Discoveries, Delicious Creations, and More Writing Projects

First of all, the discovery. I knew I had it, but had forgotten about it until I was digging my toaster out this morning. My Ice Cream Maker. It has never been used, though my parents had it for probably a year. It is a pretty solid one, a Krups La Glace. Very nice. Its among the newer generation of Ice Cream Makers wherein the automatic stirring mechanism and the liquid cooled freezing chamber make cranking and rock salt obsolete.

The delicious creation was obviously related. I started off with a basic vanilla custard ice cream. It is now undergoing the hard freeze, but from the taste of the soft freeze, it is incredible. I think I will move towards ginger next, but that is not for sure yet. Its a pretty easy process, heat up a cream and sugar base, with about 1/4 or 1/3 of the actual flavoring. Whip up a couple egg yolks and temper them in with the base. Cook that for about 5-8 minutes, never quite reaching a simmer, but heating up and blending. You have to keep the mixture moving at all times or the eggs will seperate very quickly. After you've cooked that mixture for about 8-10 minutes, you let it cool for a minute or so, and stir in the rest of the flavoring. After it cools completely you just pour it into the maker for about a 30 minute soft freeze and then off to the freezer for another half hour.

I will check the finished results alone and then top some of the brownies I made yesterday for a delicious brownie sundae. I will report, more likely tomorrow, about the overall results of my first batch of home made ice cream.

In terms of further writing, I am planning on engaging Nikki and/or Sarah at some point regarding the NDT sit. I talked with Andy about it and he seemed to think they would enjoy the conversation. I think I will iterate some of those initial ideas here before I actually send them an email, but my hard freeze is about 5 minutes from done. I'm not sure I'm as qualified as Katie to make the arguments regarding the potential influence or affects on other women, but I certainly will challenge the political efficacy of such acts. Andy sort of proved my arguments tonight, as I imagined he would. Okay, custard time.

Peace,

MB-K