i scream

Actually my hips scream.

For a couple of years I have been coveting the ice cream attachment by Kitchen Aid. But I found it difficult to find in Canada and every time I went to the US I forgot about it. But this year on our way back from our holiday I finally bought my ice cream maker. I knew it was a mistake to stop at Williams-Sonoma (WS) on our way back from Boston. But we were hungry by the time we hit Burlington, VT and we had to eat lunch, and I knew there was a WS there. And I knew they carried the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment I've been coveting. And I knew I would buy it and I did.

I'm addicted.

Last summer some friends bought ice cream makers, but after the initial thrill wore off they put them away in the cupboard. They said that it made such a small amount of ice cream for so much work. And it is expensive.

I don't find that at all. Well, the expensive part yes. If you use the best ingredients you can find, it can be quite expensive. And I've been trying to use only organic ingredients (when a bottle of cream hits $7.00 it's starting to get a little expensive). But the taste is so worth it. My KA makes 2 quarts instead of the typical 1 so it makes a decent amount of ice cream. And so far I am making flavors that are difficult to find here.

I started off with organic lemon ice cream. It lasted about an hour. Really it was amazing. Then I made orange creamsicle ice cream. Amazing. Then the boys insisted I make 2 more batches of lemon. I should also say that I bought a Microplane zester and I don't know how I ever zested a lemon or an orange before. It doubles the amount of zest you get off of a piece of fruit. I also made mango sorbet. While it was delicious, it was a little gritty. I think the next time I will strain the mango.

I also bought The Perfect Scoop, which is the ice cream bible. It reads like a novel (or at least it does for someone obsessed with ice cream). The only disappointment so far was the roasted banana recipe. And I knew that it would be from the outset. I knew that we wouldn't like the flavor imparted by roasting the bananas. But I won't give up. I have searched for other banana recipes that I am going to try.

First thing though I am off to the Atwater Market to find some good quality chocolate because today I try my hand at making chocolate ice cream. I'm a little nervous. So far everything has been fruit based and not custard based.I think it will work out if I take my time.

Next up is to try out my new martini shaker.

Shel on a cow in Burlington.