dear friends

We just got an icecream maker from a friend who was moving. Expect the occasional weird ice cream recipe / experiment in the coming months. I'm continuing my seasonal eating to get all my research done before I write the book, so they should be really weird on occasion. But when they happen depends entirely on when I have decent days off and how well I manage to get myself organized again.

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Orange-chocolate

Lemon

Lemon-lavender

Rose petal

Thai Tea

Violet

Caramelized white-chocolate

Green tea

Green-tea and rose

Persimmon

Apple pie

... I don't even know what all. I made a list of fudges I'd like to try once, and I think most of those flavors would do well for ice cream, too, but I can't find the scrap of register paper I had it all written on just now. I'm sure it's in one of the five or so catch-all boxes around my space...

Love,

Me

Pumpkin Cheesecake Icecream

by Ben & Jerry's
There was only one little tub left last night when we went grocery shopping, and I grabbed it without a second thought. I had it for breakfast like all good single post-college girls do, and it was pretty amazing. Thick and creamy like I've come to expect from Ben & Jerry's, smooth and perfectly balanced-- it tastes like pumpkin without tasting like a vegetable, it tastes like nutmeg without tasting like only nutmeg, it tastes like cheesecake without tasting like cream cheese like so many icecreams with that word in the title do. The gramcracker swirl is sweet and crispy, and I'm still amazed at how well Ben & Jerry's uses black magic to keep their pastry-type swirls from getting soggy.

It's limited edition, as all seasonal things must be, but it's a good one. It'll go down next to the Festivus Icecream in the History of Food I've Loved.