ChicoBags-- I'm a sucker for the pretty stuff.

Just as I advocate buying reusable snack bags (mine are from Snack Taxi and PB Green Bags), I’m also a big fan of bringing my own bag to the grocery store. It’s a pretty common practice in LA (and hopefully where you live)– one of the very few things that makes me feel hopeful that the world is not completely going into the gutter.

There was a period of time when I’d go home to visit my family and my mom would inundate me with new grocery bags, mostly from chain grocery stores. I would try to use them, but often I’d forget my bags in the trunk– or, if I used them, I’d forget to put them BACK in my trunk. And when I walk to the store from my apartment, carrying a bunch of big bags can be quite unwieldy– especially if you don’t end up using all of them. (Or have to walk past an upscale restaurant’s outdoor seating area and don’t want to look 100% dorky.)

And sometimes I just end up randomly at the grocery store, completely on the fly– say, while walking back from the Post Office. (I go to the grocery store almost every day– I’m not really a long-term planner when it comes to my food-shopping.)

Enter a few bags that are so small that you can carry them around in your purse… or your glove compartment… or on your belt loop.

I was first introduced to ChicoBags when I was at Sam’s place and we were headed out to the store to buy ingredients for dinner. “Here,” he said, tossing over a palm-sized little bundle. (Maybe I swooned a little– guys who care about the environment are sexy.) I was so impressed at their portability and function (and adorable designs) that I bought a few online. (Sam’s are just solid colors, for the less flashy set.)

ChicoBags are attached to the little bag that holds them, so you don’t have to worry about losing the container bag. And they come with a carabiner, so you can attach them to anything! The snowman one was a freebie when I ordered the others, and was described as a “gift bag.” Sometimes I worry that sharp things (like box corners) are going to poke holes in it, but the others (yet unused) seem to be made of a slightly sturdier material.

I also think the Valentine’s Day ones would make great gifts. (And I just spoiled a few of my Valentine’s Day gifts… great.)

Probably my favorite bag in rotation right now is my Baggu, a gift from Serious Eats when I pre-ordered their book.

Threw in my sunglasses for scale.

I could just as easily throw a ChicoBag into my purse, but for some reason the Baggu keeps making the cut. Maybe because it folds up really flat. (In February I’ll throw the Valentine’s ChicoBag into rotation.) (Honestly, if I had a bigger purse I’d carry two– I always seem to bring one bag and need two.)

The Baggu sometimes confuses grocery store employees. I think it’s a little shallower than a normal bag? But it holds a lot of volume length-wise, and you can carry it over your shoulder. (I don’t think you can do that with smaller ChicoBags, but they sell bigger ones… the snowmen can do shoulder.)

The one downside of the Baggu is that I’m constantly worried I’ll lose its pouch, because it’s completely detached. If I lose the pouch, I guess I could use a Ziploc bag… but that’s not as fun.

The best thing about using a Baggu or a ChicoBag or a cloth bag or a reusable Ralph’s bag with a kooky Hollywood logo on it (thanks, Mom) is that it makes you feel cool (well, maybe not the kooky Hollywood bag)– hey, I’m doing something for the Earth! And other people will see you and go– that’s a good person. Maybe they’ll give you a validating thumbs-up. Maybe they’ll give you their number! (If you want it.)

And– oh yeah– your apartment won’t be overflowing with little plastic bags. (I try to re-purpose the ones I DO have as trash bags.)

What are your favorite reusable grocery bags?

xoxo…

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Looking pretty legit for a slapdash affair.

As I stated in the aforementioned post (which I literally wrote, like, 5 seconds ago), I’m dealing with the annoying realization that most of the Lean Cuisines I would normally bring to work are currently verboten, as they contain dairy. (And I’m not really PROUD of bringing Lean Cuisines, but I got into a too-lazy-to-cook rut.)

I’m sick of buying expensive commissary lunches and I needed to get back in the cooking groove anyway, so I decided to cook something veggie-full that I could kind of improvise for dinner/tomorrow’s lunch (of course, that involves willpower… can’t eat it all at dinner).

I was reading some gluten-free website about what you can cook for dinner, and there was a lot of talk of whipping up rice-based dishes. Now, I’m not trying to be gluten-free right now because A) I never got my Celiac test results, so they’re probably negative (?) and B) If I cut out gluten and dairy all at once… too many variables. But my mind kept going to a veggie & rice stir-fry… I remember at least one of my former roommates making similar dishes, and it seemed doable.

Since I MIGHT still find out that I AM gluten-sensitive, and since I should probably cut back a bit on the gluten just for kicks, I am trying not to stock up on anything too wheat-y. Another reason for going with rice and veggies, since they will still be viable no matter how my tests come in. (PS– I tried gluten-free corn/quinoa pasta– it’s pretty good!)

So I went to Trader Joe’s and grabbed some good-looking veggies… I wanted to get a pre-cut veggie mix meant for stir-frying, but I couldn’t find one. But a few of the elements were still pre-cut, namely some sort of garlic/onion/shallot mixture.

Quick milk story– while I was putting my groceries away, I emptied my ice cream-making milk cartons (expired anyway) and went to put them in my recycles bag– only to find a big spider. So I THREW an empty milk carton on top of the spider, because that’s how I kill spiders. And I still haven’t moved the carton, because I’m scared of living AND dead spiders. (And not 100% sure I killed it?)

So… there’s a good use for milk, even if you can’t drink it. (And… is anybody interested in coming over and putting a probably-dead spider in the trash?)

Blurry veggie mugshot.

Ingredients: The aforementioned onion/garlic/shallot/leek (?) mix, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, green beans, Soyaki (contains wheat… but that’s okay!), frozen brown rice, egg white. I bought potatoes, but then I realized that with the rice it would be a starch overload (maybe). So… potatoes some other time.

I got the veggies going in the pan with a little olive oil, in basically the order I just listed. After the carrots and before the mushrooms, I added some Soyaki and then added a cup or so of water, realizing that the veggies needed a while to cook without burning. So I chopped the rest of the veggies and threw them in while the water evaporated out. (I never covered it because I don’t have a cover… sigh.)

Come on in, the water's fine.

I have to say, I felt pretty cool because I was mostly improvising and going on my cooking instincts. Which– suddenly I have cooking instincts?

After the water was mostly gone, I added the rice to the pan. At first the frozen brown rice looked like sizzling rice from a Chinese restaurant, but as it cooked it looked much more brown rice-like. (I also bought jasmine rice, for future experiments.) I added another dash of Soyaki, unsure of how strong it would taste… I figured I could add soy sauce if it was weak.

Enter the rice.

Once the rice was hot enough (I literally ascertained this by TOUCHING it– hey, I’m the only one eating it), I cracked two eggs (not at the same time) and dribbled the egg whites over the pan. I always like finding egg in my fried rice, and I figured it was a nice bit of protein (but I wasn’t too concerned– I had chicken at lunch).

This came out really well– the broccoli and cauliflower were cooked to softness, the peas still had some snap, and the Soyaki wasn’t too overbearing. I daresay I’ll be continuing to expand my stir-frying vocabulary in the coming months… and for the rest of my life! (I mean, why limit the timeframe?)

And the best part– I have enough left over for lunch tomorrow!

See the egg?

That’s a new IKEA bowl… it has a pretty little design on the outside that you can’t see. (Sucka!) I recently realized that all my plastic Target bowls that I’ve been microwaving for YEARS aren’t microwave safe. WHOOPS. (And I wonder why I don’t feel well.) So… I’m team ceramic now. If I break the bowls… they were cheap.

Later (after dessert…) when I thought of it, I made myself a salad of simple romaine lettuce with lemon squeezed over it, followed by generous dashes of salt and pepper. A wonderful, healthy dressing– so easy, and so delicious. Makes me feel like a badass to whip it up.

Speaking of deliciousness, tonight I discovered the Sunday Suppers blog… the pictures are divine. Look at these tea sandwiches! I was just starting to lament that I don’t live a fancy life of stylish suppers and gourmet cooking with friends when I realized that the gatherings are CLASSES. If you live in Brooklyn… I’m jealous. Go to a Sunday Supper (unless they’re, like, crazy expensive).

Hmm… maybe I should just try to establish a stylish cooking klatch amongst my own friends. I love klatches. (Though I’m not sure I’m spelling that right… I think there are multiple ways to tackle it.) But I don’t know if mine would be QUITE as fancy or well-lit. (They’d be… un-fancy, let’s be real.)

Tonight I’ll just have to settle for living in the Brooklyn of LA (or is it?) and being able to whip up a pretty tasty improvised dinner for one. Baby steps.

xoxo…

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Dairy-free ice cream. I swear. (Salted Oreo & Chocolate Peanut Butter)

So far, trying to be lactose-free has gone pretty well. There was a little bit of cultured whey (milk) in the Trader Joe’s Yellow Curry Sauce that Sam and I used to make a chicken and veggie curry over the weekend. And there was possibly some dairy in the chicken with mole sauce that I ate for dinner on Saturday when my sister came to visit. But… that was at a restaurant. Oh well.

The hardest thing is realizing that there’s milk product in almost every flavor of frozen dinner and even in my beloved Lipton’s chicken noodle soup (that might be an “oh well, I’ll eat it anyway” situation)– so many things have at least some trace of dairy. Baked goods. Salad dressings. Sauces. I’m trying to be good for evaluative purposes, but once that passes I probably won’t be quite as fanatical. Because it’s kind of impossible.

But for the time being– man, it’s really hard to tell if things have lactose in them, if you’re not privy to the ingredient list. And– unlike gluten– Trader Joe’s doesn’t have a dairy-free items list on its website. I just find it funny because a majority of the population is lactose intolerant to some degree– whether they know it or not. I don’t know how people with severe lactose allergies manage to avoid the minefield. I mean… I guess they make a lot of their own food.

The hardest thing to deal with is desserts. SO many desserts are dairy-based. I went to the grocery store and got myself some nice fruit pops, melon, and a quality dark chocolate bar with almonds. (One side effect of trying to avoid milk and the processed things that contain it– I’m eating more fruits and veggies and doing more cooking… I feel healthier-ish.)

Okay, now that I think of it– there are still a lot of dessert options. But I’m an ice cream lover. So it was definitely a wonderful splurge to get some dairy-free ice cream at Scoops on Sunday– even if it was soy-based, and sorta made my stomach hurt (dairy placebo effect?). I’m glad I live in a hip part of LA where it’s not hard to find vegan ice cream.

This was going to be a post about what I made for dinner, but I guess I’ll write about that separately.

xoxo…

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Exactly.

I went to the gastroenterologist today. He listened to all of my complaints and asked questions about my background. (And pressed on my stomach a bit… I was relieved that it didn’t get any more invasive than that.)

Doctor: Do you have any siblings?

Me: Two sisters… one is lactose intolerant.

Doctor: The other one just hasn’t realized it yet.

He was a font of wry humor.

The basic conclusion– as declared by my mother last year– is that I have a shitty Jewish stomach. And that since most adults eventually become lactose intolerant (and apparently milk is a stupid thing for American adults to drink anyway, since we don’t need it), I’m supposed to stay off lactose/dairy for the next few weeks to see if it helps.

Except for aged cheeses… aged cheeses are okay because civilization back in the day figured out how to get lactose out of their foods. Like smarties. (But now we’re stupid again?) (This appointment was a history AND biology lesson… I learned that everybody’s gut-flora is unique. You ARE a special snowflake, after all.)

As I try to figure out what I can and cannot eat, I’m starting to realize that I don’t even know the difference between lactose and dairy. So young and so foolish! (Too bad Wikipedia is dark today…)

Diagnosis-wise, there’s not much else to report at the moment. I may have a gut with flora more prone to making me feel crappy. (Great luck!) (A probiotic may or may not help.) I may also have an acid-y stomach. (I got some Prilosec samples.)

As for the wheat/gluten allergy question– they drew some blood to see if I have any visible allergies. (Allegedly a few years ago it was really popular to diagnose people as Celiacs even if they weren’t FULLY Celiacs, but the doctor is okay with the craze because it has made it easier for real Celiacs to find gluten-free options at their local stores.)

At least the doctor didn’t make me feel like I was an idiot for coming in without major symptoms. That was a relief. It’s nice to feel like I’m not COMPLETELY crazy.

I left the appointment with a continuing-to-feel-crappy stomach, but I’m feeling okay now. Funny thing is– I was bracing to not be able to eat gluten anymore, and I was surprisingly okay with that. Apparently quinoa pasta is quite tasty, and sometimes wheat products just give me a grossed-out feeling. But ice cream… yogurt… Laughing Cow cheese… a lot of things with dairy ingredients… Oh man. (Can I still eat PIRATE’S BOOTY?!)

Well, my sister just pops a funny pill and eats ice cream like there’s no tomorrow. So that’s always a backup plan. But for now I think I should try to be more diligent. As the doctor said– Your stomach only treats you as well as you treat it. (For some reason that struck me as a really deep insight… if that simple logic was a revelation to me, it’s probably time to be even more mindful of what I eat.)

Most importantly– I need to find some good dairy-free recipes for my ice cream maker!

But yeah– nothing is majorly wrong with me. So I can rejoice on that front. Just a shitty Jewish stomach. (Mother knows best.)

Oh– and I should mention that I ACED my blood pressure. I always have excellent blood pressure. What a healthy kid. (120/70… don’t be jealous.)

xoxo…

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Took this photo at a diner on a sad stomach morning in Monterey.

Last time I wrote about my gluten-free follies after the fact. This time (if it even pans out…) I figured I’d blog about it while I’m IN IT. I mean, this is how book deals happen, right? (Just kidding… unless you want to give me a book deal.)

Every couple of months (or less), I seem to be dealing with digestive unpleasantness. About a year and a half ago I gave up bread for a week, with inconclusive results. A few times I drank those gross probiotics… also inconclusive. In Monterey, I got can’t-sleep-might-barf sick from an apparent lack of proper digestion (that’s what Sam gets, trying to take me on a romantic getaway…).

And now– less than a month later– I’m sick again. At first I thought I was dehydrated. Then– maybe it’s a cold. But I began to realize– every time I eat (or even drink chamomile tea), my stomach has this initial “OUCH.” Sam listened to my stomach with fascination, and reported that it sounded like “a dragon.” (The Girl With the Dragon Stomach… coming to a doctor’s office near you.)

I’ve tried all the easy-ish remedies– Activia yogurt, Tums, chamomile tea, Gas-X… but so far, nothing has really solved the problem. Thing is– since I don’t actually know what the problem IS, anything could be hurting. If I’m lactose intolerant, yogurt’s no good. If I’m allergic to gluten, saltine crackers aren’t gonna help.

I’m going to a gastroenterologist on Wednesday (maybe I should be going to an allergist). Perhaps I’m just stressed or ate something funky, but at this point there’s a pretty clear pattern of crappy-ness. I’m guessing that I’m allergic to something– please dear universe don’t let it be tomatoes!

I’ve long suspected that I might have Celiac disease, and some of the symptoms are uncanny. (Particularly– when I was a kid my dentist thought I was suddenly sucking lemons, because the enamel got really thin on my front teeth.) But either way, I’m thinking maybe I ought to try a gluten-free (or something-free) diet again, just because… something is up, here.

The idea of going gluten-free is not a super-exciting one, because… I love food. But I love not feeling like crap, too– and there are increasingly more gluten-free choices in stores and on menus. So… that’s uplifting, I guess. But I know if I go on vacation–especially abroad– I’d probably have to break the diet and feel like total blergh. Great.

I keep thinking things like– but I just got Sam a pizza stone! But I don’t want to have to take a bunch of gross supplements! But… honestly, if I’m not feeling well, it’s time to grow up and really evaluate what’s going on here. I’ve been happy to ignore my potential problems and just eat away, but ignorance is not bliss if I’m curled in the fetal position with a burbly stomachache.

Coincidentally, yesterday I stumbled upon Mara Kofoed’s A Blog About Love, and I’m heartened by her delicious-sounding gluten-free (among other things) diet… of course, it sounds like her husband is sort of a gourmet chef. But Sam has agreed to attempt to make Mara’s husband’s zucchini ribbon pasta for me (scroll to “So what DO you eat?”), if indeed I am a Celiac. Yay!

At least I’ll have a flatter stomach? (Every stomach-cloud has a silver stomach-lining?)

And at least I’m not the first person to forge this path. There are ample resources… including maybe some of my readers?

xoxo…

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I told you it would look the same.

The other night, after reading my post about making chocolate chip mint ice cream, my mom texted me, “Mint extract and peppermint extract are 1000 miles apart.” I was like, too late. Also– how could mint extract be a thousand miles from peppermint extract, when mint extract was part peppermint, part spearmint?

But you know what? It made a BIG difference. The spearmint was giving the ice cream the maybe-I-want-to-barf twinge, because it’s a little too mint chewing gum. (I don’t really like spearmint gum.)

Of course, I spilled a little bit of the peppermint extract before it got to the bowl, and with my too-minty PTSD I erred on the side of not accidentally over-minting it again. So I ended up with a MUCH more subtle mint flavor, but maybe-not-minty-enough is DEFINITELY better than possibly-too-minty/maybe-I’m-going-to-barf. (Next time I’ll try to get it just right. Peppermint is definitely what you want to use to achieve that Baskin Robbins flavor.)

You know the ice cream is coming out muy tasty when you find yourself eating probably a whole serving size out of the machine, as it churns.

Caught with my spoon in the ice cream jar!

As for the first batch– it’s in the trash (I didn’t want the chocolate chips to clog up my sensitive sink). Too add insult to injury– somehow it managed to fall all over the kitchen floor as I was ushering it into the trash can. Jerk.

Oh– and a note about the chocolate chips. I used less than the called-for half-cup in this batch, because when the mint flavor is right, you don’t need to rely so much on the chocolate.

Another note– with my Cuisinart machine, it takes less than 20 minutes to churn to a consistency that is totally ready to eat. The recipe claims that you need 2 hours freeze-time after you churn. Nope. Make it right before your friends come over, and you’re good to go.

So– to recap. I took THIS recipe. I halfed it. I used half & half instead of cream. I used ultrafine sugar. I used a little less than the called-for amount of chocolate chips. And it came out… awesome. (And pay attention to your machine’s churn times… like I said, this is ready-to-eat in less than 20 minutes– but that’s my machine.)

You know what? Screw the link. Let’s write it out, RIGHT here. For posterity.

1 cup 2% milk
1 cup half & half
1/2 cup ultrafine sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (PEPPERMINT) (NOT MINT)
6 drops green food coloring & 2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
1/2 cup (or less) miniature semisweet chocolate chips (or shaved chocolate… if you have skills)

In a large bowl, stir together the milk, half & half, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and peppermint extract until the sugar has dissolved. Color to your liking with the food coloring. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Whenever in the process your machine recommends adding mix-ins, pour in the chocolate chips.

My inspiration.

Unlike the last batch, I can pretty much guarantee that this is delicious. I am no longer concerned about how in the world I’ll manage to finish this less-than-a-quart over the next few days. If that ever happens again– that’s a good sign that the ice cream wasn’t delicious enough, because a quart is not THAT big. (A quart is 8 half-cup servings… but who eats a half-cup of ice cream at a time?) (People with excellent self-control.)

OKAY! Now that I’ve got a handle on mint chocolate chip ice cream, I can start thinking about which flavor I want to try NEXT… hmmm.

xoxo…

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I didn't take this. Thanks, Google.

My mom alerted me to the fact that peppermint extract DOES exist. I think the spearmint in the general mint extract might have given my mint chocolate chip ice cream the weird twinge that made me feel a bit ill. (I don’t think I like spearmint.) (For the record, Sam thought it tasted fine… maybe he lacks the spearmint-nausea gene.)

So… I found peppermint extract at a different grocery store, and since I still have all the necessary ingredients I’m going to whip up another batch. It’s going to look exactly the same as the first batch (peppermint extract is clear), so I probably won’t take any pictures.

But I just wanted you to know, in case you decide to emulate my recipe. Learn from my mistakes! (See the next post for the thrilling conclusion.)

xoxo…

Best eaten from a delightful ramekin.

The best kind of gift is the one you open and realize– it’s what you always wanted, but never knew you wanted. Because it’s such an amazing surprise. That pretty much sums up my new ice cream (and frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, etc.) maker. It was a Christmas present from Sam’s parents (THANKS!).

Luckily they let me know that I had to freeze the bowl– that’s a pro tip for everyone. When you buy an ice cream maker, stick that freezer bowl in the freezer. You’re gonna have to wait about 24 hours before you can whip up your first batch.

One of my all-time favorite ice cream flavors is the chocolate chip mint (I think I’ve said before– I never know what order to say the words… chocolate chip mint, mint chocolate chip) from Baskin Robbins. So I decided to try to emulate that most excellent taste in my first batch of ice cream.

I searched online and found this recipe from AllRecipes. Because I have natural family cholesterol problems, I looked for a recipe that didn’t involve any egg yolks, and used half & half instead of full-on cream (and planned on using 2% milk instead of whole milk, but this recipe already calls for 2%). I also halved the recipe to make only 1 quart.

As long as I mention it– is there anything else that can replace cream? I found a recipe that talked about saving calories by using gelatin, but then I looked up gelatin to see if it’s still made from boiling animal remains and– yep!– it is. Gross. Can’t deal with it.

I forgot to put the vanilla extract in the picture. But I used it.

The recipe calls for peppermint extract, but all I could find at the grocery store was “mint extract.” I looked at the ingredients– peppermint and spearmint extracts. Fine. [Edit:] (Maybe not.) [Later edit:] (Definitely use peppermint extract– I was fortune’s fool.)

I also opted to buy ultrafine sugar, because this recipe didn’t call for any sort of heating that would aid in dissolving big regular grains of sugar. (This was based partly on friend-Seth’s warning that homemade ice cream can often come out tasting grainy.) (Yes, I have become real-life friends with an internet stranger!) Now I’m stuck with more ultrafine sugar than I’ll need all year, because it only came in gigantor size.

So… you mix together the ingredients. It’s that simple. And then you add food coloring. Some people might say– hey, you’re using mint extract? You’re putting in food coloring? What’s that about? Be NATURAL. Sorry– Baskin Robbins did this to me. I’m not always a mint fan, and actual mint in my ice cream doesn’t appeal to me ONE BIT. (But I do like mojitos.) (But I don’t like mint tea.) (SEE?)

Fun with food coloring.

Since when do food coloring containers look like gnomes?

I was thinking that I’d add a drop or two of blue to get the right minty color, but the back of the food coloring box revealed that mint green is achieved by adding 1 drop of yellow for every 3 drops of green. I learn something new every day! (I used 6 drops green and 2 drops yellow, in case you were wondering.)

Then I whipped out the ice cream maker– it’s a Cuisinart ICE-21. You put the freezer bowl on the base, then throw in the plastic paddle and cover it with a lid. AFTER you turn on the machine (the bowl spins!), you pour the ice-cream-to-be into the bowl. And it starts to coagulate! (Okay, maybe that’s more of a medical term?)

Wheee!

At first I was concerned, because the paddle wasn’t fully emerged. But it worked out fine… and there are two levels to the paddle. And… the bowl is spinning like a centrifuge. So… don’t freak out. Just go with it.

After about 10 minutes (it only takes 20, total), I dropped the chocolate chips into the sludge. I had originally intended to shave some chocolate (sexy?), to be more Baskin Robbin-esque, but then I got lazy and decided to just smash chocolate chips with a rolling pin. But then I couldn’t find my rolling pin, so I smashed the chips with the giant container of ultrafine sugar. That didn’t really work, but they were mini chips to begin with. So whatever.

Chips ahoy.

The chocolate chips got sorta traffic-jammed in the paddle, and since there was nothing sharp or scary going on, I realized I could just scoop my fork in and give them a stir. (I avoided the moving bowl.) Then I realized that I could eat the ice cream as it was churning. (You know… testing for consistency. Yeah…)

Hey, I actually look like I'm supposed to!

The recipe called for the ice cream to be frozen for an additional 2 hours after churning, but I thought it was edible enough after 20 minutes. I stuck it in the freezer anyway, just because I wanted to eat some real lunch before I ate much more ice cream… when I pulled it back out to take that ramekin shot later, I noticed that it gets melty really fast… probably because of the low fat modifications.

Time to freeze.

As far as the taste… I thought the consistency was very nice. Somewhere between ice cream and frozen yogurt. We’ll see what it’s like after a bit more freezing. I’m on the fence about the minty-ness. It definitely tastes much better with chocolate than it does when I take a mint-only bite. But I’m not sure if it’s, like, barfingly minty or just the right amount of minty. I’ll have to force Sam to taste-test it. (What a terrible thing… tasting ice cream.)

So… maybe next time I might use a hint less of the mint extract. It’s really potent. It’s kind of weird that I can’t tell if it’s amazing or awful, right? I feel weird about it.

Oh, and PRO-TIP– the freezer bowl is SO COLD. Even if you wash it with warm water (as directed), it is still cold enough to stick to your wet hand if you touch the inside whilst trying to dry it (thank God I didn’t rip my skin off)… and then it’ll stick to the paper towel, too. (Just dry it upside down.) (And then stick it back into the freezer for the next time.) It’s very “A Christmas Story.”

One thing I already love about having an ice cream maker is that it’s a great topic of conversation– a lot of people own ice cream makers. The great friend-maker! That’s what they should really call it. If you have any tips, tricks or recipes– send them my way!

So… I’m looking forward to a new year full of ice cream-y inventions. (Which may or may not be barfingly minty…)

xoxo…

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Cookie lookie.

I woke up this morning to a text from my sister, Dana, announcing that she had a guest post for me. With no further ado…

Fresh-Baked Guest Post

Hello everyone! This is Dana, Elysse’s younger (but not youngest) sister.

All my favorite things about the holiday season revolve around sugar.  My sweet tooth is slightly larger than the average person’s (refer to the photo below), so the constant flow of candy, cookies and other desserts at my office are welcomed with open arms.

How much sugar could a sugar-chuck chuck?

As an end-of-year thank you to our Starbucks baristas, my coworker and I decided to bake holiday cookies. Using peppermint bark as my inspiration, I created a recipe that turned out pretty delicious.

Not-so-secret ingredients.

Recipe:

1 box sugar cookie mix
1.5 eggs*
1.5 sticks butter
1 bag white chocolate chips
1 bag dark chocolate chips
Crushed peppermint

*The cookie box only called for 1 egg and 1 stick of butter, but once the chocolate chips were added I added another half egg and half stick of butter because the mix was still too powdery.

More butter!

Preheat oven to 375º. Combine butter and egg in a bowl. Add cookie mix, both bags of chocolate chips and crushed peppermint and stir.

Stirred, not shaken.

Spoon balls of dough approx. 1-1.5” onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Once the cookies are finished, sprinkle crushed peppermint onto the tops of the cookies. Yields 35-40 cookies.

Scoops.

Suggestion: once the cookies have cooled, sprinkle MORE crushed peppermint on top.

Magical mint sprinkling.

And…the finished product! (Covered the label on an empty tin of Trader Joe’s Peppermint bark.)

Lucky baristas.

Not shown: the Tupperware with 3-dozen cookies for the office

Hope you enjoyed the cookies, baristas! And hope you enjoyed this guest post, everyone else!

That’s all! Make sure to eat lots and lots of sugar before your ‘I’m-going-to-eat-healthier-this-year’ New Year’s Resolutions go into effect.

–Dana

Aebleskivers and fruit at The Little Mermaid restaurant.

Happy Holidays! Sam and I spent the last few days driving up and down the California coast (between Los Angeles and Monterey), and one of our last stops was the quirky town of Solvang, CA– it’s supposed to be a little slice of Denmark, but turned out to be a melting pot of Danish, Dutch, Belgian… you know, European places where you expect to find blonde people with charming accents.

Everywhere I go, I like to try whatever food is considered the specialty. In Solvang, it’s the aebleskiver– a spherical pancake. We sampled aebleskivers from not one, but TWO local spots.

First we hit up The Little Mermaid, a restaurant that is more Hans Christian Andersen than Disney. (They heavily feature the famous Danish statue.)

Charmed, I'm sure.

For $6, we got a plate of three aebleskivers, with whipped cream and fresh fruit. We also got a little bowl of raspberry jam, to accompany our dough-balls.

Aebleskiver innards.

I’m not always on board when it comes to raspberry-based foods, but I enjoyed the raspberry jam. (Later I felt a bit ill– maybe from the sweetness– but I got over it in time for the next round.)

After some walking about, we hit up the Solvang Restaurant, where the aebleskivers are so popular that you don’t even have to go inside to order them– you can grab a few at a walk-up window. (And also watch them being cooked in their little pans– cool.)

Solvang Restaurant's aebleskiver operation.

Zoom in…

Now you can see the pans.

Apparently the aebleskivers here are the handiwork of some man named Arne. On the Solvang Restaurant website, you can read his somewhat nonsensical explanation of the aebleskiver. (Sample line: “Aebleskiver are a delicacy, supposedly invented by some Dane back in history.” Really? How specific!)

For $3.40, you get three aebleskivers in a food truck-esque paper container.

Arne's famous aebleskivers. Supposedly invented by some Dane back in history.

I expected aebleskivers to be like donut holes– greasy, sticky, etc. But they were actually light and fluffy. The ones at The Little Mermaid were in some places a bit crisp on the outside, and if this had been a contest they might have won, by a narrow margin.

I liked that one of my Arne’s aebleskivers had a little pocket of air in it.

Excavation.

If you want a sit-down dining experience (and some fruit), The Little Mermaid wasn’t crowded, and had an old-timey charm. (And you can order other food.) If you want your aebleskivers on-the-go, Solvang Restaurant’s take-out window is for you. (Or you can also go inside and sit down. I’m sure they have old-timey charm, too.) (Basically, it’s a toss-up.)

Maybe later I’ll blog about the other specialties I tried on the trip– did you know that Monterey is famous for its sanddabs? (Did you know that sanddabs existed?)

In case I don’t blog again for a few days… Happy New Year! In 2012, I’m going to make my own frozen yogurt! Watch out, world.

xoxo…