Yeah, I had no idea either.

I've been trying to find out exactly what it means but I can't find anything on the web about it (I'm not the only one), except for the fact that the day does indeed exist. I'm guessing it has something to do with ice cream and violins. I'm not sure if it's just two random items thrown together or if there's a specific meaning behind the day.

So, in that spirit, I declare that today is also Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich and Comfortable Shoes Day! Enjoy it with your a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and your favorite shoes).

I'm not sure why something like National Ice Cream Cone Day is celebrated on the very last weekend of the summer, right when the fall is coming around, but I guess it's better late than never. (Update: Ah, it was invented on this date.)

I really don't eat ice cream cones anymore. I eat a fair share of ice cream during the months of June, July, and August, but it's usually cartons of ice cream or Ben & Jerry's or Haagan Daz that I buy at the supermarket and put in a bowl. I guess my ice cream cone days are pretty much over, for the most part. But you have an assignment today: if you have ice cream, it must be in a cone. Whether you get it at an ice cream shop or buy the ice cream and the cones at the supermarket, you must put the ice cream in a cone.

Of course, it's National Ice Cream Cone Day, with no mention of actual ice cream, so maybe you can just buy a box of ice cream cones and eat them plain. I'm partial to the sugar ones myself.

Ice cream cones are an American invention - at least, they were invented in America. The original source of the concept is up for debate. Generally the story goes that a waffle vendor was next to an ice cream vendor at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. When the ice cream vendor ran out of cups, the waffle vendor - a Syrian named Ernest A. Hamwi, who sold a crispy pastry actually known as zalabis - rolled his product into a cone to hold the ice cream.

This is not the first time an ice cream cone was seen in the US, though. The idea was patented in New York in 1903, a full year earlier by an Italian man named Italo Marchiony, who is said to have been making the cones since 1896. The ideas were independently conceived, but it is interesting to note that the time was clearly the right one for the ice cream cone.

St Louis, as a town, is the reason for the success of the cones. Bakeries with special equipment started to produce the then-named cornucopia cones. As factories looked for easier ways than hand-rolling to produce the cones, batter-based cones, which were poured into molds and are now often known as sugar cones, were developed. Sales of cones of all kinds took off and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bea, of Le Tartine Gourmande, was inspired to use her pizzelle maker to create some homemade cones to serve with a light, refreshing sorbet. Using the same principle that is applied to making tuiles, in which a warm, thin cookie is quickly shaped before it has the chance to cool, she twisted her crisp pizzelles into perfect, miniature cones. Normally, one might use a dedicated waffle cone maker to produce homemade cones, but getting multiple uses of out an appliance you already own is a brilliant idea. The tiny cones were just like thin, crispy waffles and Bea says that they went beautifully with the sorbets. An alternative use for pizzelles, which can also be bought in stores if you do not have the equipment to make them at home, is to use them to make crispy ice cream sandwiches! Debbie, at words to eat by, has a recipe for chocolate pizzelles for a flavor variation that might be perfect for pairing with ice creams, rather than fruity sorbets.