Congrats to my five Blue Bell ice cream winners

With free half-gallons of Blue Bell at stake, I asked you to tell me your favorite flavors of ice cream.

If you had ever tasted the ice cream that hails proudly from Texas and will be sold for the first time in the Triangle starting Monday, I asked you to tell me about that, too.

I have to say, you folks love your ice cream. In big bowls. With lots of chocolate. And caramel. Though there were a few purists among you who stick to plain vanilla.

A suprising number of you had already sampled Blue Bell in your travels and were eager to testify to Blue Bell's goodness. One person described a roadtrip made specifically for Blue Bell. Another pleaded to win on behalf of his pregnant wife who is craving Blue Bell.

I guess the Blue Bell people weren't kidding when they said it has a cult following.

In the end, I picked five winners at random and at least one of them is a Texan.

The winners are:

• fbogus
   
• pengwenhsd
   
• laura_kold
   
• larenfro
   
• edbest
   

If you won, please check your email addresses. I'll be sending you a note shortly so I can get your contact information to mail these coupons out pronto.

If you didn't win one of my free half-gallons, don't despair. My colleague Andea Weigl, who writes our food blog Mouthful, will be giving away five more half-gallons very soon.

And starting Monday, March 19, you can buy Blue Bell ice cream right here in the Triangle at Kroger, Lowes Foods and Walmart stores, along with some independent grocery stores, drugstores and convenience stores.