Baskin Robbins

John Robbins would like you to know that ice cream is not good for you. Robbins, 46, is the son of the co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire and was expected to take over management of the firm from his father, Irv. Not only did he turn down the job, he declined to accept money from a trust fund set up for him. "My father told me he believed that I was very intelligent, very sincere and very crazy," Robbins said in an interview during...

Baskin-Robbins in Moscow? Can Kremlin Kranberry be far behind? Baskin-Robbins, which calls itself the producer of America's favorite ice cream, has struck deep in the communist world by putting its first store in the Soviet capital. For decades - at least since the Bolshevik Revolution - Russians have had a choice of flavors: vanilla or chocolate. Tomorrow, they'll have 29 more flavors to chose from at the Baskin-Robbins store that begins business at the mammoth Rossiya Hotel.

A robber with a yen for a fast buck and a taste for fast food stole $95 and an order of chicken to go from a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Marple Township shortly before 1 p.m. yesterday, police said. Police said they thought he might be the same man who robbed a Baskin- Robbins Ice Cream store in Radnor of $70 the day before. Yesterday, Marple police said, the man entered the chicken restaurant, at 835 W. Sproul Rd., and ordered a $5.38 chicken meal. After his order was rung up, he said he had a gun and wanted the cash to go as well.

Company description: Delectable bite-sized versions of Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes, wrapped up in icing with a simple accent finish. Chain: Baskin-Robbins. Calories: From 290 to 360, depending on flavor; 17 to 22 grams of fat. Location: 163 W. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore. Price: $9.99 (Four flavors). Review: It's hard to combine ice cream and cake in a dessert and expect it to survive without freezer burn. B-R's Cake Bites almost get it right.

SATELLITE AGENCY LAUNCHES NEW VENTURE IN BEIJING I scream, you scream. We all scream for ice cream. And guess what? Beijing screams for ice cream, too. Seems a Chinese engineer fell in love with Baskin-Robbins ice cream while visiting Los Angeles on business and suggested to his bosses that they open a franchise in China. Which they did earlier this week. Now it happens that this ice cream lover works for the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control Systems Section of the state Commission of Science and Technology for National Defense.

Frederick Clark, coworkers said, was a hardworking, personable man who got along well with his customers at the Baskin-Robbins ice cream stand at 30th Street Station. That's why those who knew him were having difficulty yesterday accepting that Clark, 27, had been charged with the stabbing deaths of his grandmother and her boyfriend. The two were killed Sunday afternoon in the Northeast Philadelphia apartment the three shared. "That's the one shocking thing. He was never mean," said Tanya Wilson, 24, an employee of Einstein Bros.

Fred and Karen's Video a la Mode, where an ice cream cone and a movie could be scooped up in one stop, was unanimously recommended for approval by the Tredyffrin Township Planning Commission Thursday night. The Planning Commission's recommendation to allow a change in use of the property on Lancaster Avenue, formerly the Colonial Village Meat Market, now goes to the township Board of Supervisors. Owners Fred and Karen Neumann said the ice cream parlor-video store would be divided in half, with tables and chairs on the ice cream side and a large, square playground for children on the video side.

What: CookEcones with M7Ms Maker: The Cone Guys Ltd. Where: Select ice cream shops (Some Baskin Robbins, Bassetts, Bredenbecks, Coneheads, Freshens, Gingers and others locally; also, national availability) Price: $1 to $1.25 at dip stores. The Philadelphia company that brought us PretzLcones and chocolate chip and chocolate wafer (as in Oreos) CoodEcones have added a cone studded with mini-M&ms. Clear cone jackets protect the cones. The candy cones are due in retail stores - Genuardi's and Clemens - and specialty food shops in August.

IF YOU ARE thirsty for knowledge and hungry for justice on global food issues, sink your teeth into my favorite books: 1TomatoLand: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit After reading Barry Estabrook's book and discovering the agribusiness slavery practiced today in the U.S. to produce these crops, you may never eat a commercially grown tomato again. 2Food Rebellions! Become a knowledgeable citizen of the world as Eric Holt-Gimenez and Raj Patel give you the 4-1-1 on the global food crisis and why more than 8 million people needlessly starve every day. 3Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food Andrew Kimbrell's illustrated shopper's guide reveals all the secrets about your food that are hidden in plain view.

There is something that Oprah Winfrey, with all her millions of dollars, cannot have, and you can. A milkshake. Sure, Oprah can buy one, but consuming it wouldn't be worth the aggravation. Perfect strangers accost Oprah on plane flights and in restaurants to check out what she's eating, and wag their fingers. That's what happens when you lose more than 60 pounds in front of a TV audience. We lucky low-profilers have no such worries. We need only a couple of bucks, and complete disregard for the caloric impact, to chase the summer heat with a big chill.

IF YOU ARE thirsty for knowledge and hungry for justice on global food issues, sink your teeth into my favorite books: 1TomatoLand: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit After reading Barry Estabrook's book and discovering the agribusiness slavery practiced today in the U.S. to produce these crops, you may never eat a commercially grown tomato again. 2Food Rebellions! Become a knowledgeable citizen of the world as Eric Holt-Gimenez and Raj Patel give you the 4-1-1 on the global food crisis and why more than 8 million people needlessly starve every day. 3Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food Andrew Kimbrell's illustrated shopper's guide reveals all the secrets about your food that are hidden in plain view.

Company description: Delectable bite-sized versions of Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes, wrapped up in icing with a simple accent finish. Chain: Baskin-Robbins. Calories: From 290 to 360, depending on flavor; 17 to 22 grams of fat. Location: 163 W. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore. Price: $9.99 (Four flavors). Review: It's hard to combine ice cream and cake in a dessert and expect it to survive without freezer burn. B-R's Cake Bites almost get it right.

It didn't start as a quest for the perfect macaroni and cheese. In fact, my family's recent road trip through Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky and West Virginia was meant to be a literary, not a culinary, pilgrimage. Last summer, my partner, Elissa, and I read all nine volumes of the Little House on the Prairie series aloud to our 7-year-old daughter, Sasha. We finished the last book the night before school started and hatched our plan: Over spring break, we'd drive to the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead and museum in Mansfield, Mo. - the place where she wrote her books and spent the last years of her life.

By Lisa B. Samalonis You know spring is slipping into summer when the line at the local drive-up ice cream stand stretches onto the road. Men, women and lots of children stand under the bright parking-lot lights during the evening, swatting mosquitoes and patiently waiting their turn. Well, maybe not all so patiently. Boys and girls shuffle from side to side in their sneakers and tug on a parent's arm. "Is it my turn yet? How about now?" In the afternoon, the ice cream truck loops around the housing development and awakens napping children.

What: CookEcones with M7Ms Maker: The Cone Guys Ltd. Where: Select ice cream shops (Some Baskin Robbins, Bassetts, Bredenbecks, Coneheads, Freshens, Gingers and others locally; also, national availability) Price: $1 to $1.25 at dip stores. The Philadelphia company that brought us PretzLcones and chocolate chip and chocolate wafer (as in Oreos) CoodEcones have added a cone studded with mini-M&ms. Clear cone jackets protect the cones. The candy cones are due in retail stores - Genuardi's and Clemens - and specialty food shops in August.

Frederick Clark, coworkers said, was a hardworking, personable man who got along well with his customers at the Baskin-Robbins ice cream stand at 30th Street Station. That's why those who knew him were having difficulty yesterday accepting that Clark, 27, had been charged with the stabbing deaths of his grandmother and her boyfriend. The two were killed Sunday afternoon in the Northeast Philadelphia apartment the three shared. "That's the one shocking thing. He was never mean," said Tanya Wilson, 24, an employee of Einstein Bros.

THIRTY-ONE WAYS TO HAVE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY Hmmm . . . 31 . . . what company could we be talking about here? Just as "57" means Heinz - the H.J. Heinz Co. - "31" means Baskin Robbins - the ice cream people. BR's new World Wide Web site, appropriately, focuses on an event for which ice cream is a natural: the birthday. Go to the firm's Birthday Center: http://www.baskinrobbins.com and you'll immediately have six choices: clicking on "Party Planning," "Cool Birthday Sites," "Our Products," "Birthday Fun Facts," "Stores Near You" and - the most fun - "Send an E-Cake.

Talk about mixed messages. While sales of reduced-fat and nonfat products climb steadily, Americans not only still like their frozen desserts, but increasingly are scooping up premium and super-premium ice creams by the gallon. And they're not bashful about piling on candies and other sweet toppings that can add calories and fats to an initially low-fat or nonfat frozen dessert. On average, Americans each downed about six gallons of ice cream and similar frozen desserts last year, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and estimates from the International Ice Cream Association.

SATELLITE AGENCY LAUNCHES NEW VENTURE IN BEIJING I scream, you scream. We all scream for ice cream. And guess what? Beijing screams for ice cream, too. Seems a Chinese engineer fell in love with Baskin-Robbins ice cream while visiting Los Angeles on business and suggested to his bosses that they open a franchise in China. Which they did earlier this week. Now it happens that this ice cream lover works for the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control Systems Section of the state Commission of Science and Technology for National Defense.

We do so love a pop quiz when there are no wrong answers. Who's sexier - Denzel Washington or Wesley Snipes? It's like going to Baskin-Robbins and asking, "Which is better - the caramel-y sweetness of jamoca almond fudge, or the deep chocolate richness of rocky road?" We'll take a scoop of each. On second thought, make that two. Because Denzel and Wesley are different flavors of the same thing - African-American leading men who both have the thing that makes you go "Oooooo" - two sides of a coin that can either come up sensuous and magnetic or smoldering and hypnotic.