National Ice Cream Month!!

Maybe my favorite of the 'random' holidays...National Ice Cream Month! Whoo hooo! Today kicks off National Ice Cream Month. I have to admit, I've been slacking a little bit with the ice cream making lately. Just seems there have been other things going on and keeping me busy.

BUT, please don't doubt it. I still love ice cream. And have a passion for making it. And want to continue testing new flavor combinations. Maybe during this special month, I'll recommit myself to making the best ice cream possible! And in the meantime, everyone, go out there and eat some ice cream.

One of my favorite birthday presents, an ice cream holder! Thanks Michelle!

Ice Cream Dreams

I’m absolutely obsessed with ice cream. I think that’s pretty clear by now given how much you hear about my eating and making ice cream. My dream job right now? To be at home making ice cream all day long. Maybe even selling it to a few restaurants or small coffee shops. Or if nothing else, making it for all of my friends and family!

A local San Fran pastry chef recently opened up an ice cream shop, Humphrey Slocombe. And part of the reason I’m so excited? It’s because of the flavors they’re offering. Pastry Chef Jack Godby is offering some unique flavors (and unique food tattoo art, check it out here!). For anyone wanting regular old chocolate or vanilla? Not the place for you. But for me?!? WOW! I want to go and try every single flavor!

Or better yet, I want to go and spend time working with him. Learning more about ice cream making, picking up tips and techniques and of course, seeing how he dreams up these different flavors.

The flavors I want to try most? Foie gras. Yes. You heard me right. Foie gras ice cream. And Lychee Rose Petal. Pistachio bacon. And Salt and Pepper. And Secret Breakfast. I mean really. All of the flavors sound amazing.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my ice cream lately. Thinking about the things I’ve learned since I started, and about the flavors I’ve made, and the flavors I want to make. And even took out my note book one day and jotted down all of the flavor combinations I want to try and make one of these days. Betcha can’t wait to hear about them all??

I’m hoping for one or two new flavors every month or so. Just think, in the 10 months since I’ve first started making ice cream, I’ve mastered 8 flavors (Fresh Mint, Peppermint Stick, Espresso, Bourbon Raisin, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Crème fraiche, Fresh Peach and Cherry and Chocolate Chip.) Who knows what the next 10 months will bring?

My friend Olga recently sent me this old article on ice cream from the New York Times. A good read, it really talks about some of the basics of ice cream making, as well as some of the fun of making your own ice cream. I realized something the other night. I haven't had store bought ice cream in months! I want ice cream? I just make it!!

I also came across this great post on Michael Laiskonis’ blog, Workbook. I’m a fan of this blog, although some of the posts are a little bit technical for me. While I wish I had the time and energy to pour into the science behind his creations, I just don’t have it in me. But this post about ice cream was particularly interesting. I’ve printed it out and saved it…maybe some day I will have the time to devote to really learning the science behind ice cream!

A girl can dream…

The ice cream carrier my sister gave me for Christmas--now I can bring my ice cream to my friend's houses and keep it cold! One of the best presents ever!

Lookin for Inspiration

Where do I find inspiration? Spending time with family and friends. Being outside in the sunny California winter. Being in the kitchen.

I had a long weekend that was inspiration filled. From spending time with my family, to seeing good friends and catching up, dining tapas style with the gals, being in the kitchen... I had lots of time to reflect, to do the things I enjoy, and to spend time surrounded by people I love, and people that love me. It was all very much needed.

I have been wanting to try a new ice cream recipe, and hey, since the sun's shining outside, and the weather's warm, feels like a good time for ice cream!

Check out this amateur late night spoon shot. So can you tell what flavor it is?

Speaking of inspiration, today our 44th President of the United States is sworn in. Here's to a man that has inspired and will ignite change for our country!

A New Favorite Seasonal Ice Cream

The inspiration behind my recent holiday ice cream? A holiday favorite!

Candy Canes!

Growing up, my sister and I loved the grocery store peppermint stick ice cream. You know, the vanilla ice cream with bright gooey swirls of pink and green mint? We moved on to the occasional treat of the Swensen's peppermint ice cream, which was white peppermint with the chunks of candy cane in it.

Well, as our palates have grown even more sophisticated, that same grocery store peppermint stick ice cream just wasn't going to cut it for me anymore. So this past year, I decided I would try and make my very own peppermint stick ice cream!

It wasn't too hard. I decided that I'd get the minty flavor from fresh mint. So the base of my ice cream was a fresh mint ice cream. One of my all time favorite home made ice cream flavors, I figured that given the yummy base, the ice cream should be delicious.

I bought a bunch of candy canes and smashed them up into small bits and pieces (I swear I thought my horrible downstairs neighbor was going to come up screaming at me with all the noise I was making.)

Because my candy cane chunks were a bit inconsistent, I figured I'd just stir the pieces into the ice cream, and it wouldn't matter. What I didn't think about, was the fact that even just by stirring the candy pieces into the white fresh mint ice cream, it would turn the ice cream a light pink color!

It was perfect. A nice re-do of a classic. Everyone loved the peppermint ice cream on top of our little chocolate cakes. Maybe we have new family holiday ice cream tradition??

My sister and I taking a break from eating for a photo!

Current Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

I’ve had my ice cream maker for 7 months. My strategy when I first got the ice cream maker? I thought, this is my chance to make healthy and yummy ice cream and frozen yogurt. Strawberries were just coming into season. And I tried strawberry frozen yogurt. It was ok. Not great. Then, I was visiting my dad, and he had all these great lemons growing. And I thought, “I know! I’ll try lemon gelato!” Ok. But too icy.

I’ve written about this before on this blog. One of my first encounters is posted here. I finally hit my stride when I added the fat into it. I’ve really mastered fresh mint chip and peanut butter. And my bourbon raisin isn’t too bad—depends how much you like bourbon I guess. I haven't quite mastered the fruit ice creams. Need to spend more time on that. And while I want to master the basics, vanilla, chocolate, rocky road, etc., I’m more interested in making the special flavors. Decadent flavors. Flavors I love. Flavors you can't buy in your typical grocery store.

Up until now, I’d say that Peanut Butter or Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip is probably the favorite. Even people that don’t love peanut butter love this flavor. It just works. It’s rich and creamy, and really delicious served with something or all alone.

But me personally? Fresh Mint Chip is really my favorite. None of that fake mint flavor. None of the artificial coloring. Just fresh mint flavor. It’s so good. I really think I could eat it all the time.

Well. That was until today. Now? Sorry to report, but there’s a new favorite! Crème Fraiche ice cream!!

Fall is here, and while I’ve been debating trying to make a pumpkin flavor, or maybe even gingerbread or chai flavor, I haven’t gotten to those yet. I couldn’t really get behind those flavors. Why? Because when I thought about fall, I found myself not thinking about ice cream, but about the desserts. Pumpkin pies, and gingerbread cake...bread pudding and apple pies. SO. Rather than doing an fall ice cream, I wondered, “What ice cream goes best with all of those flavors and can complement it?”

Blurry photo of a yummy homemade apple crisp and scope of creme fraiche ice cream!

Crème Fraiche! A little bit more sour and flavorful than just a plain vanilla. But not as sour as sour crème. So perfect. My first batch is pretty good—a basic recipe from Emily Luchetti’s ice cream cookbook (which has the best ice cream recipes!!)

Childhood Memories

I love ice cream. You all know that now. While I may not have the serious sweet tooth, I do have a soft spot for ice cream. (oh…and ice cream cake!) Well, the other day I was reading Slashfood, and came across a post about Thrifty Ice Cream!

I remember the days of Thrifty ice cream. When my sister and I were young, this would be one of the biggest treats we could get. On a Saturday afternoon, we would all pile into the car, and drive to a nearby bookstore, where we’d spend time pouring into books. My mom would go to the Mystery section, Michelle and I would go to the Children’s books, and hmmm, I think Dad kind of wandered. If we were lucky that day, Michelle and I would each get to buy one book. So there was the “Baby Sitter’s Club” phase, when we’d want to get the newest book in the collection, and before then there were the Ramona days, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and before that the “All Of A Kind Family” books. God we loved our books. Our whole family does.

And then. As if the new book wasn’t a big enough treat? Next door was a Thrifty drug store. With an ice cream counter. And it was always such a great treat to get to go over and get a scope of ice cream. I remember always thinking as we were getting ready to leave the bookstore, was this going to be an ice cream day?? And when it was, you were always guaranteed a scope in that distinct Thrifty shape. With the two little holes up top. I don’t remember how much it was back then, but it was probably close to 50 cents or 75 cents for a single scope. And it was perfect.

Those afternoons will forever be in my memory. Just such a simple way for our family to spend time together. I will always remember my yummy Thrifty ice cream cones and what a treat they were for me.

Well, now I’ve got ice cream on my mind (again), and am excited to try a new BOURBON ICE CREAM recipe!! Thanks Thomas, I’ll let y’ll know how it turns out.

In the meantime, anyone know where my nearest Thrifty Drug store with an ice cream counter is??

To Fuel My Ice Cream Passion

Isn't this great?? Yes, it's another one of those gadgets that are real cool...but who really needs it? Ummm...ME! You know my obsession with ice cream (please don't let the fact that I haven't made any recently make you think I'm any less obsessed.)

But basically, these are little scoopers, that you put ice cream into (home made in my case!), and then you can just push it up and eat it! Without spoon...without mess. As you can see, there's also a little cap. So you can save it if you don't finish (like you're ever not going to finish?)

Hmmm, my half birthday is in October. Do you get birthday presents for that? I'm adding this to my wish list!


Thanks Christy for thinking of me and for sending this my way!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe

So everyone’s asking me for the peanut butter ice cream recipe. The recipe I’ve been using is from Saveur (originally from Bruce Weinstein’s The Ice Cream Book), but I’ve tweaked it a tad. Here’s my recipe:

1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
½ cup organic peanut butter (there are more natural oils in the organic/natural peanut butter)
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste

Heat milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat until just hot. Meanwhile, beat sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until thick and pale yellow.

Gradually whisk hot milk into egg mixture in bowl, then pour milk-egg mixture into saucepan.

Return saucepan t medium-low heat and cook custard, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 5 min.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in peanut butter.

Let peanut butter melt into mixture. Strain custard into a large bowl, stir in vanilla.

Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 6-8 hours.

Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to directions. Finish with chopped peanuts if desired. Or mix in some chopped chocolate chips for your own Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream!

Enjoy!!

Is It Too Late for Payard Vegas?

A few weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas for a conference...and one of the most memorable experiences of my life was at Payard Patisserie. Located in Caesar's Place, we experienced a five course dessert tasting menu...and every dish was perfect. Just a few days ago, I read this post on the LA Times blog:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2008/06/payard-vegas-no.html
A couple of months ago, I wrote a story on the latest round of restaurant openings in Vegas. The best bargain I found as part of that story was the elegant buffet breakfast at Payard Pâtisserie in Caesar’s Palace — $16 for coffee, fresh-squeezed juice, as many of the exquisite morning pastries as you can eat, plus cereals, yogurt parfaits and house-smoked salmon with all the fixings. However, it seems as if the management at Payard felt that petit déjeuner was too much of a bargain. A reader alerted me soon after that the price was now $22. OK, it was underpriced at $16, but isn’t that the definition of a bargain? Still, a $6 hike seems a bit steep. In another change, the bistro is no longer serving their dessert tasting at night, which is a real shame. I guess they never developed enough of an audience.

I was disappointed to hear that the dessert tasting menu was no longer being offered. In what must have been one of their last services, here are photos and descriptions of everything I was lucky enough to eat!

Our amuse...a soy and chocolate marinaded piece of fish, a chocolate polenta with duck, and a piece of thinly sliced beef (I don't remember what was inside!)

Poached Sickle Pear with Pomegranete, Cabrales Cheese and Szechuan Pepper Ice Cream...that was amazing ice cream!!

Warm Ricotta Tart with Citrus, Mint Salad, White Balsamic Vinegar...the mint salad was absolutely perfect. And on top? Baked Parmesan cheese!

Roasted Pear with Maple Syrup and Brown Butter Ice Cream. No need for any other words...it was perfection.

Tiramisu My Way: Chocolate Mousse, Espresso Granita and Mascarpone Cream. This deconstructed tiramisu was surprisingly easy to eat (and share).

Coffee Eclair, Milk Chocolate Mouse and Flaky Sable. The Flaky Sable (essentially a crispy, thin, chocolate cookie) was amazing. I've got to learn how to make it.


Red Wine Tart with Sangria-Prune Ice Cream. The ice cream was a highlight...so good. Inspiration for me and my new ice cream machine. Oh. And yes. There are a lot of glasses in the back. We had a different sparkling, moscato, or port paired with each one! :)

Devil's Food Cake, Cardamon Pot de Creme, Chocolate Pudding and Whipped Creme Fraiche. Can you see the 'devil's horns' shaped with thin chocolate? There were yummy rice krispy like rice puffs surrounding the cake.

Peanut Butter Napoleon with Milk Chocolate Rice Krispies. Not too peanut buttery, and not too rich. This was perfect.

The classic. Warm Hazelnut Chocolate Tart with Cocoa Nibs Tuile and Hazelnut Ice Cream. Amazing. Perfect.

This amazing truffle machine in the Payard patisserie has clocks around it that shows the time at all of his locations around the world...Tokyo, New York, Sao Paolo, etc.

Ice Cream Across the Country...And My Next Flavor!

Go Bi-Rite! Glad to see this lcoal favorite is making it's way into the national headlines. http://www.forbestraveler.com/food-drink/americas-best-ice-cream-story.html?partner=blog

This has turned into quite my diary of my ice cream making adventures. Anyone curious about what the ice cream for this weekend is? Peach ice cream! My farmer's market trip this morning turned out to be very fruitful (no pun intended!) Aside from the gorgeous sweet peaches, I also came home with a big bag of cherries and a brand new cherry piter. I've always wanted one! Not sure yet if I'm going to do a plain cherry ice cream or something fancier like a cherry rum ice cream (recipe from Emily Luchetti).

It was a beautiful SF morning, so lots of people out at the Farmer's Market. I was lucky we went early, and more crowded and I couldn't have wanted to stay! The first Saturday market day for Chris Cosentino's Boccalone...which from what I saw today, is already a huge success. Spotted some of my favorite San Francisco chefs checking out the fresh produce and mingling with other chef friends and locals. It was really nice to see and made me happy to live in such a great food community.

What's Next?

A lot of you have emailed me and asked what ice cream flavor is next (it really made me happy that so many of you were reading!) And I'm glad there's so much thought to my experimental ice cream making!

Maybe bacon ice cream, although I'd like to save that for my next Incanto whole pig dinner...Maybe salted caramel, although who could beat Bi-Rite's yummy salted caramel ice cream?Maybe fresh homemade strawberry. Something simple and classic.

Any requests? Maybe you'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I've got to write about the worst recaps of the most horrible magazine launch party...Stayed tuned!

Making Icy Progress!

I'm finally figuring out my ice cream maker. It was a birthday present (one of the best birthday presents ever!!), and the first few tries were quite unsuccessful. I started off with a lemon sorbet. Too slushy. Then I tried a fresh strawberry frozen yogurt. Too icy. I was beginning to feel frustrated. I was following the recipes from my ice cream cookbook exactly and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

Then, a friend gave me Emily Luchetti's ice cream cookbook and everything changed. In her intro, she talks about the secret behind ice cream. The fat. There is no cutting corners. If you are going to eat ice cream, eat ice cream.

My next experiment was fresh mint chip ice cream from her cookbook. I didn't make sorbet. Didn't use yogurt. I didn't even use low fat milk. This time, it was whole milk and heavy whipping cream. I had success!! It was the best mint chip ice cream I had ever tasted.

It was so good, that I wanted to see if I could do it again. The next time? I turned my head for one second...and BAM. Scrambled eggs. It was late at night (why is it that I'm always experimenting late at night?), and yet, I was determined to do it again, despite how tired I was at that point. The only problem? I had just used up all of my eggs. The last three were now scrambled in a mess of cream on my stove top. Pissed off and in my PJ's, I headed out to the grocery store.

But the second time? Success. I was beginning to feel confident. I was getting the hang of this! The fat was the secret! Next recipe? Peanut Butter ice cream. A friend had emailed me the recipe and my friend that gave me the ice cream maker LOVES peanut butter...so I thought, what could be nicer than to make this for her? First try--BAM! Success! It was heavenly. So good. And just as I was confident again...failure. I was just too tired and too disheartened to try again. I couldn't figure it out. I didn't do anything different. :(

Tonight, the stars were aligned for me. I figured it out! I had too much 'liquid' in the ice cream maker. There wasn't the opportunity for air to get mixed in, and there wasn't enough space to churn. I divided it into two batches, and presto! Ice Cream!

Ice cream is about the chemistry and the science. Everything has to be measured and perfect. You have to be at your best, and you have to be fully engaged and paying attention. Not something you can half ass.

It made me think. If I had actual training...or someone teaching me...what would my potential be? Not just me reading a recipe and then just seeing what happens, but actual training.

Or alternatively, if I could spend all day in the kitchen, testing recipes, and trying again and again after each failed attempt, where would I be? Would I hate that lifestyle or would I thrive and actually make progress and feel like I was accomplishing something?

Perhaps in another life...I will be in whites in a kitchen somewhere!