mango sorbet

strawberry ice cream & sorbet

• 2 cups strawberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• splash of lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup heavy cream (only if ice cream)

cut up strawberries. 

add sugar, lemon juice, and salt.

let marinate for an hour.

blend it up.

if it's ice cream add the heavy cream. 

otherwise, put that sucker in the ice cream maker and be done with it.

it's that easy.

so it is finally berry season. 

thank the lord. 

and since last weekend i made rhubarb sorbet, 

i decided this weekend should be strawberry.

cause strawberries and rhubarb are rockstar partners.

but then i couldn't decide if i should make sorbet or ice cream. 

so i decided to make both. 

i mean i did have 3 pounds of strawberries that needed to be eaten.

so why not?

i may have to give some of this stuff away though;

i currently have 8 flavors of ice cream in my freezer. 

disaster. 

a delicious disaster.

also, i am happy to report

that the weather is starting to be awesome.

it's not up to the 90s yet.

but it will be soon.

and those days will be glorious.

but i have begun operation "no pants"

(dresses or skirts only.

amazing awesome.)

and i added some new dresses and skirts to my arsenal.

so i am ready.

sweltering heat,

bring it on.

bring

it

on

borůvkové knedlíky

blueberry dumplings.

babi is famous for these,

and when we went to visit

it was a requirement that they be made. 

so obviously i wanted to help. 

cause who doesn't love blueberry dumplings?

and learning how to make them from a real live babi was a must.

first, 

i needed to put on booties and an apron. 

(homemade booties -- adorable.)

the set up. 

stir it up.

blueberries and apricots.

have to stir up the batter and get it ready for rising.

 the batter is rising.

 

but we need to celebrate the completion of the first part of the recipe.

with a shot of white wine.

at 8 am.

(better than slivovice -- yikes.)

 

after the batter has risen, 

you make it into little balls.

which you then flatten.

so you can add your fillings.

once the filling is in the pancakes,

you have to turn it back into a ball,

or a dumpling, 

if you will.

but you have to pinch it really hard 

to make sure there are no leaks while it is boiling.

 

boiling the dumplings.

make sure that the pinched side goes up

(it is supposed to help with the non-leaking)

wait 11 minutes.

and remove.

but first poke some small holes in the top of the dumplings.

babi and her dumplings.

to eat dumplings the czech way

one must pour hot butter on top,

cover it with powdered sugar,

and give it a light sprinkle of cinnamon.

blueberry.

and apricot.

rockstar.

borůvek a meruňkové knedlíky 

blueberry and apricot dumplings

blackberry lime ice cream

• 2 cups blackberries
• 1 tbsp lime juice - maybe more. taste it. do what feels right.
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1.5 cups heavy cream

mix blackberries, lime juice, sugar, and salt in pot.

boil.

mash the berries.

simmer. 

only about 5 minutes.

add milk.

puree.

stir in heavy cream.

put through a sieve.

chill.

rock that ice cream maker.

freeze.

eat.










again,
i didn't make this this season.
it's still too early for that. 
boo.



but enjoy nonetheless.

associated, say what?

so i was just stopping in to get more sugar. 

(i have big plans to make some strawberry ice cream 

with the first strawberries of the season. 

hence the need for more sugar.)

and i was walking around my grocery store.

(not the white people grocery store, 

the associated.)

and i found all sorts of creepy cool things. 

tres leches cake.

jicama.

persimmon.

tamarind juice.

sugar cane juice.

um, 

yes please.

i used to see the tres leches cake there all the time,

and i was always hesitant.

because i know that it can never live up.

 two years ago i had the most amazing tres leches cake ever.

nutmeg tres leches cake from red cat.

to die for.

but i recently i have been living wildly. 

trying new things.

spending money. 

going crazy. 

so i figured, what the h?

and it's not bad.

it's no red cat, 

but it gets the job done.

jicama. 

apparently i recently had this in a salad 

and i thought it was to die for. 

so i'm all about that. 

and looking at a how to website,

it looks crazy easy to make. 

done and done.

and persimmon i've seen at the associated before,

but i've always been like, 

whatever, 

it's the associated,

and i have dismissed it.

well, no longer.

(and apparently it is supposed to make good sorbet,

so maybe that will be happening in the near future.)

and the juices were just too weird. 

it had to be done. 

recently i've been consuming a lot of tamarind margaritas.

a lot. 

and i love tamarind.

it is creepy and crazy. 

and i don't understand the thing at all. 

but i am loving it, 

100 percentage points.

rhubarb sorbet

• 1 pound rhubarb
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

mix water, sugar, lemon juice. 

heat and dissolve sugar.

add chopped rhubarb.

simmer for 10 minutes, 

until rhubarb is tender. 

add corn syrup.

puree. 

chill. 

chuck it in the ice cream maker.

freeze.

i went to the farmers market a couple of weeks ago,

and while there i texted av 

to tell her the market was almost at its summer time peak.

her first question back,

"is there any rhubarb?"

there wasn't any then. 

but last weekend when i went back.

there was.

so i got some. 

cause strawberry rhubarb is one of my favorite pie flavors.

and while there are no strawberries yet,

rhubarb sorbet sounded pretty bangin'.

so rhubarb sorbet it is.

delicious.

ps. totally had some helpers on this one.

 

 

(doesn't she look like such a fat girl? ridiculous.)



pps. totally stole this recipe: check it

lilacs and sunflowers

cause my boo likes me.

the CDC is worried about zombies too

so jb and i continually talk about the zombie apocolypse. 

cause it's coming. 

and we will be ready. 

although he has said that he will abandon me at the first opportunity.

he is somehow convinced he could survive without me.

fat chance.

so imagine my intense happiness 

at seeing the CDC taking the zombie situation seriously.

check it

so they have a list of things you must have to survive, 

and obviously all of these things are on my birthday list.

so now that the government has admitted that this is going to happen, 

it is time to get prepared. 

immediately. 

passion fruit

the most delicious of the creepy fruit.
and actually, it's not too creepy anyways.



but once it is actually ripe,
(it looks super wrinkled)
it is definitely creepier.

ugli fruit!

it just tastes like a tangerine.

ish. 

also,
stellar name.
stellar.

lotus root

i don't know,
 i don't really have anything to say about this thing.

it was near the other creepy fruit
and i thought,
what the heck?
i'll try it.

so i get home,
look up how one is supposed to eat it,
and realize that it is creepier than i ever could have imagined.

 but the website i found said
you peel it,
slice it,
and boil it in vinegary water for about 5 minutes.

 

so that's what i did.

and it's pretty good.

it kind of has the flavoring of hearts of palm

but the texture of bamboo shoots. 

it's good though.

if i didn't have such a small sampling,

(and if half of my sample wasn't moldy. boo)

i would have saved it for dinner
and put it in a stir fry type thing.

but as it is,
it is a nice little snack.

even if it is totally creepy.

we are the union...

the mighty, mighty union!!

may12th--

UFT rally. 

we,

and about 10,000 other people, 

were protesting Mayor Bloomberg's proposed teacher layoffs.

and we had a rockin' good time.

somehow we ended up carrying this huge banner.

there were some amazing signs:

fire teachers, students get burned

(on the back of a little girl)

don't balance the budget on my back!

we are all wisconsin

this is what democracy looks like

(on the UFT t-shirts)

"the education mayor." really?

this is me attempting to hold the banner, 

while the wind was blowing hard core. 

i may have almost sailed away. 

look at all those people!

(this line went on for blocks!)

and there were some amazing chants.

my favorite, even though i had a hard time saying it, was:

el pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido
(the people, united, will never be defeated)

 

AEL's protesters!