ice cream part two more chickens

since the first round of delicious ice cream experiments, we've made a basil and mint, with the former from mom's window and the latter from cj's roof. it was divine, albeit slightly eggy. (we used 8 yolks. like crazy people.) also worthy of mention: we didn't use any kind of mint oil in this one, just the leaves, and the basil flavor came through a lot more strongly than the mint.

dark and stormy: cubed candied ginger, chopped into even smaller pieces and soaked overnight in gosling's black seal dark rum. the batter was made with a big chunk of fresh ginger, smashed (next time i think we'll cut it up) and a couple tablespoons of lime zest. we tossed the rum-soaked candied ginger into the batter at the tail-end of the conversion process (two minutes before the mixing was done). the result was beautiful. just enough rum flavor in the ginger, and the little flecks of lime zest made it look pretty.

we also made mint cookie, using the peppermint oil again and crumbling up some hint o' mint newman o's to stir in at the last minute. omfg. best one yet?

somehow, i've only put on about 5 pounds. we're going to have to start making sorbet.

. . . .

here are a couple of new tiny chickens. perhaps handlebars will trade me one for a print..?

cock, acrylic on canvas. 6" x 6"


hen, acrylic on canvas. 4" x 6"

food that comes with a warning label? yes, please.

today i had lunch in curry hill with cj; shopping for spices afterward we happened upon a pepper we couldn't resist.

to put things in perspective, a habañero pepper has a rating of about 300,000 scoville units. according to one source, US grade pepper spray weighs in at 2 million scoville units. so the "ghost chile" is about three times as hot as a habañero, and half as hot as... pepper spray.

cj also talked me into buying something called s'chug. oh my, is it good. also spicy. but not bhut jolokia spicy.

(i'm a little scared, actually. but in a good way.)

preliminary ice cream trials

as a birthday present, i got daisy the ice cream maker for the kitchen aid mixer. (it's the gift that keeps on giving.) the contraption consists of a bowl and a dasher that attach to the mixer. before use, the bowl has to be chilled in the freezer for at least 15 hours, but then it can just live in the freezer, ready to mix up tasty frozen treats at the slightest provocation. aww yeah.

turns out it is dangerously easy to make ice cream. in general, one just scalds the milk and cream, adding whatever flavor one desires, and mixes the egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl. next, temper the egg mixture with a bit of the scalded milk; heat and mix the batter gently until it coats the back of a spoon, and then pour the whole mess into the bowl on the mixer. set that baby to stir for 20 to 30 minutes, and if you're adding chips or nuts or anything crunchy or solid, do it at the last minute. this step is called conversion, after which you will have a creamy mixture similar to soft-serve ice cream. transfer this deliciousness into container(s) and stick it in the freezer overnight. this second step is known as ripening, and produces the hard, scoop-able kind of ice cream that comes in a pricey pint.

details of the first couple experiments follow.

we started simply with plain vanilla. we went all out on quality, though, with organic heavy cream and 2% milk from meadowbrook dairy, eggs from the CSA and a vanilla pod all the way from tahiti (well, i bought it on 29th and lex). we used 5 yolks, twice as much cream as milk (3 cups total), and ¾ cup of sugar. we also added a teaspoon of vanilla extract (which we later concluded was gratuitous).

the texture was awesome: super creamy and rich. it was just a tad too sweet for our tastes but on the whole, a raging success, particularly when paired with tiny sweet strawberries from the greenmarket and yellow plums from the CSA.

next: mint chocolate chip. we used valhrona 60% cacao — the little oval pellets, chopped — and peppermint oil. this time we used equal parts 2% milk and heavy cream, and eased up on the sugar (½ cup). we did not use green food coloring. the texture was lighter, and the sweetness mellower. i think the recipe would be improved with the addition of mint leaves, finely chopped or ground, for color and extra minty freshness.

who knows what the future will bring? a few of our ideas for the coming weeks: curry, rum raisin (with gosling's perhaps? maybe even a dark and stormy flavor, with fresh ginger and lime zest?) and something with tea... earl grey? chai? our next batch is going to be gelato (no cream, just milk and eggs), and naturally we'll dabble in some dairy-free and vegan options as well, including sorbet (basil? tomato? perhaps we'll try to recreate morimoto's wasabi yuzu concoction...?)

now then, the recipes....

vanilla (bean):

1 cup 2% milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
5 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
(tahitian) vanilla bean
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla (optional)


mint chocolate chip:

1 ½ cups 2% milk
1 ½ cups heavy cream
5 egg yolks (all from CSA eggs)
½ cup 60% dark chocolate pellet things (or any chocolate), chopped
1 ½(ish) tsp peppermint oil
pinch salt

tiny portraits (protein)

acrylic on canvas. each 4" x 6" (or 6" x 4").

event horizon

next time you're in or around madison square park, look up. british sculptor antony gormley has installed 31 identical, (methinks slightly larger than) life-sized sculptures on the ground and on various buildings in the area. once you start looking, they jump out at you from everywhere, peeking out at every plane and looking different from each angle. they are reassuring, watching over us from above. or, they are creepy, looking at first glance like monochrome metal men about to end it all.

most likely, i wouldn't have noticed these guys had someone not told me about them... after years of living here, it's hard not to block out most stimuli occurring that far above eye level. but every so often i'm reminded to pay attention, and it's usually worth the extra effort.

(check them out until august 15.)

rainy sundae.

walking down broadway in the pouring rain, i pass a woman eating ice cream out of a cup with a spoon. she's not walking fast, despite getting soaked. that kind of sucks, i think, to not have an umbrella in this weather.

as i wait for the light to cross 19th street she catches up with me, and as she scoops up the last spoonful and tosses the cup in the trash, i notice the umbrella under her arm. i realize that she had it all along, but had made a conscious decision to forgo staying dry in favor of a frozen treat on this dreary day, since after all a body only has so many hands.

we should all make more choices like that.

everything looks better in black and white.

only two more days to see tim burton at the MoMA. the busy, cluttered exhibit made me feel like i was getting a peek inside his head, although not everyone found it as fabulous as i did.

when i was there the other day it seemed to me that more people than usual were wearing black and white stripes.

if the crowds seem too daunting, head upstairs for a gander at the photography of henri cartier-bresson... stunning, poignant images from a long and well-traveled career, on view until june 28.

un bel di, vedremo...

last week mom and i treated ourselves to an evening at the metropolitan opera... and then another at city opera.

...ah, tosca, where have you been all my life? admittedly, my addiction to opera is relatively new, but what a breath of fresh air that this title diva stabs a truly unpalatable villain before she watches her lover be executed by a firing squad and the police come to arrest her for murdering their boss. it's rather more exciting than if she had been ill and frail for three acts and then died in her bed, after somehow filling a cavernous concert hall with her voice from a supine position. and... curtain.

our puccini crawl continued two nights later at city opera with madama butterfly. after a couple of seasons at the met, city opera does seem a bit low rent, but not because of the performance. (it's more about the fact that they apparently just let people wander in whenever they want during the act, instead of exiling stragglers to the little plush dungeon with the tv monitor, which is how it should be.)

[side rant: what is up with all the clapping? when did it become normal to applaud after every solo in every act throughout the entire production? and curtain calls at each intermission? between all the applause during the acts &mdash which i believe greatly interferes with the flow of the music &mdash and the long intermissions at the met &mdash probably due to their high-tech mechanical set change equipment, new as of 2008 &mdash an evening at the opera can easily be a four-hour affair, perhaps more if wagner is involved. couldn't we just applaud at the END of the acts? didn't that used to be the protocol? these incredibly talented performers have just sung for an audience of 3800, each of whom paid top dollar to enjoy a production at the world's greatest opera house. does a diva really need MORE validation than that?]

i'll refrain from any attempt to describe the music. puccini's compositions are cerebral, yet emotional; complex but accessible. (ok so i tried to describe. oops.) the best singers in the world want to sing at the met, and city opera certainly has no small talent pool from which to select. and the wow factor doesn't stop at the singers: the sets of both shows are incredible, not to mention the costumes (the playful red ships suspended from above, the array of kimono colors in city opera's butterfly! and the severe tableaux and matrix-esque trench coats on the cops in the met's production of tosca)...

my uncle thinks the opera is slowly dying as an art form, but i hopefully disagree. i've seen plenty of young 'uns at lincoln center, particularly at city opera, which has a decidedly edgier, more modern bent. sure, it's not for everyone: the music requires an attention span, and you can't exactly tap your foot to the beat throughout the show. but if you're at all intrigued by the genre, puccini is a good way to test the waters for yourself. while he didn't write three-minute pop ditties, good ole giacomo will find a way to get stuck in your head. you may even recognize a tune or two.

and truth be told, it's an excuse to get dolled up. there just aren't that many occasions for most of us to don our classiest evening wear; your vintage mink stole and floor length black velvet gown will look right at home here. nothing says "i heart NY" like sipping champagne on the balcony at intermission in your fanciest dress. for the price of approximately six trite blockbuster movies (and up), you can dabble in luxury, and listen to beautifully complex music that has stood the test of time. but for the love of b.f. pinkerton, don't forget to turn off your cell phone during the performance.

crocus pocus; or, some thoughts on civic duty.

tomorrow is the first day of spring! needless to say the high line was in bloom yesterday, full of people enjoying the rays. yellow, pink and purple crocuses have been making their tentative appearances this week, cautiously spreading out amongst the dry wild grasses that flank the long elevated park.

such a beautiful weekend almost makes me forget that i have grand jury duty two mornings a week from now until SEPTEMBER.

also on our collective national plate in the upcoming weeks are income tax returns, and [drum roll] the united states census of 2010. with the latter comes confusion about how to answer the two race/ethnicity questions. if you are of spanish or latin american descent, you may have to think about this one a little. one might even go so far as to ask, why should i even answer those questions? the census is supposed to be a head count, right...?

one thing is for sure though, don't let the lovely season distract you from actually filling out and sending in the bloody thing. if they don't count your head, your neighborhood won't get the money. it's all well and good to speculate and theorize and of course, to gripe, but the very idea of boycotting the census is just idiotic. just check the dang boxes and make sure you fold it right when you put it in the return envelope. they've even included the postage! that was big of them, no?

now then. get thee to the park!

i swear i'm not a NASCAR fan. really.

carl edwards has been placed on probation for three races after "intentionally wrecking" brad keselowski, whose vehicle flipped precariously and somehow miraculously landed right-side-up with no resulting explosions. i admit complete ignorance on the subject of car racing, but it looks to me like sheer luck that keselowski wasn't severely injured or killed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_4I12wwBIE

so edwards deliberately runs into another car, and he still gets to race and everything, he's just under a little extra scrutiny. for three measly races. for hitting another guy. on purpose.

one wonders, if this wasn't a so-called sport, would carl edwards be under arrest? i mean, this is a little more severe than one guy tripping another on a basketball court. where's the line between intentional wreck and attempted murder? or vehicular manslaughter? wait, i guess keselowski would have had to actually die for that one to be applicable, eh? right.

i could rant all day about skewed justice, but spring is tantalizing me with this beautiful sunny afternoon (not to mention the impending clock-changing ritual this weekend) so into the streets i go. i just have to remember not to piss off any "professional" drivers.