...Cold Stone does have some interesting mix-in options. But I'm hoping that with your help, I can come up with more intriguing mix-in ideas than this bland chain.

Send in any suggestions for ice cream mix-ins you imagine would be tasty. All ideas, which you can submit as comments below, are welcome. The only rule is that you have to be able to mix-in the items, not just pour it on top.

Two quick promises:
1. I won't write about anything as vanilla as mixing Oreos into ice cream.
2. The mix-ins will be better mixed in than the ones pictured here. (I was going more for art than realism in the photo.)