space ice cream

space ice cream ---

the whole concept is creepy.

it's freeze dried.

and awesome on space travel

(i would imagine)

and hiking

(as evidenced by it being sold in a million different camping stores)

but it's still weird. 

i mean, 

it is ice cream,

sans water.

there are tons of flavors too.

neopolitan.

ice cream sandwich.

mint chocolate chip.

chocolate chip.

all i know is,

the stuff is rockstar. 

super, super rockstar.

and when tw asked me what i wanted for jesus' birthday,

i said space ice cream. 

"seriously?"

"yeah, the stuff's rockstar."

"um, ok. how much? i can get you a whole case, i guess."

"don't play with my emotions. that would be crazy awesome."

"seriously? i really will."

"do it. i would love it."

so what'd i get?

a smattering of space ice cream.
7 neoplitans
and 2 mint chocolate chip. 

rockstar.

don't you just love when you get exactly what you wanted?

even if the present is totally ridiculous?

i do. 

for sure.

i'm super excited about this.

necco

new england confectionery company

makes wafers and sweethearts. 

and every february,

even though i despise valentine's day,

(hello hallmark, it's nice to meet you. vomit.)

i always haul my cookies down to the nearest drug store 

and pick up bags and bags of necco sweethearts. 

 

i love necco sweethearts.

but, 

necco has decided, 

after 100 years or so, 

that they should change the super delicious awesome sweetheart recipe.

lame.

now the sweethearts are brighter, 

and have lamer flavors.

(who wants strawberry, grape, green apple, lemon, orange or blue raspberry, 

when they could have cherry, banana, orange, lemon, grape and wintergreen? 

those flavors are so much cooler.)

and they have all sorts of new gimmicks:

twilight sweethearts.

(gross)

tart sweethearts.

chocolate sweethearts.

sparkly sweethearts.

but these new sweethearts suck.

big time. 

i mean you open the bag and they smell.

bad.

and the flavors suck.

a lot. 

i miss the old necco sweethearts. 

so much so that i have been looking at the necco website,

and the necco store website,

and sending not so cryptic emails 

about how upset i am about the new sweethearts,

and how i want large amounts of necco wafers to ease the pain. 

less than a week later, 

and this was sitting on my desk.

thanks jb. 

you are a rockstar.

and it will take me 75 years to eat these all.

awesome.

caramel hot chocolate

if you live any where on this planet

you must know by now that it has been a crazy stupid winter this year.

i mean,

new york has gotten something like 50+".

what?!?!?!?!?

ridiculous.

it is the beginning of february,

for god's sake.

how are we supposed to survive this?

how does mother nature think i am going to get through this?

i can't handle it.

there is a long road ahead before the warm summertime happiness is upon us.

and i am not pleased.

in fact,

i have been mentally packing for my summer vacation already.

but thinking about fun in the sun can only go so far.

enter city bakery and their annual hot chocolate festival.

rockstar.

and their pretzel croissant is supposed to be bang-a-rang.

(dolcetto's review and drooling can convince almost anyone, i'm sure.)

so i went with ap and got the caramel hot chocolate.

in a tiny shot cup.

adorable.

except that a tiny shot costs an astronomical $3.25.

???!?!?!??!

i am baffled and appalled.

(and it wasn't even that caramelly,

bummer city.)

but

the pretzel croissant was,

as promised,

a rockstar.

check out the calendar--

there are many other delicious flavors to try.

i'll be back on the 13th.

cause i am incapable of passing up spicy hot chocolate.

cause,

duh,

it's (normally) awesome.

basil ice cream

• 2 cup whole milk
• 3 tbsp basil - chopped. and fresh. duh.
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

put milk, basil, half of the sugar, and a pinch of salt in a pot. 

boil it.

take it off the heat.

let steep for 30 minutes.

blend it -- i use an immersion blender for this.

mix egg yolks and other half of the sugar.

add basil milk mixture in a stream.

cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly. 

pull it off when it reaches 175 degrees. 

(good idea to have a thermometer for this part.)

put mixture through a sieve. 

put bowl in fridge. 

(you can also put the small bowl filled with the basil milky egg mixture 

into a larger bowl that is filled with ice water 

that way the whole she-bang cools down faster.)

once cold, mix in cream. 

throw that puppy into the ice cream maker. 

freeze.

eat. 

delicious times a million. 

ps. this can totally be halved. 

cause this recipe makes a ton. 

and as a rule i try not to make too too much or else i can never try new flavors. 

although, for this ice cream i always make an exception. 

this stuff is super rockstar. 

i mean, super super rockstar.






pps. i wish i was making this right now,
unfortunately i am not.
(basil is not really in season now.)
lame.
but it is such a happy summer time thing
that i thought it would help me deal with the winter time heinousness.

orange juice sorbet

• juice oranges

juice those oranges. 

as many as you want.

obviously, 

the more oranges,

the more juice, 

the more ice cream.

put juice in ice cream maker. 

turn that puppy on.

freeze juicey sorbet mix. 

eat. 

this is a totally lame post. 

but the ice cream is not.

crap.
not ice cream.
sorbet.

when will i learn?