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Vanilla is the pasta of the ice cream world. I have no idea if that analogy makes any sense, but I just made it up and I think I'll stick with it.

What I mean is this. Like pasta, ice cream is something that you can do a lot of things with. You can put various sauces on pasta, mix in chicken or beef, add various cheeses, put it in soups and salads and other meals. Now look at vanilla ice cream -- it's the base for a lot of different flavors of ice cream, you can add fudge or caramel or nuts or chocolate chips to it and it becomes a whole new thing.

Anyway, Happy Vanilla Ice Cream Day. Here's a bunch of recipes, from Good Housekeeping, AllRecipes (using Eagle Brand condensed milk), and SouthernFood.about.com. Oh, and let's not forget Thomas Jefferson's classic recipe.

Wikipedia offers the history of vanilla.

Today is National Ice Cream Soda Day. Celebrate by eating a broccoli quiche!

OK, just kidding. What you have to do is celebrate by having an ice cream soda. Here are recipes for an Old Fashioned Ice Cream Soda and a Coffee Ice Cream Soda over at RecipeZaar. Here's a Strawberry Ice Cream Soda recipe from SouthernFood.about.com. And cooking.com has a recipe for a Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Soda.

If you'r really into celebrating the day, you can send ice cream soda e-cards and learn about the history of soda fountains.