We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Making vanilla ice cream for the first time

I'm not sure how I keep forgetting, but since April, I have been making ice cream about once a week (I don't eat the whole quart in a week. I have about 6 in the freezer at a time so I can choose from a variety). Small batches of creamy dreamy ice cream. Oh, it's been so fun! Michele and I made vanilla together when we first got the ice cream maker - it was wonderful. We even made some the morning of my birthday brunch to have atop the blueberry stuffed french toast - so decadent!

Yummy bowls of vanilla - Michele's fave!

My favorite flavor so far is sweet potato. I know it's a bit unusual and not at all a standard flavor, but it tastes amazing! It tastes simply like sweet potato, but icy cold. It even retains its sweet potato texture. Michele does not at all enjoy the sweet potato - in fact of all the flavors we and I have made, she really only likes the vanilla.

Jack Fruit ice cream

Tied for favorite in the exotic ice cream category is Jack Fruit! I brought a bunch of Jack Fruit home with me from Georgia and used most of it to make the most amazing ice cream I've ever had. Since Jack Fruit has flavors of several other fruits, Jack Fruit ice cream has a flavor that is uncatagorizable. Michele actually conceeds that Jack Fruit ice cream is very good, but she doesn't like the aftertaste. I admit that it does indeed have an aftertaste, but to me its like getting to enjoy the deliciousness twice!

Sweet potato &
chocolate chocolate chip sweet potato

And because I am me, I am going to make carrot ice cream as soon as my carrots are ready to harvest. I've found several recipes online (I guess carrot is a popular Thai ice cream flavor), but I'm not quite happy with any of them. I think I will make up my own recipe: Carrot ice cream with crystalized ginger chunks. I imagine it will taste like ginger glazed carrots (but cold.) I'll keep you posted. And now I think I will have my after dinner bowl of ice cream - Jack Fruit tonight!

A Beautiful Weekend, or How Many Ways Are There to Consume Tea?

This has truly been a gorgeous weekend. The sun shined constantly yesterday. This morning, our pastor said that when the sun is out so consistently in Rochester, we all become like sunflowers, raising our faces to the warmth and slowly turning our bodies as the sun moves in the sky. There is truth in that statement. Today after church I started my day of rest and relaxation with a yummy sandwich and a good book on the sun porch, which was bright and warm. Soon, I couldn't resist turning my face to the sun, shutting my eyes, and taking a nap with the sun beating full on me and melting away the winter chill...which lasted for about an hour, at which time I awoke freezing because the clouds had come and, in winter, when the sun is not streaming into the uninsulated sun porch, it is quite cold! Oh, but it was lovely while it lasted.

Being chilly is actually a good lead-in to the rest of my plans for the day: my rendition of High Tea! This afternoon/evening, I plan to take a long soak in a tea bath while enjoying a pint of Haagen-Dazs Green Tea ice cream. After which I will lay in bed with a little plate of Vanilla Green Tea sandwich cookies and a wonderful pot of mango white tea. And I am off to enjoy and hope that you have the chance to turn your face to the sun and enjoy the day, too!