Ice cream - the vice for softies

It probably started in my home town, Windsor. A little Neopolitan family ran a cafe with under-the-counter bookmaking and ice cream when the weather was hot, or at Christmas. Just the one flavour, known these days as "fior di latte". Happy days.

Studying in Florence in the 1970s there was the famous Vivoli's to lure me into the ways of indulgence, then working in Rome in the early 80s Giolitti was just round the corner from the office. Since then, I've always made a point of checking out where the best ice cream can be found.

Living in or near Amsterdam 1994-2004 Pisa Ice near the RAI was always worth a detour, Their liquorice ice cream was out of this world. The only downside was they closed for the winter.

In London, just along from the Polish Centre on King Street Hammersmith was a little Iranian restaurant that served gorgeous safran ice cream - barely sweet, but utterly delicious.  Haunting, even.

On holiday with the family in the States in 2007, we found a place in Moab UT that served pretty good ice cream but the portions... even a single scoop ($3.00) was the size of a baby's head. Up in Yellowstone Park, the local ice cream made from Montana milk was very good indeed.

And now the nearest serious temptation is about 6 miles away in Bath - the Real Italian Ice Cream Company is a regular haunt of mine. The texture is excellent but you have to know your flavours. The coffee and chocolate are rich and intense but the mango and the tutti-frutti I had yesterday were a bit non-descript. Just up the road is a little place that does excellent Turkish Delight ice cream plus a few other interesting flavours.

The one I still yearn for is Black Sesame Sesame Seed ice cream I had a small Japanese restaurant in mid-town Manhattan in September 2008.

I could live out the rest of my days without touching wine or beer and not worry too much about it. But ice cream ....