Darienne

EmilyR, your cake looks inviting and delicious. This afternoon I made David Lebovitz's Chocolate Idiot Cake...the name appealed to me. Well, it is supposed to be idiot-proof. They figured without me. I was very careful. Read the recipe out loud to myself. Then put the oven on to the wrong temperature. I don't know why. Had to bake the cake an extra half hour for that stupid mistake, but the cake still turned out beautifully. So rich and delicious. My GourdPatch group tomorrow will enjoy it. Give 'em chocolate to keep 'em happy and this cake has 10 oz of bittersweet chocolate in it. What's not to be happy about?

Now those are the star fruit, the lovely shape. I've had only one and found it basically tasteless. That was in Moab UT. Do they taste really good in their native homes?

Hijack away. It's all grist to the mill. And I have eaten said wizened and squishy Tamarillos this past winter, bought from Peterpatch's Super Store (aka Loblaws). Anything you can add to the mix is most welcome. Thanks PanCan (sorry about that one ).

The all-in-one-piece Trudeau spatula9", 4 of the regular yellow ones and one of the teal spoon ones. Love them!

That would be lovely. I haven't seen seeds here...which is not to say that they don't exist. Richter's sells only the plants and right now (today) the staff person said the place was a mess from shipping and she didn't know if they had any. Plus the Mexican Oregano will not be ready for two weeks at least. And I have this lovely south-facing window in my studio in which I have grown many things before (in my own inept fashion...I am NOT a gardener...but I do have a growing Calamansi tree now). I don't know about mailing seeds...the legality of it all. ??? But thanks.

Made some Tomatillo and Lime Jamfrom Pati's Mexican Table. Very delicious. I did not have any fresh tomatillos so used the same weight from the freezer where I had simply bagged the whole fresh tomatillos from a couple of months ago. (We cannot buy tomatillos where I live and it is only very recently that we have been able to buy poblanos [with fear that they will suddenly disappear.)

DH was buying coffee filters the other day and noticed that there is now a Melitta brand made of bamboo paper which purports to allow more the the "real coffee flavor" to come through. I am not knowledgeable about coffee in the least except I know what I life which is dark and strong. Very strong. However, my esophagus and stomach doesn't like dark and strong which is why I now use paper filters...to filter out the best part of the coffee, the oils. Push-me/pull-you but it's the best I can do. So what is it that these new bamboo filters do? Allow more coffee oils through? What other way could they allow more taste to come through? Anyone try them? Thanks.

I see stretching out before me a long life of making ice creams and frozen desserts...

Busy, busy. Made Fany Gerson's Helado de Aguacate. Different for sure. Ed ate his topped with salted peanuts and maple syrup. I did like it. And then the Helado de Queso. And I did swirl some Dulce de Leche (shame! shame! Condensed milk in glass pan covered with foil in a bain marie baked in the oven for two hours.) Gerson says: "The light granular texture of this tasty ice cream is what makes me love it so much". Hmmm. Well, Ed liked it very much, but I found the granular taste off-putting. Not going to be one of my favorites. Interesting tho... Next in line: Helado de Elote, Raspado de Margarita and Paletas de Mango Enchilada. Wot larks!

Googled Arequipe. Learn something new every day. Found some recipes which don't take 10 hours. and I LOVE the idea of using Panela. I didn't even know about it when I made mine from scratch, but once I tasted it, I was hooked for life.

Well, I've been busy making ice cream as usual, making up for a long life bereft of ice cream. Besides making the usual DL The Perfect Scoop recipes, I also made his Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream, using as many Mexican ingredients as I could including Panela for sugar and Tequila for Whiskey. I've made several ice creams from Fany Gerson, My Sweet Mexico, and loved each one: Helado de Aguacate (Avocado), Helado de Pasitas con Tequila (Raisins and Tequila..3/4 c Tequila!!), Helado de Queso (Queso Fresco with Dulce de Leche swirled in at the last moment). Still to make: Helado de Elote (corn) and Raspado de Margarita (sherbet) and Paletas de Mango Enchilado (Spice Mango Pops) for the weekend. Made a Blackberry Coconut from Thai Cooking with Jam. Lovely. A woman cannot make too many different ice creams.

I have two recipes for Dulce de Leche from scratch. One calls for 1 cup of sugar to 2 cups of goat's milk and 2 cups of cow's milk. The other calls for 1 2/3 cups of sugar to 2 cups of each goat and cow's milk. Hard to get much of a clear direction from that. The first recipe came from Jaymes and the second, I think, from Andie. I made it once but probably won't do it again. Ten hours? Perhaps not. Actually yesterday I made the poor and lazy man's Dulce de Leche using the recipe in DL's Perfect Scoop. Open can of condensed milk. Pour into glass pan. Foil lid. Put into a bain marie. Bake in oven. A no brainer. Swirled it into some Queso Fresco ice cream. Yumm. Good luck.

Takes one back several centuries to the trencher as a plate.

So many spoon rests...who knew? Andie, you probably win the 'who has the most toys' contest. I think I qualify for the most mundane. You simply cannot make candy and other confections without having somewhere designated to leave your various spoons, spatulas, knives, etc. They can be very hot, very sticky, staining, etc.

Here is a photo of my two no-name silicone spoon rests. I use them constantly. They are my friends. They are the most handy when I am making something sticky, like lollipops. The blue one has a bit missing on one side when it accidentally was pushed onto a hot burner. Who knew my spoon rests would ever go up into cyberspace?

Almost had beer come out my nose on that one Great stories guys, you made my day before I have to go into work Here's a similar and pitiful story: I lived for 18 years with a vegetarian Mother who did this to every piece of meat I was forced to eat. The paediatrician would not take care of me if my Mother did not feed me meat. And so she did. I never thought of it as mummified...more like shoe leather.

This for me goes a bit farther than 'meals' per se. We have quite a number of Chinese food restaurants in Peterpatch and without an exception (thus far) we have not found one which turns out decent food. Too much 'muzzy' sauce in all dishes. Too much what? North American / Chinese? Toronto is different. There you can get good Chinese (and everything else it seems) food. Too bad.

Wonderful topic. Yummm. I've made DL's Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies a few times now and they work just fine for ice cream sandwiches. And I am so lazy that I spread the dough across a cookie sheet and then cut them into rectangles. Now I need one of those cookie molds which makes the fake holes in them to look cute. Hmmm...could freeze the ice cream on a cookie sheet also and then that would take less work. Sorry, totally strayed away from the 'ready to eat' theme...

Thanks for the information. I have a couple of recipes for paletas from Gerson's first book and might try some of them. I'll have to buy a popsicle mold but that won't be a problem. I imagine. I hope. How do you pronounce her first name? as in Fanny? or as in Fane - y rhymes with rainy or Fawn - y rhymes with tawny? I made the blackberry/coconut ice cream, Thai style. Way too sweet for both DH and me. And I added an extra tablespoon of lemon over and above. And added more blackberries which are not sweet as we can get them. Would cut down on the sugar next time. And the coconut cream I used, Savoy (out of all other coconut cream), was not as sweet tasting as some. Don't know anything about Thai desserts (wrong forum ) but perhaps they are sweeter than some cultures... Otherwise it is delectable. Am giving it away however... Also...are your two flavors together or are they two separate ice creams? Hooray! Just phoned the recipient of above ice cream to make sure she had freezer room and it turns out she has a set of popsicle molds which she has been going to recycle for years now and now they will be mine!

I would be most grateful for either your blackberry and coconut ice cream recipe or at least some direction as to how much of each you use to how much cream, etc. And whether the coconut is fresh or dried or unsweetened. Thank you. And whether you are using coconut cream or coconut milk also... I did find one recipe but it was Thai.

Strawberry ice cream with guajillo chile Homesick Texan This sounds not too bad and I have some blackberries right now with which I could make it...or not. Am saving it for raspberries I guess and will stick to making the Avocado first. Our choices and seasons for fruits up here and the taste thereof, just don't begin to equal what you lucky stiffs can get down south.

Never seen a Criollo avocado up in Canada. Never even heard of them...which is not surprising. As for your "Avocado / Roasted Garlic / Avocado Leaf base then stir in Tomato Jam & Jalapeno Jelly prior to setting... Guacamole Ice Cream"...I am overwhelmed!!!! I do have some tomato jam on hand from my last batch.

Not heating the Tequila was not an accident. If I was going to put all that Tequila into an ice cream, I was going to go for the full effect. And as noted, it did harden sufficiently. I should probably confess that I make almost all my ice creams using a cooked cornstarch base ever since I first learned of it. Fewer calories in the end. And pretty much the same mouthfeel without the eggy taste. Here's an interesting note in Gerson's recipe for Helado de Elote: "Traditionally this ice cream if not made with a custard base, but I believe that it enhances the creaminess of the corn." Gerson uses 8 egg yolks for 5 cups of ice cream. I googled the ice cream but could not find one made without eggs. Any thoughts?

Going back a few posts to one by Prasantrin: I keep remembering this and wondering about it. I am not very familiar with WW actually but fruit being free seems like a great bonus. Am I missing something completely because I don't know the whole plan?

More on Fany Gerson and Mexican ice creams: Both the Helado de Cajeta and Helado de Pasitas con Tequila were big hits at our last Mexican food with guests. The Tequila ice cream simply took longer to harden. I am still stunned at how 3/4 of a cup of Tequila hardened into ice cream. Oh, I did somewhat change the recipe in that I didn't heat the Tequila at all in the making. Next ice cream projects: (with English in case there is anyone on this topic with less Spanish than I) 1. Helado de Elote (corn) 2. Helado de Aguacate (avocado) 3. Helado de Queso (queso fresco / fresh cheese) Plus I am thinking about making Raspado de Margarita / Margarita Ice A frozen slushy Margarita. In a bowl. With a spoon. (for you especially Jaymes) Currently I am on the path of a Tomatillo and Lime Jam from Pati's Mexican Table.