Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I think you've touched upon a crucial point brooke-the toppings must match the flavor!

At the moment, trashy as it sounds, there is a soft-serve place that has soft serve in a variety of flavors, and I love the Butterfinger flavor--it's all creamy, no mix-ins. I'm not a big fan of candy on ice cream but as a kid I loved vanilla soft serve with hot fudge in a parfait. I also of course adored ice cream cones with chocolate or rainbow sprinkles, chocolate with the rainbow, vanilla with the chocolate.

Even when I'm having ice cream out, though, I get a bowl now--eating a cone takes too much of my focus on not spilling it on myself, rather than the taste.

I don't get toppings I admit because I don't want to go too overboard, calorie-wise, on desert. So just a dish for me--although in my more zaftig high school days, my absolute favorite was vanilla peanut butter Hagen Daz, from the pint container, as I let it slowly melt and soften from its rock-hard consistency.

Vanilla/Chocolate swirl in a sugar cone (i think its a sugar cone . . . the kind thats paler and sometimes come with a flat bottom, that flute out at the top) with rainbow sprinkles. Mmmm . . . the ice cream of my childhood.

Right out of the Ben & Jerry's carton with a spoon!

Homemade, and plenty of it! Eat until you are full.

i can't eat ice cream anymore due to my aging metabolism, sigh.

but a very good substitute is a couple of tablespoons of penzey's cocoa, a splash of milk, some instant espresso, and some sugar, buzzed in the blender with a handful of ice cubes.

I loved a cake cone back in the day. Cones have been a casualty of the braces. I'm not one for toppings on my ice cream. I do love stuff in it. Chocolate chunks, brownie, cherries, etc.

My favorite way to eat it, even before the braces, is in a bowl. I like to stir it until it gets back to soft serve. Yummy!

My favorite flavor of ice cream ever is cayenne lime butter, done by a local place near me called The Creole Creamery. Their flavors are always changing, but they're always good. The cayenne lime butter is spicy and then soothing and creamy. They have a huge butterfat (milkfat?) content, so one scoop is all I need, in a cup.

French Vanilla Ice Cream with slightly shaved habanero peppers and real maple syrup. Damn that makes me feel dirty!

There is nothing better on a night like this than an amazing vanilla ice cream (enter your favorite brand here, I don't know if I'm ready for the heated debate that would ensue over the best vanilla) drenched in a pool of espresso. mmm, mmm....

At home it's usually vanilla in a bowl. Maybe some good chocolate syrup, maple syrup or crushed berries.

If I go out I usually to one or two scoops in a bowl. There's a place in Seattle called Mollie Moo that makes their own ice cream, topping and waffle cones. They make the waffle cones one or two at a time so they are warm. The ice cream start getting soft inside the cone and it's heavenly. I recently had salted caramel in a warm waffle cone and it was the best ice cream experience of my life.

I haven't had ice cream in a while... I got kind of burnt out on it after many years of nightly (and afternoonly, and often mid-morningly) indulging in it.

as a kid, I liked the chocololateiest flavors I could get my hands on... chocolate fudge brownie, chocolate mousse royalle, that kind of thing. extra chocolate, please, wherever you can shove it in :)
In elementary school, if I went out for ice cream, it was always the chocolatiest flavor, whipped cream (no fudge sauce, for some reason), and the little tiny gummi bears. I still see the appeal of those little frozen fruity guys, but I'm not sure if I'd still order it quite that way now.

PeanutButter - in my sophomore year of high school I went through a huge long kick of eating ice cream (coffee and vanilla, one scoop of each) with frozen sliced strawberries and kashi go lean crunch mixed in.
so crunchy. so good. so tooth-breaking.

lately I have had a ice cream craving and I live 2 blocks from Haagen Daz, I started out with blizzards (or shakes) Peanut butter, Oreos with caramel and whipped cream on top. But now I buy their indivdual ice cream they have....Love them. If I have ice ceam at home I usually have it in a bowl w/hot fudge, nuts and lots of whipped cream

It depends where I am, but almost always with a spoon.

I am a bowl person because I am so frigging sloppy and too slow to eat ice cream before it drips. If a cone is available, I order the cone on the side and eat the two in concert - regular or waffle.

Vanilla is my favorite (hard to screw up), french or vanilla bean; next would be green tea ice cream if I can find it, but I try not to order this at restaurants because it's easy to screw up (either too old or tastes like perfume). Pistachio is good stuff, but not common at restaurants and I can occasionally find an ice cream shop that offers it.

I really don't care for toppings on my ice cream - I don't care for chocolate, so no fudge, butterscotch is meh, and strawberry topping, I can only have on my ice cream with nuts at McDonald's with a side of fresh fries to dip. Considering I don't go to McDonald's but maybe once every 10-15 years, this isn't high on my list of ice cream habits, but still has a presence.

If I am at Coldstone Creamery type of store, on the other hand, I usually get something like a strawberry shortcake sweet cream ice cream. No additional toppings.

@Cassaendra - I had the same problem with green tea ice cream when eating out - I used to order it a lot at restaurants, and it had always been hit or miss. Well, mostly miss. And I just hated the "overperfumed" kind. So now I make my own green tea ice cream when the craving hits :-)

If I'm out and about:
Vanilla ice cream, marshmallow topping, whipped cream, and a few nuts in a cup...mmmm.

At home: Vanilla in a bowl....or straight out of the container....

Simple is divine.

from the fairfax scoop (in a waffle cup, a genious and environmentally -friendly invention) or bi-rate creamery. at home in a porcelain ice cream dish with my antique silver spoon and lots of toppings...berries, macadamia nuts, homemade granola, the list goes on...with a splash of whole milk to get it melty.

In a bowl. A big one. Full. With a spoon. Preferably those bitty test-taster spoons.

Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, floating in a tall glass of Coca-Cola or in a bowl (never, never, never a cone), plain or with whatever toppings/sauces are in the fridge/pantry. My grandmother serves it every single night at 10 to anyone present & willing (Who isn't willing?!), so this is a family tradition, not just a super-tasty way to get some of your 12000kCal/day! It is considered an affront in my family to serve a lesser ice cream (which is all of them, according to them). I think that is a Texas thing, y'all. ;)