Ice is Back with a Brand New Edition

When Vanilla Ice lyrics start applying to your life, I'm pretty sure you can die a happy person. I'll let you know in 60 or 70 years for sure, but I'm just sayin', writing that title made me the happiest little bean in the great big City of Angels.

OK, friends. HELLO. I am back. I am visiting Los Angeles, where the sun is shining in a weird, smoggy, overcast, EXCELLENT kind of way (if you are as desperately in love with this city and its quirks as I am), which reminds me of summer, which reminds me I have not one but TWO fabulous updates for you.

First, the bad news. My beloved computer crashed in October of last year, taking with it hundreds of pictures documenting my life in general and my ice cream-making life in particular. For this recipe, I am going to resort to the good old fashioned Google Search Engine, Image Section for my pictures. Starting with this one.


This, my friends, is lemon verbena ice cream. I made it last summer, here in Los Angeles, in the very home in which I currently sit. I'm visiting my bestie friend Laura, owner of The Veg Report blog and kitchen co-hort extraordinaire. Last summer we got our hands on a bunch of local lemon verbena, which looks like this for us city dwellers unfamiliar with the herb world:


It's a leaf, sure, but it tastes like LEMON! Oh, nature. Touche. You so sneaky.
Anyway.
The recipe we used last summer comes from David Lebovitz, and the recipe treated us very well. Here's what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups loosely-packed fresh lemon verbena leaves, rinsed & dried
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk (2% is also fine! this is what we used and it was great.)
  
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or whipping cream)
  
• 3/4 cup sugar (unrefined whenever possible! This will lend the final product more mouthfeel and sophistication (because we are SOPHISTICATED here at Ice, Ice Katie.)
  
• pinch of salt
• 6 large egg yolks
• Two mixing bowls, one of which you will chill for 1-2 hours in the fridge or freezer until you need it.
• A saucepan
  

To start, warm the verbena with the milk, sugar, salt, and 1/2 a cup of the cream. Warm it (no boiling! milk hates boiling like cats hate baths), then remove from heat and let it sit for 45 minutes to an hour, as long as you can stand waiting. (Thanks for the picture, Kim!)


Now it's about to get jiggly. Bear with me. Just put on some Beyonce and go for it.

Pour the rest of the cream into the chilled bowl, and put a strainer over the top. First, scoop out the leaves from the first mix, and squeeze them over the strainer to get every last bit of liquid out of them. Discard, compost, dry, do whatever you do with old herbs. Then put the heat on low on the verbena/cream mixture (in the not-chilled bowl) and re-warm it.

While that's rewarming, separate your egg yolks and then whisk 'em. Add them to the mixture on the stove, stirring constantly. Now you're going to treat the mix like scrambled eggs, and it will slowly become a custard. As soon as it stops leaving a trail in the pan, stop cooking it. Strain the custard over the strainer, and discard what's left in the mesh. Stir, stir, stir (one might call it going STIR CRAZY! heh heh heh MAN you missed me) until it cools down. When it's not warm anymore, bordering on cool, it's ready to process in your ice cream maker. And then it's ready for you to eat. Remember how cool ice cream blogs are? You get to EAT ICE CREAM at the end of every entry!

It is good to be back, friends. Blackberry (also from last summer) is coming up next, and then it will again be summer in the Northwest, and I'll get to makin' all over again. See you soon.

I'm a huge lush, or: Happy Summer!

Quick! Before it's not summer anymore and it's no longer socially acceptable to drink in broad daylight!

Ahem. I meant to say... eat ice cream in broad daylight! Ok, ok. I meant eat ice cream... that hides in its folds intoxicating substance! Without further ado, and because, let's face it, it's summer, and I'm probably drunk right now:

Lime Sorbet/ Lime Slushee/ Sherpa on your trip to the top of Drunk Mountain

Ok, first. Let's explain. There comes a time in every (non-Mormon, morally exploratory) woman's life where her travel bug yearns toward Drunk Mountain. Its shimmery peaks that get fuzzy when you move your head too fast, its caves full of inappropriate texts and sobbing in the bathtub in the middle of a house party, its really excellent soundtrack. Ah yes, Drunk Mountain. However. Sometimes the travels to Drunk Mountain are a little out of our reach. Sometimes the path is too windy, and assistance is needed. If the peak to Mount Drunkula is too far, and your need too great, a sherpa is what you need. And this, my friends. This dessert is just the sherpa for you. Don't forget the oxygen.

Ingredients:

2 cups lime juice (the recipe called for 2.5, but they seriously must have been drunk when they wrote that.)

3 limes worth of zest (note: zester not needed. Lime skin works well with a regular cheese grater.)

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 cup rum (adjust as your trek requires. This made for a very strong drink.)

1/2- 3/4 cup water (or even a little more- ours was SUPER slushy, and could have used more ice.)

The best lime squeezer I know. Metaphor? MAYBE.

Stir the sugar, rum and water together. I used a food processor to ensure even mixing. I'm extravagant.

Add the lime juice and zest a little at a time.

Once fully mixed, add to ice cream maker. Process for about 25 minutes.

It was 95 degrees in Portland, OR today. This picture is summer porn.

Now, family, here's the thing. Our daiquiri was sort of a disaster. There was a loose portion somewhere on my food processor (aren't there supposed to be, like, LOCKS, so that doesn't happen?!) and the juice spilled everywhere. What we were left with was essentially some lime-infused rum. For the kidlets out there, this is because alcohol is lighter than sugary-lime-water. So the heavy water leaked out and the delicious sherpa remained. Got it? Look at the information you already have ready for your first day of school in a few weeks! You're welcome, my dears. You're welcome.

Anyway. If you attempt this recipe, please let me know how it goes in the comment section! Happy drinking! I mean... cooking. I mean...making. I mean.... drinking.

Io Triumphe, or, Chocolate gone Nuts

Recently I wrote an email to someone because I thought they might be dead. They had done an extraordinarily good job of dropping off the face of the planet, and I wanted to be sure I hadn't made a birthday present for someone Hitchhiking the Galaxy with a towel around their shoulders, metaphorically or otherwise.

I mention this story because, obviously, I have also done an extraordinarily good job of dropping off the face of the ice-cream planet. But today, my friends, I have returned triumphant. And this time I am updating with a REAL RECIPE, not just a whining plea that you still read my blog when I hypothetically post on it again soon.

Yes, summer is rolling ever closer over the San Gabriel mountains, and my to-do list in life has been simplified to the following activities:

--practicing ukulele (currently I'm working on a Magnetic Fields song, a Weepies song, and a Justin Timberlake song. Get ready for the best summer of your life, Eagle Rock Trader Joe's parking lot.)

--reading at least 5 books at a time. (if I could link you to my account page with the library, I would. Let's just say I have 21 books checked out. In a manner of speaking.)

--making ice cream. making ice cream. making ice cream.

So yesterday was sort of a suck day. It turned on me over the course of the afternoon, and yadda yadda yadda at 5:30pm I found myself sitting in my room, writing in my journal, no lights on in the house, listening to music about car crashes. True story. Mmm. Yikes. BUT THEN! I got this phone call, and the miraculous being on the line was eating ice cream. Brief side bar: I wish we still said things like "I call you up/the line's engaged," which is a Beatles' lyric. I wish lines still got "engaged" in modern patois. Alas. The closest thing I can think of is when you go to update your twitter and it won't let you because there are too many tweets all at once. Gross. Let's move on. Anyway, my dear friend was eating ice cream, and I was in a terrible mood, and it became obvious to both of us that the answer was to make ice cream, quickly and in large quantities. So let's dive in.

First, thanks to B&J's, the reason for the season:

Light (in theory) Chocolate Ice Cream with Peanut Butter:

1 (in theory) oz. unsweetened chocolate (i used at least 4. i went a little overboard. like i said before: it was a bad day.)
4 tbsp cocoa powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup (in theory) peanut butter (again, I used way more than was called for. Turned out fine, but I love peanut butter more than most humans.)

Alrighty. So to start with, melt the chocolate on a double broiler. You may recall that I do not have one of these. I worked in a regular frying pan. I'm bohemian. Whatever.
--Once melted, stir in the cocoa powder. If it gets clumpy, fear not. The milk in the next step will chill it out. (HA! Oh, I have missed having a vehicle for such jokes.)
--Whisk milk in a little at a time, until blended. Do this on low heat, to avoid boiling the milk.
--When all the milk is mixed in, remove from heat and let cool. At this point, probably because I don't have a double broiler AND because I was talking on the phone, my mix was still lumpy. Because they were lumps of chocolate, I let it go. But in general, it should be smooth. These lumps of unsweetened chocolate and cocoa, which made it all the way into my final product are, surprise surprise, unsweetened. Next time I will get off the phone earlier and mix completely-er.
--While the stovetop concoction is cooling, whisk the eggs into a fluffy lather. This will take about 2 minutes. Once fluffily lathered, add the sugar a little at a time, and whisk until completely blended.
--Add the vanilla and the cream. The cream is really pretty when you add it. It makes swirls.
--Add the (cooled) cocoa/milk/chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Whiskify.

When a problem comes along, you must whisk it!

--Take about a cup of this mixture, and, in a separate bowl, mix in the peanut butter. Once completely blended, add back to the larger bowl.
--Cover and cool in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
--Pour into ice cream maker, run for 30 minutes.
--Watch NCIS LA finale (G's about to find out who his dad is? WHAT?!) and enjoy.

countdown

HELLO FAMILY.

i have been experimenting with veganism for awhile, and have decided to stop experimenting on easter sunday. the things that i can never stop eating, it turns out, are fish (SUSHI IS MY FAVORITE FOOD), butter, and the muse of this here blog, ice cream.

so the countdown is on until april 4th, when i will return triumphant and come bearing blog posts and gifts. as if those weren't the same thing.

T-MINUS SEVEN DAYS.

now i am thinking about "the ring." creepy. icecreamicecreamicecream. there, i feel better.

love, katie

harder.better.faster.strawberrier.

To be read in the same voice you would use to read Goodnight Moon (incidentally the greatest children's book ever written besides Where the Wild Things Are.)

Hello, autumn.

Hello, sweaters and slippers and scarves and tea.

Hello, Netflix and excellent live music scene.

Hello, Ice Ice Katie.

I am back from a brief hiatus with a NON-ben & jerry's recipe for strawberry ice cream. I also have some sad news, which is this: my camera was dropped at precisely the wrong moment and in trying to fix it I broke it further and beyond repair. These were a few of the pictures being held hostage. I got the pictures eventually, but probably won't be able to post pictures again until I get a new camera. Which is pretty mah fan*, considering that i hate spending money.

*mah fan- "sucks," "annoying," "stupid," in chinese. I've been gone so long I learned another language!

No, no I didn't. Mah fan is some of the residual Chinese left from my trip this summer, where I did start to learn another language, but then I came back stateside and am slipping back into white America's homo-lingual, cradling arms.

Anyway. ICE CREAM! This recipe sent to me by Laura, with the following text before the link: "YES"

Laura, I agree.

A list of ingredients:

1 pound strawberries, trimmed, halved if large (I got mine from the ER farmer's Market!)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream

You will also need:

A mashing tool

A blender

Here is a picture of some ingredients! (RIP, power-ranger-pink camera. I really loved you.)

Here we have the lemon, the sugar, the strawberries, the mashing bowl, and the little compost bin for the strawberry leaves. Yes, my family has started composting because we are the cutest hipsters you ever did see. Look, you can even see our natural surface-cleaner in the background of that picture. Shoooot. We so earth-friendly.

Start by mashing the strawberries. If you do not know what a masher looks like to check if you have one, here is mine:

Add the sugar a little at a time to the strawberries, along with the lemon juice and salt. It will look syrupy and sugary, like so:

Transfer half of this mixture to a blender, and puree with cream until smooth.

That might be the least glamorous picture I have ever posted on this blog. But, blenders are pretty un-glamourous appliances. And we are all one in the face of Ice Cream anyway.

Return the light-pink pureed frothiness to the ruby-red strawberry syrup (I reference color partly to be poetic and partly so you can make sure you have pureed and mashed satisfactorily).

Chill the mixture for 3-6 hours, depending on how cold your ice cream maker bowl is, and how cold your fridge is. Our fridge is not very cold, but our freezer (and hence ice cream bowl) is INCREDIBLY cold, so they balance out and I chilled ours for about three hours.

Add mix to ice cream maker, blend for 35 minutes.

Look this cute trying to eat ice cream. Do it. I dare you.

HAPPY FALL*.

*not the movie The Fall, although that movie is breathtaking evidence why movies should still be made in this age of terrible, terrible, terrible movies.

I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU, ICE ICE KATIE. I HAVE A POST WAITING TO UPLOAD. I LOVE YOU AND WILL BE BACK SOON. 

Raze-berry

Fires: still raging in the hills across the freeway from my house. Air quality: awful. Temperature: near or at 100 for a week. Ice cream activities: NOT DETERRED.

This Friday I returned to the Eagle Rock farmer's market, this time to pick up a pint of raspberries for our recipe. I had help this time from both housemate Lani (most often seen modeling ice cream eating at the end of these entries) AND the lovely Ella. Here is Ella mixing some eggs and sugar.

For other ingredrients used, as well as for the recipe, reference my last entry, about peach ice cream. I made the same sweet cream base as I did in that recipe. The only difference is that for the raspberry, we mashed the berries and mixed them in with the cream base, putting it all into the ice cream maker at the same time. If you recall from the peach recipe, I put in the peach pieces at the last minute, so they didn't get too frozen.

The raspberry mash worked really well, but it would also work to leave bigger fruit pieces. To do that, simply put the raspberries back into the fridge to chill, after adding the sugar/lemon/berry marinade to the cream mixture. Then add the raspberries, in pieces as big as you'd like, to the ice cream maker about three minutes before it's the consistency you want (ie, about 25-30 minutes into the makin'.)

It melted the SECOND it hit the stagnant, burning air, but it was delicious nonetheles. It was a really pretty pink color, and it was slightly more tart than the peach flavor. Sour/tart is my favorite flavor.

Keep it cool, kids. I think next will be root beer flavor, so hang on to your flame-retardent knickers!

peachy keen

Success! Since I am sure the last 24 hours have been BREATHLESS WITH ANTICIPATION for you since my last post, I am ecstatic to be able to put you at ease. For your information, Los Angeles has reclaimed its rightful place as GODAWFUL HOTTEST PLACE ON THE PLANET (ie West Coast), usurping Portland and Seattle in their underdog race for the throne. As I write this, it is 99 degrees outside my little air-conditioned office. It's not even the hottest part of the day yet. The weather.com widget says it feels like 94 degrees, but that is more wrong than sticky melted ice cream all over a new pair of skinny jeans. I've been outside a couple times today, and it feels like it is warmer outside my body than it is inside. This is a mistake.

Ok, let's get down to business. It has been hot, which is bad for humankind but excellent for fruits!! So I meandered on over to the Eagle Rock Farmer's Market and bought some fresh local peaches for my next project. (side note of preachy locavorism: local food is better for you, and better for the planet. the less it travels to get to you, the less carbon emissions it creates, and the more nutrients and flavor are intact when it gets to your plate. It is also cheaper to eat local, contrary to popular belief. Find a market or CSA near you!)

THE RECIPE:

2 c Ripe peaches; finely chopped (for me this was two medium-size peaches. mostly just put in as much as you want to eat, keeping in mind the capacity of your ice cream maker.)

2 lg Eggs

1 1/4 c Sugar

2 c Heavy or whipping cream

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 c Milk (I use 2% because i am in a constant struggle to maintain and or/gain weight. i don't drink milk, but when it's in ice cream all is forgiven.)

Start by chopping the peaches, and combining with 1/2 cup of sugar and lemon juice. Like so:

Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or however long you can stand it before you want ice cream. For me this was more like an hour, and it turned fine. The sweeter you want it, the longer you should leave it in the fridge.

After chilling, pour the syrup from the bowl into a seperate bowl. Like so:

Into the bowl with syrup go the cream and milk. In another small bowl, whisk the eggs until fluffy, and add the remaining sugar a little at a time until completely mixed. Then add the egg mixture to the dairy/syrup mixture, and pour into ice cream maker.

Run the ice cream maker for about 25 minutes

Right before the ice cream is as thick as you want it, add the peaches. Let the machine run for five or so more minutes, until desired thickness is reached.

I realized I hadn't yet taken a picture of the machine IN MOTION, so here is what it looks like about three minutes before being done.

This looks like it was right before I added the peaches. It gets a little thicker than this. I like my ice cream super soft. If you don't, let it run a little longer or stick it in the freezer when it's done, for another fifteen minutes or so. I personally do not tend to wait for things. I like to eat.

And so do Laura and Jeff.

This weekend, look out for a fresh RASPBERRY recipe!!!

love means...

never having to say you're sorry. and yet, here i am. it has been far too long since i've posted, and i've been trying to all day, but my computer is not recognizing the camera. that's obviously what i get for trying to update my blog from work. sigh. anyway, i will post to share this perfect picture with you, which was taken at scoops ice cream, perhaps the best ice cream in los angeles. it has become apparent to me that i need to conduct bimonthly taste tests at scoops, for research purposes only, as a fellow ice cream afficionado. scoops is famous for introducing new flavors DAILY, and for mixing strange things together that are ultimately the most delicious thing one has ever tried. here is the picture.

the flavors i was trying that day were earl gray and almond-fig. they were ridiculously delicious, of course. scoops is mega-innovative and i will no doubt be trying many of their recipes as time goes on.

coming up from MY kitchen, in the meantime, are peach and raspberry recipes to celebrate summer. peach is what i've been trying to uploday today, and raspberry is happening friday night. so we all have that to look forward to. and if anyone is reading this in the pacific northwest, STOP READING AND GO EAT SOME BLACKBERRIES. they do not grow more delicious than they do in washington and oregon right now. this is one of the rare times when los angles produce can't hold a candle. blackberries and apples. mm.

Chocolate Sex

OK, first of all. Happy August! Month of my sister's birth, along with many other illustrious sorts of people. Here is some trivia of people born on August 25th, a day without which nothing fun would have ever entered the world:

-elvis costello (the first time i typed elvis i typed "elvix," and now i sincerely wish that were actually his name)

-blake lively

-kel mitchell

-tim burton

-rachel bilson

-gene simmons

-sean connery

-billy ray cyrus

i think it is safe to say that i have never seen a list of birthday-sharers that so perfectly encapsulates a person. anyway. ON TO ICE CREAM. 

the title of this entry comes from this perfect, terrible little book in residence at my home,

which basically consists of vintage photographs with really soft, hazy lighting, and then big gregarious pictures of chocolate superimposed. needless to say, it was like three ratings on the MPAA rating system scale further down than my housemates and I were hoping for. 

so yes, it is true. this weekend i tackled chocolate ice cream. i wouldn't say "tackled," so much, actually, as "got to immerse myself in delicious chocolatey things all day sunday and then put them in my mouth." 

let's get down to it. this is one of the two basic chocolate recipes in my ice cream recipe book, and it seemed like the one with less texture and a richer flavor. which is funny, considering how it turned out. but i'm getting ahead of myself. here is the recipe:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup milk (i used 2%)

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup heavy or whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 pinch salt (brings out the chocolate flavor- don't forget this step!)

alrighty. right off the bat, i'll tell you that i digressed from the recipe in a pretty substantial way, because i do not own a double broiler. you are always supposed to melt chocolate in one of these, so it doesn't burn. so if you HAVE a double broiler, godspeed. heat the water in the bottom until it is hot, not boiling, and add the chocolate in the top. 

what I did, however, was just throw some o' the ol' chocolate into a pot. 

and i kept the heat on really low. when it was just about all melted, i added the milk. if you have the double broiler, add the milk slowly, making sure not to let it boil. if you are ME, add the milk however you want it, and take the pan off the flame right away because it will boil immediately. 

i'll tell you now, to ruin the surprise but also to let you know what you're getting into, my way resulted in a texturized ice cream at the end. there are little bits of chocolate that are more solid than liquid. i like how it turned out a lot, and i think it matches the richness of the flavor. if something is entirely smooth and totally rich, i tend to freak out a little. i have a thing with decadence. i don't handle it very well. but if it's weird and not entirely smooth, then i think to myself "ah yes. of course it is this rich and chocolatey tasting, it has little bumpies in it." this paragraph makes me sound insane.

MOVING ON. 

after the pan has been removed from heat, mix the eggs and sugar a little at a time, whisking until light and fluffy (albeit a pretty nasty color and consistency. HAVE FAITH. it gets better.)

add the cream, vanilla and salt. blend completely. 

add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture, blend. should by now look something like this:

cover and refrigerate until cold. this should be a little more than an hour, unless your fridge is awful. then it should be about three. mine is more on the awful end. 

when cold, add to ice cream maker, let run 25-35 minutes until it's the consistency you're looking for. now is when i will tell you that when i went into the kitchen after half an hour to check on the ice cream, i realized that i had actually succeeded in making perfect ice cream. both of my last two recipes came out a little slush-y, which worked in both cases and froze to become more solid. but THIS one was EXACTLY PERFECT to the point that i danced around in my house all by myself because i was so proud of myself. here is a picture of this fantasy-inspiring texture:

this is by far the most delicious recipe yet, and perhaps the most delicious thing i have ever cooked in all my life. does it count as cooking, if it's cold? hm. anyway. i quietly believe this ice cream could bring about world peace if i told the right people about it. 

eat yo' hearts out, fools!

Heat Wave Watermelon

Three posts in, and I already have a dirty little secret to air for all the internets to read. Ready? Here it is. I can count -- no. That is not it. Here it REALLY is:

I love living in Los Angeles. I really do. I am also a born and raised Pacific Northwesterner. I was born outside Seattle, Washington, and I plan to move to Portland, Oregon next summer when I leave L.A. But. I am deeply in love with both halves of the West Coast. This is high treason to a lot of folks at home, and I realize that. But I do not apologize. What I CAN do, however, is offer a recipe to gain back my favor with the NW. Right now, Washington and Oregon are having a record-breaking heat wave. It feels sort of terrible to be away from home during a record-breaking summer, you know? I don't WANT to be in 104 degree heat, because that's really hot and it would be hard for my brain to wrap around that much heat at home. In China, Phoenix, or the San Fernando Valley, yes. In Kirkland or Portland? No. But, it's where I grew up and I want to be able to say I was there that summer.

SO. While I am basking in "always 75 with no mountain snow," (name that tune!) I offer up a delicious, uber-refreshing sorbet for beating the heat.

WATERMELON! Trivia about watermelon: they are 92% water by weight.

I'm really into trivia.

For the recipe I decided on, I first offer BIG UPS to Laura, who is a burgeoning locavore and my bestest bestie. She is living proof L.A. is not the barren awful desert everyone thinks it is. The basil used in this recipe was grown and harvested in her beautiful home herb garden. Note: be best friends with people who grow food. That is all. Anyway, check out her site and be inspired to grow your own food. She's just a 20something grad student, and SHE can find time to do it. You can do it, too!

On to the recipe for Laura and Katie's Watermelon Basil Sorbet.

-9 cups watermelon (this was not even half of the watermelon we had, so you'll probably at LEAST double the recipe.)

-2 cups sugar

-2 cups water

-1 tbsp basil (I would recommend a little more than this. maybe 1.5)

--Make a syrup by putting the sugar and water together in a pan on the stove. Bring to a boil, set aside.

--Puree the watermelon and basil (for which I used my OTHER birthday present, my new food processor!) Here is a picture of how exciting that was to me.

Here's a silly picture that I don't know where else to put:

--Add the syrup to the watermelon puree. Like so.

It occurs to me that it looks like Hunter is adding his BEER to the puree, not the syrup. I would not recommend doing this, although Ben and Jerry's does have a beer ice cream. You think I'm kidding? You just wait. One week I will do nothing but alcoholic recipes, (oh yes, there are multiple.) and then we'll see who's laughing. Drunkenly. In the kitchen. While handling sharp food processor parts. Hm. Where were we?

--Add the puree/syrup mixer to the ice cream maker.

--Run for 35 minutes, or until the consistency you want is reached.

--EAT.

What's cooler than being cool?

Ice cold.

ice cream MONTH?!

In some sort of magical cosmic serendipity, it has been brought to my attention that July is actually NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH! Which means this blog is not only delicous but also hip to current events. Swish.
(PS, what the hell? Ronald Reagan gets something right?!)

Virgin Voyage: Vanilla!

HELLO. I am glad you found this blog. It is a blog about ice cream. Here are some trivia items about ice cream:

--the top 5 ice cream-producing countries in the world:

United States

New Zealand

Denmark

Australia

Belgium/Luxembourg

--the top 5 ice cream-producing states:

California (w00t!)

Indiana

Ohio

Illinois

Michigan

--The biggest ice cream sundae of all time was made in Anaheim, CA in 1985. It had over 7,000 pounds of toppings, was 12 feet high, and contained 4,667 gallons of ice cream.

So, we can see that southern California has a rich history full of ice cream. I live in Southern California. I feel it is my duty as a Californian and as a HUMAN BEING (one with a brand spankin' new ice cream maker, natch) to start a blog dedicated entirely to my ice-cream related exploits. But WAIT. This is an equal-opportunity blog. Ice cream is only ONE of the delicious froo froos made and displayed on this site. I will be experimenting with fro-yo and sorbet, as well. Any other ideas for cold noms that can be made with an ice cream maker are welcome and will be documented for the site. America is apparently post-racial, and as such I am post- frozen-dessert-prejudiced. It's the least I can do.

So let's dive in. Here is a picture of your humble webmistress (or webinatrix?) with the box that started it all. It is, perhaps obviously, from the same photo shoot that spawned the main picture on this page.

Last weekend I decided to take the ice cream maker on a test drive, with classic French Vanilla ice cream. Now, I am friends with all manner of inspiring hippie types that make their own ice cream with a hand-cranked barrel, or by rolling a barrel with ice and cream back and forth until the ice cream is made. This means that I am already starting this project feeling preeeetty lazy. BUT. I am energetic and cute. Forgiven? Great. Let's move forward. (N.B: did you know Clint Eastwood does not say "Action" when he is directing? He says "And....moving forward....")

The recipe for French Vanilla, as I made it, is as follows:

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream or heavy cream
1 cup milk (I used 2%. Later this summer I will experiment with rice, soy and almond milks)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ok, people, FOCUS. It's go time.

-mix ingredients. Begin by whisking eggs. Add sugar a little at a time, until fully integrated. At this stage, it looks pretty gnarly. Do not eat it.

-Add everything else.

-put into ice cream maker

-turn on ice cream maker

-have a 25-35 minute dance party while the maker is makin'.

-eat ice cream. continue dance party.

It turned out delicious, but soupy. This is because I did not let the freezer bowl fully freeze, AND I did not let the machine run for 35 minutes. I was antsy and wanted ice cream. Basically, if you follow the manufacturer's directions, it will work. Once I froze mine overnight, it was/is perfect.

Enjoy! We did.