Heaven

Transported to Italy (via the West Village)

2009-10-10T11:28:00.001-07:00

I mentioned Grom in my previous post and since I had dinner in the West Village once again, I figured it was worth a re-visit. I ate at Keste, which is one of the new hot brick-oven pizza joints in town. So what better way to end a rustic Neapolitan dinner than with typical Italian ice cream?

Grom is an Italian gelato chain that came to New York a few years ago. The Upper West Side location has a huge line down the street almost every night. The gelato is not cheap, but it is really really good.

The shop itself is rather sterile and modern looking. The employees are usually young, but friendly enough. And the flavors, which all go by their Italian names, are varied and change pretty regularly.

The girl behind the counter made a face when I picked my first flavor to sample - liqourice. I picked up on her judgement and when I accused her of not liking this flavor, she admitted that it was the only flavor she didn't like. I can empathize because black licorice is not my favorite flavor in the world. But I found this to be very delicate with just the right balance between herbaceousness and sweetness.

Fortunately, my next choice met the girl's approval a bit more: Marron Glaces, which is a traditional Italian candy with candied chestnuts. This refreshingly did not remind me of Christmas. But it had that delicious, rich sweet chestnut flavor without being mealy or spicy (two adjectives I think of when I think of chestnuts).

It took minutes of agonizing to decide, but I picked Caramello with pink salt and Tiramisu for my actual order. The caramello was great. The saltiness was very subtle and just enough to balance the deep sweetness of the caramel. The tiramisu could have been a bit more espresso flavored for me, but all the components of a tiramisu were present, included pieces of ladyfingers mixed in.

Everything I tasted was incredible. The flavors were all sweet without being overpowering. The add-in's were perfectly distributed. The flavors were strong and lingering. The mouthfeel was incredibly soft and creamy. Somehow you feel like you're in Italy (even if you've never stepped foot in the country). For a brief moment, while the gelato-filled spoon lingers in your mouth, everything is perfect with the world.

My only complaint with Grom is the price. A small order is $5.25 (about the same size as Sant Ambroeus' $3). But when you consider how much a plane ticket to Italy costs, I think those five measly bones are worth it.

Sant Ambroeus

2009-10-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

For almost a year now, I have been following a list. I love following lists - I'm watching all the Oscar winning films, reading all the Pulitzer Prize plays, and eating all of Time Out New York's Top 100 Things We Ate and Drank. Thanks to TONY, I have discovered some great dishes all across the city and I'm almost complete (besides the closed restaurants and seasonal items that are now long gone).

This project has finally brought me to some gelato. The other night, I went to Sant Ambroeus, an Italian bistro, in the West Village (there's also a location on the Upper East Side), in search of another of my list items: gelato!

I have eaten brunch at Sant Ambroeus a few years ago and enjoyed the ambience and the food. The most memorable moment was being watched by a little boy from inside, who surprisingly turned out to be the precocious son of Matthew Broderick. And now I've come back during a busy Friday night to try nothing be gelato.

At the side of the bar, they had a small little gelato freezer and it definitely was not your typical take-out window. Amongst West Village diners, we picked our flavors from about ten options that the bartender told us verbally. There may have been the sampling option, but due to the unique environment, I felt it may not be appropriate.

I settled on traditional Italian flavors: mint chip and hazelnut. For $3.50, the one scoop was quite small. But the gelato was creamy and soft and very enjoyable. The mint flavor was not as authentic as I expect but the chip pieces were well distributed. The hazelnut was nice and nutty, if a bit artifical.

Overall, this is a pretty standard gelato option. If you're having a meal at the restaurant, a gelato serving is worth it. But if you're just walking by, Grom is a few blocks away and, in my opinion, a better gelato destination.

Torico's is muy rico!

2009-09-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for unusual and interesting flavors - especially when it comes to ice cream. My friend had recently told me about Torico's in Jersey City. She thought I would particularly be interested in it because of their exotic ethnic flavors. So, faster than you can say bacon ice cream, I made my way to the residential area of Jersey City and we found Torico's.

The layout and menu were a bit scattered. The parlor itself wasn't as pristine as I expect most ice cream parlors to be, but it was homey and comfortable enough. As I looked at the menus, I was baffled by all the choices. They have ice cream, soft serve, sherbets, italian ices, slushies, and so on. So I skipped the menu and just looked into the freezers to see what looked good.

The flavors were sort of grouped together by category. When I had been daydreaming about my ice cream shop, this is what I had thought to do but on a grander scale. Of course, I immediately flocked to the exotic flavors. Some were less bizarre than others. There were the usual Asian flavors: lychee, ginger, green tea, etc. and there were others that you don't see as often, for instance, ube (purple yam), mamey (a tropical fruit with a similar taste to pumpkin), jackfruit (which I had heard of but never seen), and avocado.

I was impressed by how eager the employees were to give out tastes (I ask for a lot) and talk about the flavors. We tasted the jackfruit immediately which was refreshing and reminiscent of lots of tropical flavors: mango, lemon, pineapple. The ube was rich and flavorful. The same was true for the avocado ice cream. This had a lot of depth and creaminess. I had avocado water ice many years ago from my favorite place in Florida. And I remember it not being a big seller (I'm not sure he actually sold any of it). The lady here said it's one of their biggest flavors. I guess people in the tri-state area who like their avocado ice cream know this is where to get it. I also asked for a taste of the butterscotch, which was sweet and intense and distinct from a caramel flavor.

We decided on mamey, banana, and coffee cookie. There were three separate coffee flavors and they were all variations on the same thing (regular coffee, coffee with oreos, and coffee with fudge). The coffee was actually the most disappointing which was terribly disappointing because coffee is the most perfect ice cream flavor in my opinion. The coffee was not very strong and even had a bit of an artificial taste. I didn't find that true of the other two. The banana had a perfect dark beige color and tasted almost like roasted bananas. The mamey had a deep if slightly bland flavor.

As we were leaving, we checked out the pre-packaged section and I loved their little tasting options. They were divided into more sections (exotic, kid friendly, old favorites, etc.) and featured samples of about six flavors each. It was a great idea - especially for somebody as indecisive as me. It was in one of these packages that I noticed soursop sorbet.

How did I miss soursop in their freezer? I had made soursop ice cream years ago for a chef of mine from the Carribean. Soursop is a fruit also known as guanabana in certain areas. It was almost impossible for me to find, but I found it canned in a bodega in Chinatown.

I had to have one more taste. The employee was genuinely happy to give us another sample. I felt bad since we already had our ice cream. The soursop was refreshing and a bit tart.

It had more of a lemon flavor than I remembered. It's supposed to have a slightly sweet, tart flavor somewhere between a pineapple and a banana. So I'll have to come back and taste it more fully because that little taste didn't do it justice.

Between the exotic flavors, the fresh flavorful ice cream, and the friendly employees, Torico's has won me over. I will definitely make the trip back out to Jersey City (only a quick PATH train ride from midtown) to get my exotic ice cream fix.

A Decent Human Being

2009-09-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

I always walk by Monofuko Milk Bar, since it is on a populated street in the East Village. I had been once before (as I had documented in a previous post) and walked away muy disappointed. I feel like I should give it a second chance. I peeked in today, as usual, checked out their crazy soft serve flavors and then walked on, partially daunted by the crowd.

Well, one of the flavor names stuck in my head and I began craving a taste. I had walked about four or five blocks when I realized I had to go back. The flavor? Sweet and salty cucumber. Weird, right? But it sounds like it could be refreshing and delicious. I once made a very successful cucumber gin and tonic sorbet.

It wasn't too crowded when I got back and stepped up to the front. I read the sign that each customer is only entitled to one sample. That throws my usual routine into turmoil! Well, they only had four flavors (the aforementioned cucumber, watermelon, horchata, and cereal milk). The cereal milk is sort of their famous standard, which I have never tried but figured I'd have other opportunities. Horchata is a Mexican rice drink sweetened with cinnamon. I enjoy it, but I figured what it would taste like. So that left the watermelon and cucumber.

I asked for a sample of the watermelon and immediately realized why customers were only allowed one sample each. It was like a mini-serving. It came in a small plastic cup and with a little wooden spoon. It was delicious - not too creamy, not too icy - and really had the watermelon flavor. Great, so now on to what I came for. I ordered the cucumber and the girl looked at me with a bit of doubt. She asked if I had ever tried it and when I said no, she added a little bit to my watermelon sample.

I was surprised at how green it was. But the flavor was subtle, with a lot of salt. I liked it and thought I could eat more, but all of a sudden I began to feel full. I basically got two tastes here and they really were not small. The thought of eating a serving of this sweet and salty ice cream after already downing a mini-helping, didn't sound so great.

I didn't know what to do. I'm not the person who comes in and asks for a free sample and then leaves. But I didn't want to force myself to eat more than I wanted. She suggested I buy a cookie, but I didn't really want that. So I offered, "Why don't I just leave you a tip and we'll call it a night?" She certainly didn't object and thanked me for being a decent human being. I guess many people come in for free samples and leave it at that.

I walked away feeling a little strange. I felt bad about only getting a sample, but proud that I had the proper instinct, and impressed that I didn't gorge myself. Soft serve made me feel good about myself - and it had nothing to do with the taste.

In a way, I was back where I started. I still haven't given Momofuko Milk Bar a full second chance. But my interest has been re-ignited and this decent human being will return soon enough.

Ice Cream With A View

2009-09-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

I had read about this place over a year ago when I was upstate doing a play near the Catskills. Due to circumstances beyond my control (mainly the lack of a car), I never made it out to Bellvale Creamery in Warwick, NY.

But this year was a different story and now I have been to what many call the best ice cream in

NY state. In addition to great ice cream made from the finest ingredients, Bellvale also lures visitors with majestic views of Mt. Peter.

When we pulled up, I don't remember being to an ice cream shop with such beautiful scenery since I was in Maine. I was excited to see all the people enjoying their ice cream overlooking the beautiful Warwick Valley. I was even more excited to join them.

The line wasn't too long when we arrived so we were able to taste a few options. The store was cute with some plastic cows hanging around for scenery and the smell of fresh waffle cones wafting in the air for the most effective up-sell technique possible. They featured both standard homemade flavors and then homemade specialty flavors which had semi-creative names such as, Bellvale Bog (chocolate with browines and fudge), Great White Way (white chocolate with dark chocolate chunks and raspberry swirl), and Black Dirt Blast (chocolate coffee with fudge and toffee).

We tasted a number of the flavors and they were all creamy and seemed really delicious. They all had some sort of add-in, which always makes me wonder if they were covering up for the lack of flavor in the actual ice cream. Even their standard coffee had chocolate covered "espresso" beans (I'll explain those quotations in a bit) mixed in. I felt a little like a kid in a candy shop with all the flavors featuring candy bar pieces and whatnot.

I settled on the Great White Way and After Dinner Mint. I would have ordered coffee, but my friend beat me to it and I never like to have the same two flavors at the table (or picnic table, in this case).

We got a picnic bench just outside and enjoyed watching all the families and couples. I was probably the only one being so critical, but I expect great ice cream every time - especially when a place is hailed as "the best." So here goes...

I will say the mouth feel across the board was very rich and creamy. The problems I had were with all the additives. The coffee tasted strong and fresh at first but the more we ate, we noticed an artificial, almost medicinal quality. I'm guessing if there is real coffee in the ice cream, it's mixed with a concentrated coffee flavor. Also, we discovered that those chocolate covered "espresso" beans were not espresso beans at all, but some crunchy chocolate coffee candy pieces. They were delicious as most sugary candy is, but a bit of a disappointment.

I had a similar problem with the After

Dinner Mint. It really tasted like those cheap mints you get on your way out of a diner - a bit reminiscent of toothpaste. And then those crunchy mint pieces seemed to be just that. It was a bit off-putting to discover that those candy pieces dyed the ice cream pink and green. It was advertised as containing chocolate covered mint pieces - but I should have stopped to ask myself just what are mint pieces??? Do they exist in the real world? Think about it: mint pieces?!?

The Great White Way fared better with the raspberry swirl and the chocolate chunks. The flavor combination was pretty classic and the white chocolate ice cream was properly richer than a vanilla.

The waffle cones, I must admit, were excellent and made it difficult to stop eating the ice cream since I really wanted to get to that fresh baked goodness.

I guess I'm a bit of an ice cream purist - and definitely an ice cream snob. The view was beautiful and the experience of getting ice cream up on top of a mountain was thrilling. But Bellvale's ice cream was mediocre. It's clear that they use really fresh dairy products and it shows in the texture, but the ice cream chef really needs to re-think the flavors - especially if he's trying to appeal to adults as well as children.

But then again, what do I know, because as we left, the line was out the door. I guess some people still like their ice cream loaded with candy. And can I really blame them for that?

Washington State Adventures

2009-09-03T10:39:00.001-07:00

The next stop on my Pacific Northwest tour was Seattle, Washington. I spent quite a bit of time in Pike Place Market, which was a foodie's dream come true. I could have lived there, and based on the number of homeless people around, I think some people do.

But after a long day of eating, I had to top it of

with some local ice cream. Molly Moon's seemed to be the local favorite and there are two locations. I visited the one in the cute family-centric neighborhood of Wallingford.

I arrived late, around 4:00, and was amazed at how long

the line was. The interior was bare bones in a very hip, industrial style. Molly's focuses on local ingredients and interesting ice cream flavors. Walking in and smelling the waffle cones, got me very excited. This is definitely my type of ice cream shop.

I did my usual taste test first and asked for both strawberry balsamic and mojito sorbet. I like how they gave you the two tastes on opposite sides of a popsicle stick. An ingenious idea. It's a cool way of trying lots of ice cream and it's much better for the environment. I have focused on making alcohol inspired sorbets in the past and I know how tricky it is. The mojito didn't work for me and really just tasted like a lime sorbet. It needed mint and rum in there! And I think the taste of the strawberry balsamic was maybe too small to get the full effect because I didn't get much balsamic.

I had to get one of those waffle cones because they smelled too good. I'm a sucker for homemade waffle cones. I settled on one scoop of salted caramel and one scoop of honey lavender. The ice cream was soft and very creamy and the flavors were definitely there, but they actually may have been a bit too strong.

I had an amazing salted caramel ice cream from Jeni's in Columbus, Ohio and I don't think any

can compare to that. This salted caramel was way too salty. It lost almost all of the sweet flavor of the caramel and it was dominated by the salt. In fact, I had a hard time finishing it. The honey lavender on the other hand was much more balanced. I really loved the big lavender pieces throughout and the honey was just sweet enough.

The waffle cones were inconsistent because mine was way too soft and slightly stale. My friend's however was perfectly crisp and warm and delicious. I think I may have gotten an old batch.

I wanted to love Molly Moon's. All the components were there, but there were a few missteps and inconsistencies. Maybe we came on an off-day, I don't know, but I had the strange sensation of being both elated and disappointed with the experience.

Mallard on the other hand was close to perfection. It was the best of the three ice cream shops I visited on my trip. It's in the surprisingly hip but quaint town of Bellingham, which is just under 90 miles north of Seattle.

It's located on one of the main drags downtown and is opened later than I would have guessed. We arrived at about 10:30 and it wasn't too crowded, but a few groups of college kids lingered on the couches. I was amazed at how big the shop was. It definitely seemed like a local institution.

I was overwhelmed and excited by the board listing all the flavors. There was a great variety of unique wacky flavors and the old standards. I could tell that the young employees enjoyed working there and I felt this is exactly the kind of ice cream shop I would love to own one day. I was also impressed that the kid behind the counter didn't seem to mind when I asked for a taste of just about everything.

My first taste was their famous Vanilla Black Pepper and I was a bit underwhelmed. It didn't have much heat or surprise. But then I got into the good stuff. The coriander, on the other hand, had plenty of spice and flavor. The fresh plum was awesome with big pieces of sweet plums. Plum was my favorite fruit as a kid and I was never able to find pure plum flavor in any ice creams back then. Oh, if I only had Mallard!

The rose was also great with lots of sweet, floral flavors. I was convinced to taste the maple walnut (my Uncle's favorite), which was great and not too sweet. The lime ice cream was amazing - just the right amount of balance between sweet and tart. And the apricot black tea ice! I asked if the ice was like a sorbet and the answer was not quite. It was much more icy and less smooth than a sorbet. Very similar to the sorbets I make - I'm betting they don't use any corn syrup or egg whites to thicken it.

I had no idea what my next move should be. They were all so good. I finally decided on a cone of espresso coriander and fresh plum. They were both great. The ice cream was perfectly flavored and had a nice mouthfeel.

I was so impressed with Mallard. From the quality of the ice cream to the comfortable decor to the fun-spirited youthful employees, I felt very much at home here. I've had thoughts since I've returned of dropping everything in New York and going to get a job as a scooper at Mallard. I'd probably be their oldest employee!

Cool Moon Ice Cream

2009-08-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from an amazing trip across the Pacific Northwest. I had a wonderful time and fell in love with the genuinely friendly locals, the beautiful scenery, the fresh ingredients, and the relaxed lifestyle. All of that helped contribute to the style of ice cream.

My first ice cream experience on that side of the world was at Cool Moon Ice Cream in Portland, Oregon. I learned that Portland is pretty lacking when it comes to artisan ice cream shops. They seem over-run by chains and packaged ice creams. But this parlor opened a few years ago and appears to be doing pretty well for themselves.

Cool Moon is in the Pearl District, a very cute neighborhood of Portland located across from Jameson Square, which features a lovely fountain that kids can play in. I was lucky enough to go to Cool Moon with my friend Rachel and her adorable son Byron. It has been a while since I had ice cream with a little guy and it was refreshing and inspiring to see how excited Byron got. Although he was also pretty excited by his Transformer toys and at some point, that became

more important than the ice cream.

The flavors of ice cream were unique but not too out there. As usual, I tasted a few until deciding on another flavor completely. I tasted the cinnamon, which was quite strong. And their popular mint chip was thankfully not green, but I didn't get a strong fresh mint flavor. I'm guessing they use a mint extract. I also tasted kulfi, which is a traditional South Asian dessert. It was very unique with hints of pistachios, rosewater, and cardamom. It may have been a little to floral for my tastes, but I liked the strength in flavor.

I settled on one of their coffee ice creams that wasn't on the menu. I just noticed an unlabeled container and asked about it. And I almost always go for the coffee. I was surprised the flavor wasn't stronger based on the other flavors I tasted. It was more like a cappuccino flavor with just a few coffee notes and a lot of cream. It had a great mouth feel and the ice cream was very creamy.

I wish I could have tried more or returned for a second visit. Cool Moon has some strong ice cream, but nothing fully blew my mind. I think it's a consistent place in a great location. I imagine they get some good business and it seems like a relaxed and happy atmosphere, which is important when it comes to ice cream. And since they don't seem to have much competition, this is the place to go in Portland.

My Newest Project

2009-07-23T16:24:00.001-07:00

Those that know me well know that I love to tackle big projects. For instance, I'm currently watching all the Oscar nominated films. It's going to take me years to get through them all, but it's all about the journey and less about the finish line. I'm also going to all of Time Out New York's 100 Best Things to Eat and Drink. So I like going through lists and finding new things (whether it be an interesting dish or a great old movie).

So my newest project has to involve ice cream, of course. I discovered this pretty popular book called The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. And I decided to follow all of his recipes and make all the different ice creams, sorbets, toppings, etc. that are listed. For the last year or two, I have been creating my own recipes. And I think going through a professional's recipes will be a huge learning experience for me. There's different ways of making all sorts of flavors and I'll take what I like and what I don't like from his ideas and then eventually make them my own.

I also realize there's this movie coming out called Julie and Julia which is based on the true story of this woman who decided to cook all of Julia Childs' recipes in her New York apartment. And then of course she wrote a book and then it became a huge hit and now a movie starring Meryl Streep. Well, my idea is completely unrelated (just a coincidence) and I certainly don't expect Meryl Streep to play me in a movie one day. She's a really good actress, but not quite that good.

My Arch-Nemesis

2009-07-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

So when Keri and I were talking about starting an ice cream company last year, our most promising idea was an old fashioned ice cream truck. We had all these great ideas and were getting really excited about it. Then we discovered Ben Van Leeuwen on the internet. He basically had our concept, but was much further along and had proclaimed he would be taking over the world (not quite, but something close). He had plans for numerous ice cream trucks in the city, on the west coast, and packaged ice cream in Whole Foods.

Well, the summer is upon us once again and I've heard more and more about these new Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Trucks. I've even seen the product in Whole Foods as promised. Keri and I were quick to poo-poo him and his ice cream business. It seems the ice cream is made at a farm in upstate New York - cheating! And his ten flavors never change - boring! But he uses all natural and the freshest possible ingredients available. For instance, his hazelnuts all come from Piedmont, the vanilla comes from Papa New Guinea, and his coffee, of course, is Fair Trade Colombian. And his cups and spoons are all made from corn husks to help the environment and our health.

All of these promises are well and good, but does it matter if the ice cream itself isn't spectacular?

We found ourselves in Williamsburg for brunch the day after July Fourth. It was a beautiful day outside and we came upon this huge line outside a truck. It was the one and only, much derided Van Leeuween Ice Cream Truck. We had to finally try this for ourselves!!!

The line itself was ridiculously long and we watched him lose customers as the one employee could not keep up at a steady pace. But we persisted. The employee was very friendly and the truck itself is sleekly designed. The first taste I had was the one special flavor - Earl Gray. It was tasty. Lemony and light.

We decided on Strawberry and Coffee. I was a little disappointed to say that the ice cream was pretty good. The flavors were all there and they were fresh and the mouthfeel was soft and refreshing. I wanted to hate this so much, but the product was more than acceptable.

The one criticism I can point out is that the ice cream itself didn't have a whole lot of depth. The flavors were very on the surface and they were good. But I like to be surprised and hope the flavors will get deeper as I eat. They were definitely good, but not extraordinary.

Regardless, I reluctantly recommend waiting in line (if you have the time!) for the ice cream. Van Leeuwen beat us to it, but there's always room for more than one ice cream truck in this city. And ours would be completely different. So I've made peace with my arch-nemesis and realized this town just might be big enough for the both of us

Austin Adventures

2009-06-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

I found myself in Austin, Texas this past weekend. It was for a family get together, but as you all probably know, I can't travel anywhere for any reason without checking out the ice cream scene.

And I have to admit, there wasn't much of a scene. It seems that

Amy's Ice Cream, which is a small chain around the Austin (and now Houston and San Antonio) area, has the lock on the city's ice cream. In my search, I really couldn't even find any other pure ice cream shops. There are plenty of healthy yogurt type chains. And another popular thing in Austin are their snow cones or shaved ice or snow balls. It seems they go by a number of different names, but are essentially the same thing.

I was only able to sample one of these, but I drove by a number of stands touting Hawaiian Shaved Ice Cream or New Orleans Snow Cones. I can maybe understand the New Orleans influence, but the Hawaiian influence is a strange one for me. Maybe since Austin reminded me quite a bit of Los Angeles and that city has some proximity to the islands? Could that explain it?

Regardless, I ventured to Casey's New Orleans Snow Balls. It was certainly off the beaten path and you had to be looking for it. Judging by the crowd, people certainly know to look for it. The flavors were all over the place: traditional (cherry, coconut, chocolate), exotic (tamarind, hurricane, egg nog), and combinations (tiger's blood, strawberry banana). They also feature both regular flavors and cream flavors (boston cream pie, strawberry cheesecake). So right off the bat, the flavor options appealed to me.

But now what exactly was this stuff? Was it similar to Italian ice? I watched the guy make a few and I was a bit fascinated. He fills a paper cup with unflavored shaved ice and then uses a technique with a straw to poke a hole. Then out comes the syrups. For the cream ones, he usually uses a few different syrups to make the concoction. The Boston Cream Pie for example, was a Custard flavor, chocolate, and a bit of heavy cream. It tasted perfect. Pretty incredible.

They seem to make all their syrups from scratch and I'm gathering that they use real fruit or fruit extracts. The fruit flavors weren't quite as successful for me. The pineapple was a bit too sweet and the watermelon tasted slightly artificial. The biggest turn-off for me however was how much syrup he seemed to pour on each snow ball. It really became comical when he was still pouring it on. But later on, I realized that in order for it to bleed down into all the ice, he had to have a heavy hand. But I still think it went on a little too long.

So I ordered two junior sizes (which were only a dollar each and plenty of ice for me). I got the Cafe Au Lait. I'm a sucker for coffee flavor. It seemed like this was an easy flavor to perfect since it's

probably just cream and iced coffee. It worked and it was delicious. It was slightly rich and I couldn't finish all of it. But this was far better than any frappucino.

The second order was a fruit flavor. And I discovered he could put up to three flavors in one order. So I had pineapple and kiwi side by side. Like I had said already, the fruit flavors didn't work quite as well. I always find fruit syrups and extracts to be cheap versions of the real stuff. But they both did the job and they were refreshing and cooling on a hot Texas day.

I can definitely see the appeal to this stuff and I think Casey's does a good job, but I think I prefer more authentic flavors and less syrup.

Next on the agenda was Amy's Ice Cream. I went to the original location on Guadalupe near the University of Texas. This place is sort of like Cold Stone Creamery meets Ben and Jerry's. There is a very hip and eclectic vibe in the store and they do a similar technique to Cold Stone where they use a stone slab to mix in mix-in's.

They're most known for their Mexican Vanilla flavor so I had to taste that. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was a deeper vanilla flavor, but I didn't get any sort of spice. Maybe I needed more than a taste. It was good as far as vanilla goes, but I didn't get anything very unique. I also tasted the Shiner Bock (which is one of the local beers) and Brittany's Parade (which was Sweet Cream Ice Cream with frosted animal crackers mixed in).

The ice cream was good - very rich and creamy. The flavors for the most part stood out. I settled on a small cup of the Shiner and Coffee (I told you, I'm a sucker for the coffee). I wasn't crazy about their coffee flavor - it was a little too rich. But I liked that Shiner quite a bit. It was much softer (probably because of the alcohol) and had a sweet and slightly bitter beer taste.

Amy's is definitely the favorite in Austin (is there a choice, really?) and for good reason. It's funky enough but also caters to the conservative ice cream fans. And it seems to be a great place for families and college kids alike.

Cinnamon Cherry Ice Cream

2009-06-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me a recipe a few weeks ago from Oprah's website. It seemed interesting enough - Cinnamon Cherry Ice Cream. Not a combo I would immediately think of, but why not?

I was in Whole Foods and saw some great cherries, so decided to try out this recipe. My big purchase was Harvey's Bristol Cream. The recipe called for the cherries to be soaked in the sherry overnight. I let them sit in there a little longer because life sort of caught up with me. But I liked the strong flavor the sherry brought out in the cherries.

The rest of the recipe was a pretty obvious cinnamon ice cream. I had made one very similar a few weeks earlier. I steeped the cinnamon sticks in the cream mixture and it brings out a great flavor.

The cherries were added after I froze the ice cream. The flavors work a lot better than I would have though. However, my big problem is the size of the cherries. I halved them (as the recipe called for), but I think I would have cut them smaller. The big pieces are harder to eat because they're frozen and you're eating the ice cream and then have to deal with this cold hard cherry.

Another friend suggested a peanut butter ice cream with apple chunks. So when I finally do get to that, I'll make sure to cut the apple pieces smaller.

Procrastinator Extraordinaire!

2009-06-15T20:39:00.001-07:00

I seem to be the worst blogger around. Maybe it's because I haven't fully embraced the whole idea of writing about everything I do. I have yet to even look at that twitter website. It just strikes me as very self-indulgent and not too exciting. I was also never one to keep journals. In college, I would go back and write in my journal months after the events happened. Or I would fill in my planner after the week was out - just to document the happenings.

But I like this idea of writing about ice cream. It will keep me motivated (God knows I need it) and will document my progress. So I keep trying to kick myself to keep up with this blog. I realize since I really don't have any readers out there, there's not a whole lot of risk if I don't write for a month or so. it's all for myself at the moment. Maybe I need to send out some emails or post something on facebook and then the pressure will begin. So if you've somehow managed to get to this half-assed blog, welcome and I promise to write again soon.

My Newest Project

2009-05-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

Blue Marble

2009-05-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

I finally made it out to Brooklyn to one of the most popular new ice cream shops - Blue Marble. Blue Marble is co-owned by Jennifer Dundas, a well-respected theater actress in New York. They've had much success in the last year or two and have opened a second location in Prospect Heights. This sounded like the kind of ice cream shop I wanted to open. They are very concerned with the neighborhood and the environment and all their ingredients are fresh from the farm.

I was in the neighborhood so finally stopped by the newest location in Prospect Heights. It was almost dusk on a Saturday evening and the families were out for their ice cream. This shop is pretty tiny with not a whole lot of room to sit. But I did notice a back room for private parties for kids.

The flavors consisted of maybe 10 and weren't terribly exotic. There were a few interesting choices, but I decided to try the usual suspects. I tasted the mint chip, hoping it would taste of actual fresh mint. I was disappointed when it tasted more like a peppermint patty with some artificial mint flavors. Alright, that's a crowd pleaser anyway. Next I tried the rum raisin, again hoping for some strong real flavors. I got some sad raisins and a very strong rum extract taste. It didn't feel like there was actual alcohol in it at all.

I finally ordered and chose a cup of cafe au lait. I love coffee ice cream and think it's pretty much the perfect flavor. Coffee, sugar, and cream. What could be better?

The flavor was decent, but not as strong as I had hoped. But the weirdest thing was the texture. It reminded me of silly putty or taffy. I could pull it up with my spoon and it stretched. And I could literally chew the ice cream. I guess some people like this style of ice cream, but it was a turn-off for me.

I'm guessing that the problem is that the ice cream is over-churned. It's overworked and so much air is added that it eventually becomes flat. Companies add different amounts of what's called overrun to their ice cream. Overrun is the amount of air added to the cream mixture so that it whips up into what we recognize as ice cream. Breyer's, for instance, has 100% overrun which means that their ice cream is about half air.

The strange thing is that Blue Marble advertises low overrun. I don't know what to believe but the day I went, the ice cream wasn't pleasing to the mouth. And I really thought the flavors were inauthentic. But clearly I'm in the minority since this place has gotten so many accolades and high marks. Maybe somebody goofed that day and left the ice cream maker on a little too long. I'll have to give it a second try sometime this summer.

Donut Ice Creams

2009-04-15T22:32:00.001-07:00

I took a break from going to chick-a-licious this week and decided to finally try out the new Momofuko Milk Bar. Momofuko (for those of you who don't live in NY) is the newest restaurant empire in Gotham. David Chang owns four establishments with different concepts: Momofuko Noodle Bar (um, noodles), Momofuko Ssam Bar (sort of like Asian sandwiches), Momofuko Ko (that's the fancy, expensive one with online reservations that are almost impossible to score), and now the Bakery and Milk Bar. Chang has been embraced by critics and the public alike. So I was eager to try his newest concept.

One of the draws of the Milk Bar, besides the interesting and kitschy pies (like crack pie), is their soft serve ice cream. Since they opened, they had been touting the unusual flavors of cereal milk ice cream (you know that flavor after the cereal has been soaking in milk for a while?). As of a few weeks ago, the theme has changed and now all the ice creams are modeled after donuts - old fashioned, jelly, bavarian cream, chocolate donut, etc. Interesting idea.

I decided on the jelly and my friend got the old fashioned donut. And we added some interesting toppings - I got the coffee crumbles (coffee grounds and sugar). My jelly ice cream was surprisingly pretty cloying and almost inedible. I was expecting the whole experience of a jelly donut and I basically just got the filling. And I didn't find it to be exactly that either - it reminded me more of a very strong thick raspberry sorbet. It wasn't at all what I wanted. So I actually brought it back and asked for a different flavor. That's something I never do, but I was not going to be able to get through the cup.

I ended up with bavarian cream, which was easier to eat. But to be honest, it was nothing special. It tasted creamy and it was very rich, but I had a hard time signifying the donut flavor. I almost didn't finish this one either because it was so rich. I like my soft serve a little less heavy I guess. And if the flavor is going to be so unique and specific as a donut, I want to feel like I am eating a donut.

I guess the Milk Bar is primarily a take-out spot or a place to hang out while you're waiting to get in to the Ssam Bar (they two spaces are connected). The big flaw here is that there is no seating. There are just long bar areas where you are supposed to stand. I guess this conserved space and gave the place a hip setting, but I don't want to stand after a long day of working. I'd like to relax and take a load off, you know?

Overall, I was pretty disappointed. I would try another one of their kitschy, gimmicky ice cream ideas down the line - hoping that I'll be able to at least taste the gimmick. But for now, I will definitely be going back to chick-a-licious when I am in the East Village.

School for Ice Cream?

2009-01-30T22:51:00.000-08:00

Last week my friend and possible business partner, Keri travelled with me to Penn State to undergo two very intense days of ice cream lectures, presentations, labs, and many discussions. I'm not sure we knew exactly what to expect, but it was certainly different than we had anticipated.

The class began on Saturday morning at 8am. We were in a pretty small classroom in Penn State's new Food Science building. It was on the second floor of their famous Berkey Creamery, where some of the most famous ice cream in the country is sold. We were among about 70-80 students of all different ages from all over the world. When we introduced ourselves and told

our "ice cream dream", we discovered that most of the students were hoping to open up their own ice cream shop somewhere in middle America, many were already in the ice cream business (either from the small business angle or the bigger manufacturer side), and some just loved ice cream and wanted to learn more about it.

The lectures started pretty immediately. Dr. Phil Keeney gave us an introduction to Frozen Dessert Compositions. Dr. Keeney evidently is a legend at Penn State. A friend of mine who went to Penn State was pretty excited when I told him we met Dr. Keeney. He's been at the Food Science department for many years and a favorite flavor at the Cremery (Keeney Bean Chocolate) is named after him. He discussed the legal differences between ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, etc. In order for an ice cream to be considered ice cream it has to contain at least 10% butterfat. Then there is custard, which is richer and creamier and contains a minimum of 1.4% egg yolks. Many people call custard French ice cream and that is usually the kind of ice cream I try to make.

Then there is reduced fat, light, low fat, and non fat ice creams, which all have legal constraints that classify them as such. Sherbet can have between 1 and 2% butterfat, which means just a slight bit of dairy, but lots more sugar. And, of course, sorbet has no dairy.

I found Dr. Arun Kilara one of the most interesting speakers. He spoke the first day on ingredients of ice cream. So he spoke briefly on both dairy fat and msnf (milk solids not fat), which are anything found in milk that are NOT fat (for instance, protein). He also got into sweetners (sugars and the like), stabilizers, emulsifiers, flavors, and colors.

These last four ingredients are things that I didn't want to be in my ice cream. Stabilizers are ingredients that help keep ice cream together and bind water. They definitely give ice cream shape and texture, but I always related these to preservatives. While they do preserve the texture of the ice cream, they won't prevent bacteria from forming. And they are often from natural ingredients, but ugly sounding words, like guar gum and carrageenan.

Emulsifiers help disperse the fat in the water. These also help with a smoother texture of ice cream. These sound less natural, with names like poly this and mono glycol that. Granted, ice cream can be made without both stabilizers and emulsifiers (I do it all the time), but they certainly seem to add texture.

Keri and I sort of tuned out the next speaker - John Hinkle. He was a nice enough guy, but we really didn't like what he represented. He is the President of National Flavors and he really seemed to present the first of many infomercials we were to witness here at ice cream school. His company sells flavor extracts, which can be both natural and artificial. Keri and I agreed it is much more interesting and creative to be in charge of getting the flavors in the ice cream ourselves. We are also against any sort of manipulated and created flavors. We learned that some of these are just cooked down concentrated flavors of a fruit or spice or something. But when we looked at the sheet of flavor options - anything from green tea to cotton candy to lemon custard and so on - we were sort of disgusted. And to learn that most ice cream shops in America just buy these liquid flavors and add them to their mix!!

After lunch Dr. Bob Roberts (poor guy!) taught us about pasteurization and manufacturing a mix. I tried to pay attention but it got very technical and scientific and I sort of drifted off. It also seemed to involve huge pasteurization machines and manufacturing on a huge level. This is when I began to realize that we were not able to make our own mixes.

I have always bought pasteurized milk and pasteurized cream and added them together and then figured out how to incorporate the flavors. This was one of the most exciting and creative parts about making ice cream for me. Well, over the next few hours, we learned that legally if you want to sell the ice cream, the entire mix has to be pasteurized together (minus the flavor). This put a huge damper on all our ideas. I was even more saddened when I learned that these mixes come with sugar and stabilizers and everything already mixed in. So what if I wanted to make the ice cream with honey instead of sugar? Or brown sugar? Too bad. The sugar is already in the mix. I felt like this was very limiting and I saw my creative juices being sucked away.

Deborah Lee, the owner of a gelato shop in North Carolina, tried to get us all excited about gelato. Now, living in New York, gelato is something that I see every day. It seemed that this is a new exciting product for a lot of America. And Deborah said this was a great way to finally get creative (oh, now we're getting creative?) Gelato has no federal standards to say what it must or must not contain, but generally it has less air and less cream than regular ice cream. It's usually denser and smoother. Deborah said we can get creative in our presentation by adding fruit slices or pieces of candy. I think Keri and I are just snobs, but none of her gelato presentations looked very artistic to us. We would get an even closer look a bit later.

Next the class split up into three groups for labs. Our first lab was with Dr. Roberts and it was a history and tour of the Creamery. It was neat to learn the history of Penn State's dairy farm and ice cream shop. And the factory was pretty impressive. But this was such a huge operation that it didn't seem completely

relevant to what most of us wanted to do. Again, it got very scientific. What about just a big pot with some fresh fruit, sugar and cream? No, we got some huge pasteurization machines to do all that for us. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to taste their ice cream.

The next lab was with Deborah Lee and she demonstrated making gelato. She was making a "unique" flavor to show us how creative you can get with gelato. She made a grapefruit and thyme sorbetto. The texture was really smooth and refreshing, but the flavor was just awful. It was much too bitter and the thyme just didn't go well with the grapefruit. Not impressed, Deborah.

By the final lab, I was exhausted. But it was probably the most helpful of the bunch. It was with Dr. Kilara and it involved tasting many different types of ice creams. We tasted about eight different vanilla ice creams all with different characteristics. One had high

fat, one low fat, one had high overrun (overrun is the amount of air put into ice cream), low overrun, no stabilizers, etc. Then we had two chocolate ice creams - one with vanilla added and one without. I think this was to demonstrate the effect vanilla has on just about any flavor. It's really like the salt of the ice cream world - it brings out the other flavors.

After a while, all the different ice creams started to taste the same. I don't think I was quite prepared to taste all these. It's sort of like a wine tasting where you really have to be focused and not drink too much wine because they start to all taste the same after a while and you might just be a little tipsy. It was definitely a bit of ice cream overload. But it was an interesting and useful project.

That night they threw a very nice little reception for us. There were finger foods, free beer and wine, and the gelatos that were made with Deborah Lee earlier in the day. I don't think Keri nor I tried them. I'm not sure if it's because the last thing we wanted to do was eat more ice cream or if it was because we knew they weren't the best.

At the reception, we got a very interesting lecture from Steve Christensen. We actually met Steve on the shuttle from our hotel to the reception. He was a witty Australian guy who was the first to inform us about the legalities of not using your own mix. He was easy to talk to and seemed the least technical and scientific of the teachers. And we learned from him that pasteurizing machines are becoming illegal in the states of California and New York. Great.

He led a very interesting and funny lecture on opening an ice cream business. He made the talk very fun and I think everybody agreed he was the best of the presenters. He compared opening a shop to having a baby and divided the whole process into trimesters. He owns a slew of custard shops in Australia and teaches a hands-on class in St. Louis. He also has his own blog known as the ice cream bloke where he travels around the world on ice cream adventures. Sounds like this man has my dream job. Check him out: www.icecreambloke.com

The second day got off to an even more scientific start as Bob Roberts talked about freezing and hardening. The key to good ice cream is to freeze the mixture into billions of tiny little ice crystals. The bigger the ice crystals are, the grainer and less fun to eat ice cream gets. So we want more ice crystals that are smaller, as opposed to less ice crystals that are larger. Bob continued to talk about how this works scientifically. My mind doesn't exactly work in a scientific manner, so I was lost here at times and really just wanted to talk about how exciting it would be to make bacon ice cream or some such!

The next speaker was Ted Galloway, who is a representative from Classic Mix Partners in Wisconsin. He talked about Soft Serve and Custard products and gave himself a big plug for his pre-manufactured mixes. This is where were began to learn about ice cream machines and specifically soft serve. There are different machines for soft serve ice cream, which is constantly moving the mixture until it is ready to be dispensed. We saw examples of these machines later.

Dr. Kilara returned to talk to us about sherbet, water ice, and sorbets. Now people still buy a manufactured mix for these things, but there is no need for them to be pasteurized (except for sherbet which does contain a small amount of dairy). Honestly, I love sorbets and water ices. I think they're more fun in the mouth and a lot lighter than ice cream. I could eat those all day long. But the public wants creamy, smooth ice cream. I'd be happy sucking on a flavored ice cube all day. Isn't that terrible?

After that, Patti Kroening spoke to us on the importance of freezer sanitation. She spoke about how often you need to sanitize the machines and how to go about doing that. That will become incredibly important once I invest in a commercial machine and am selling my product to the world.

And the last lecture was Ted Galloway again who talked about the importance and process of choosing a mix manufacturer. This is still breaking my heart. I really didn't want to have to buy a mix from a manufacturer. It takes away a lot of the creativity and freedom of putting together a flavor. This lecture was mainly about the professionalism of dealing with your manufacturer and finding the one that is right for you. How do the other artisanal ice cream shops in New York get around this? Do they have connection with local farms? Do they ignore this law? Is there another loophole that we're missing? This is something we need to find out when we get back to the city.

After lunch, we had some more labs. This is really where it turned into a big infomercial for companies selling their products. It is definitely a great marketing tool and a way to find suppliers. Keri and I are not quite there yet, so it seemed a little late night infomercial to us.

First we got a demonstration of three different soft serve freezers. The actor in me was sort of more interested in the drama between the competing companies and their sleazy salesmen ways of trying to sell their freezers. We both agreed that we weren't really interested in soft serve. But I must say, trying the soft serve ice cream really brought me back to my childhood. Soft serve was always my favorite kind of ice cream - it was so cold and soft (who would have thought?) and it was fun to play with the swirls with my plastic spoon. There is definitely a soft spot in my heart for soft serve. But I don't think you can get as creative or find authentic unique flavors in it. And it often feels a little plastic-y to me - maybe it was those plastic spoons.

Then we had a big round of demonstrations of batch freezers. They all had many different features - some were self-cleaning, some had a timer to tell you when they were ready, some were better suited for custards, etc. One in particular really made us wonder. It seemed one machine had almost a built in pasteurizer on top where you would heat the mix and infuse flavors and then you moved it to the freezer section where you could freeze it. We were so confused. We thought this was illegal.

When we found two of the instructors and questioned them, they seemed to sort of avoid the question. They said some people do things differently. I'm not sure if they were saying that it was an illegal method and some people turned their ears. Or was it that this was a feasible way of doing things but the mix manufacturers don't really want us to do it that way? I'm still not completely sure.

We seemed to have gotten quite a bit of information from different sources at this ice cream convention. It did feel more like a convention and less like school, especially towards the end. I'd really like to find out what the true laws are and what is and what is not possible.

We definitely learned a lot and I think our eyes were opened a bit to the realities of opening an ice cream shop. I don't think all of these technical details were necessary, but it is certainly good to get a taste of it and start thinking about the whole thing in a different, more practical way.

But for now, I can't wait to get back to making my ice creams on my little Cuisinart that I bought at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And I don't have to use any liquid flavorings or manufactured mixes if I don't want to.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody! And when I say everybody, I mean all three of you who may be reading this blog at this point.

We had a Christmas party at work last year. And whenever there is a gathering or party, I immediately go into ice cream mode. Even if it is catered by Blue Smoke BBQ and I'd be competing with Shake Shack ice cream. I still made some ice cream.

Champagne sorbet was a no brainer. I've made it the last two years for New Year's and since I wasn't able to carry it with me to my 2009 destination, I decided to bring it in to the party. Even though I work at a nice restaurant with a great wine list, my champagne knowledge isn't the best. I didn't want to spend too much money on a bottle of champagne (or sparkling wine, to be technical) so I bought a bottle of Korbel, mainly because I saw them pour it a few weeks ago on Top Chef. It was between that and a bottle of cava, which I think might have been a better choice in the long run.

The Korbel wasn't as dry or bready as I would have liked. But I just added a little lemon juice and there's nothing better than frozen sparkling wine. It was refreshing and a little too easy to eat.

I also wanted to bring something festive and since this is a group that likes to drink, I thought about some alcohol ice creams. I made margarita a while back and wanted to maybe try that again.

The big problem, of course, is that alcohol doesn't freeze. You can get away with a small amount of alcohol in each quart, but you have to be very careful. What I've done in the past is boil the tequila to burn off most of the alcohol, but retain the flavor. And then I added a small amount more tequila later on.

I think all margaritas need salt, so I added a fair amount of kosher salt to the creme anglaise, which was perfect this time, by the way. I thought the flavor came out pretty well. It might be a little too light on the tequila, but again that will take more experimenting to get the right balance between a good texture and an alcohol taste.

There were a handful of people who really liked the ice cream, but the overall consensus was that it was too much lime or the cream aspect with the margarita flavor was strange. I still think it is a flavor that certain palates could go for and I think I'll continue to develop it.

The champagne sorbet went over huge, however. By the end of the night, at the after party, people were just chugging the melted down sorbet. If my ice cream can instill drunken debauchery and good times, then I think my work here is done.

Chik-a-licious is delicious

2008-12-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

My favorite dessert place in New York is Chikalicious, which is a cute little hip Japanese dessert bar in the East Village. Whenever a friend or relative is visiting and we find ourselves down there, we head over after dinner to try some fabulous unique creation. They offer a three course tasting menu for $12 - you get an amuse bouche, a main course, and some petit fours. The store is run by a very cute little Japanese woman named Chika, who invents all the desserts, and her husband Don, who deals with the front of the house.

My cousin and his girlfriend were in town tonight. Once she revealed her passion for ice cream and desserts, I couldn't resist taking them to my favorite spot.

Since this is an ice cream blog, I'm going to focus on their amazingly flavorful ice creams. Tonight we had a pear sorbet with our amuse bouche. It was like biting into the freshest most delicious frozen pear you've ever tasted. With our main dishes, we had an egg nog ice cream with the sweet potato brulee, a roasted banana ice cream with the banana trifle, and pink peppercorn ice cream with the famous chocolate tart.

The pink peppercorn is by far my favorite. It has a slightly spicy, slightly sweet quality. They go very well with citrus and I find them to be quite floral. Since discovering pink peppercorns at an old restaurant I worked at, I have loved them. Upon doing more research, I learned that pink peppercorns are actually a type of dried berry from the Baies rose plant. Their flavor is incredibly unique. I made my own pink peppercorn ice cream a year or so ago after being inspired by Chika. It's a flavor I would definitely like to re-visit soon.

The roasted banana ice cream had a deep banana flavor, but you could taste the warmth and heartiness to the fact that the bananas were roasted. It was a heavier flavor than your typical banana ice cream.

The egg nog ice cream was the one disappointment. I couldn't quite get a strong egg nog flavor. Granted, my experience with egg nog is the store bought pre-made stuff. But there wasn't enough nutmeg or spice or something. It was incredibly creamy, but not as strong in flavor as

I prefer my egg nog.

The exciting thing about chika's ice cream (besides the fact that they are incredible) is that she uses a little machine called a Pacojet. This is something I heard about for the first time

earlier this year. It almost looks like a coffee maker of sorts and what it does is basically purees and freezes anything. You add fresh fruit and a custard, for instance, and in a matter of minutes the machine chops it up, freezes, and whips it. And then you have the creamiest. intensely flavored ice cream imaginable. Or you can add parsley, water, and sugar and you have parsley sorbet.

It certainly opens up the lines for creative and bizarre ice cream flavors - both sweet and savory. And as much as I'd like to get my hands on one of these expensive machines, I almost feel like it's cheating. It takes away the exciting process of figuring out how to get the flavor into the ice cream. It does a lot of the work for you.

However, in a business sense, it does make things a lot easier and faster. I think I want to try one out for myself before I make a full judgement. And anything that allows you to make bizarre, unique ice cream flavors certainly piques my interest.

Gingerbread... and butterscotch??

2008-12-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe years ago for some delicious gingerbread butterscotch cookies. I've been making them ever since and they are always a buttery, rich hit at all Christmas parties. Well, the next logical step is to turn these cookies into ice cream...

I used most of the ingredients from the cookies except the butter and flour. I decided to mix the spices and the molasses with the eggs before adding it to my creme anglaise.

Now one of the biggest criticism I receive on my ice creams is that the texture turns out grainy or icy. I've thought about why this could be and it might be because I haven't been using enough eggs to give it that silky creamy quality. I tried using three eggs this time, as opposed to my usual one. Well, I either got too concerned with my candy thermometer or wasn't diligent enough with my stirring because the eggs started to cook. That hasn't happened to me in a while. I strained the mixture, but think I lost the possibility for that silky texture.

Sure enough, some people complained that it was too icy and that there were lots of little ice crystals. The other big complaint was the combination of the gingerbread and the butterscotch chips. Almost everybody agreed that the ice cream didn't need the butterscotch. I always thought it was a nice surprise sweetness in the cookies, but I guess it didn't work so well in the ice cream. Maybe a homemade butterscotch swirl would work a little better. Or maybe gingerbread has enough flavor on its own without complicating with the butterscotch.

One of my next projects will be to figure out why my ice creams usually end up grainy. I have to try to add more eggs without ruining the creme anglaise and also have to consider the possibility of my ice cream maker being the problem. My cheap cuisinart home ice cream maker can only go so far, I'm sure.

Heaven at last

2008-12-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking about starting this blog for some time. And now I find myself sitting here the day after Christmas pretty much wasting my day away and I thought "what a time to finally begin this thing!" So here it is... my first ever blog post.

This is a blog about ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt, gelato, sherbert, granitas, and any other frozen treat. Everybody loves frozen treats in some form or another. I always knew how much I loved ice cream, but it wasn't until the last two years or so that I really became obsessed. It all started with one fateful Thanksgiving when I decided to make ice creams from scratch. I soon realized I could make any flavor ice cream I wanted. That was the part that really turned me on. Some would turn out not so good (turkey), some were strangely delicious (grapefruit horseradish sorbet), and some were absolutely incredible (banana cream pie). I soon began putting all my creative energy into ice cream and am now currently in the very early stages of opening my own ice cream business.

But in the meantime, I will continue to create ice cream, seek out the best shops, and dream of one day finding ice cream heaven.