Why make your own ice cream? For me, it was a matter of what to do with an elegant surfeit of both strawberries and cream left over from the previous weekend's adventures. Waste not, want not, make ice cream. But the real reason was revealed almost as soon as the paddle was out of the bucket: It makes people happy! A carton of Ben & Jerry's may be insurance against a bad day, a cone at Bi-Rite good for fun in the sun, but homemade ice cream is a party.

And you don't even have to own an ice-cream maker. That's what Facebook is for: put out a call for help and a hour later you'll have friends all around the city dusting off their mostly-unused wedding presents for the promise of mocha-chip. Krups? Cuisinart? Whaddya want? 24 hours and a helpful neighbor later, I had a tub of pink deliciousness on hand, rich, creamy and infused with ripe berry flavor. No eggs, no custard fussiness, just cream, sugar, and strawberries: pure summery bliss.

Wait, it took 24 hours to make that ice cream? Well, not exactly. But you do have to start the process the day before you want to eat your cone. Yes, this is a drag; after all, what is ice cream but an impulsive treat, and if all you want is five minutes' instant gratification (not a bad thing, by any means), then you might as well go down to Joe's or Mitchell's, hand over your money and be done with it.

But, like I said, there's something about homemade ice cream that draws a crowd, turning any afternoon gathering into a celebration. Plus, once everything's good to go (more on that below), the actual churning process takes less than 45 minutes and is quite fun to watch. It's liquid, it's slushy liquid, wow, it's ice cream, whipping around and around, getting fluffier by the minute!

Why the delay? Most ice cream recipes call for heating the cream, milk, and sugar to a gentle steam in order to dissolve the granules. So first it's hot, then after a hour of sitting around, it's room temp. Still not good enough, since what you want is a very short road from cream to slush to frozen velvet, achieved only by chilling the mixture in the fridge for at least four or five hours, until icy cold. Meanwhile, unless your rich uncle has bequeathed you his Pacojet, you'll also probably need to freeze the container of your ice-cream maker for a good 24 hours before using.

So, yes, plan ahead. As the sternly worded, multi-lingual instructions for the ice-cream maker will tell you, trying to rush will lead only to tears, frustration, and why-isn't-this-working-Dad??

(Then again, settling for an It's It isn't the worst thing that could happen. Ah, It's Its, how I love them! Just one of the many things to cherish about our fair city. The unexpected flavors, like cappuccino and mint; the little picture of the chocolate coating flowing like lava over the oatmeal cookies: all in all, a masterpiece of corner-store gustatory seduction, if you ask me.)

And while your paddle is churning away, doing all the work for you, you can dip into Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making, by Jeri Quinzio. Quinzio, a food historian and the author a previous book on ice cream, leaves no Eskimo Pie unexamined in her painstakingly detailed exploration of ice-cream making from its beginnings in mid-16th century Europe to its meteoric rise in popularity during the early years of the 20th century in America. As you might expect from a book capped with 23 pages of scholarly citations (and funded by the University of California Press Foundation, as part of its California Studies in Food and Culture series), the accretion of minutia (Want to know exactly who first held the patent on the ice-cream cone? Or the many apocryphal stories of its invention? Or how fancy versions were once piped with icing around the top, dusted with chopped pistachios, filled with a mixture of ginger ice and apple ice cream and finally served on a doily-lined silver tray?) can be a little mind-numbing.

Quinzio, although clearly a dogged researcher, is no Mark Kurlansky, a writer who can make even the most ordinary of topics (cod, salt) into rollicking good reads. You really have to want to know what Quinzio has to share, but for those with a serious appetite for culinary history, the nuggets can be worth it. Who knew, for example that ice cream was aligned with the anti-alcohol Temperance Movement, posited as the family man's happy-making substitute for beer?

Surely even Quinzio would forgive you for putting down her 200-page magnum opus in exchange for a spoon, a banana, and a maraschino cherry. Think all your pals are too busy these days to get together without 3 weeks' notice? Just put out the magic call--There's homemade ice cream in my freezer! Who wants a cone?--and the doorbell will ring, I promise you. Very quickly, I discovered that I couldn't stop at strawberry. With recipes from Ina Gartner's book Barefoot Contessa Parties! on hand, I soon had a freezer full of homemade vanilla, caramel, and bourbon-caramel to go with the strawberry. Which led, even faster, to a whole bunch of impromptu parties, buoyed by tea, champagne, bowls of cherries and plates of fancy little cookies. Easy, sweet, and perfect for summer.

Strawberry Ice Cream
Proportions are pretty flexible here; if you want a less rich (but slightly icier) ice cream, you could use half milk and half cream. The sweetness will get less pronounced once the mixture is frozen, so keep that in mind as you sugar your berries.

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients
4 cups heavy cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of berries
pinch of salt
2 pint baskets ripe, fragrant strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped

Preparation
1. Over low heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, warm cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt until sugar is dissolved and cream is hot but not boiling. (Boiling will make the cream separate, not what you want.) Remove from heat and let cool.

2. Meanwhile, mix strawberries with 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar. Crush some of the berries with the back of a spoon. Let berries sit, covered, at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and berries have released their juice. Taste strawberry mixture for sweetness, adding more sugar as necessary.

3. Refrigerate cream and strawberry mixtures separately for several hours or overnight, until very cold.

4. Mix strawberries and cream together. Assemble ice cream maker and pour in strawberry mixture, freezing according to manufacturer's directions. When it's thick and fluffy and looks like ice cream, scoop it into a freezer-safe container and let harden in the freezer for a few hours. Or hand out spoons to your favorite people and eat it all up right there.

Outside Ben & Jerry's Waterbury Factory

I have a confession to make. When I first saw an invitation in my inbox to take part in a "VIP ice cream experience" at Ben & Jerry's HQ in Burlington, VT, I thought it was a prank. I mean, really? Taste-testing all the new flavors, meeting the Flavor Gurus behind all the tasty, frosty treats, and (gasp) even creating my own?! Pinch, pinch. Too good to be true.

Lucky for me (maybe not so lucky for my girlish figure), it wasn't a prank at all. My wildest ice cream dreams were about to come true.

Vermonster: 20 scoops of ice cream, 4 bananas, 4 ladles hot fudge, 3 chocolate chip cookies, 1 chocolate fudge brownie, 10 scoops walnuts, 2 scoops of your 4 favorite toppings, lots of freshly whipped cream

Joined by a scant dozen of fellow blogging cohorts, I arrived into fresh-aired Burlington, was greeted with a B&J goodie bag (can you say Pint Cozy?!), and braced myself for what was going to be an aggressively delicious next few days.

We arrived at the Waterbury Factory, nestled in the heart of the Green Mountains, and met veteran tour guide, John Hamerslough (Favorite Flavor: Dublin Mudslide). We watched the company history movie in the Cow Over the Moon theater, learned about how Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield became friends because they were "the two slowest, fattest kids in gym class," got to observe the factory floor at work, and listened to employees talk about how this little Vermont scoop shop turned their sights on changing the world with Peace, Love, and Ice Cream.

Milk & Cookies

Ice Cream for Breakfast

Shortly after the factory tour, we were whisked into a conference room, and got down to business -- the business of delighting our tastebuds with Ben & Jerry's 2010 New Flavors:

1) Boston Cream Pie: Boston Cream Pie Ice Cream with Yellow Cake Pieces, Fudge Flakes & Swirls of Pastry Cream
2) Dulce Delish: Rich Caramel Ice Cream with Dark Caramel Swirls
3) Mud Pie: Chocolate & Coffee Liqueur Ice Creams Swirled Together with a Chocolate Cookie Swirl
4) Peanut Brittle: Peanut Brittle Ice Cream with Peanut Brittle Pieces & a Caramel Swirl
5) Milk & Cookies: Vanilla Ice Cream with a Chocolate Cookie Swirl, Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Limited Batch:
1) Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie: Maple Ice Cream with Blonde Brownie Chunks & a Maple Caramel Swirl
2) Flourless Chocolate Cake: Chocolate Ice Cream with pieces of Flourless Chocolate Cake and a Chocolate Frosting Swirl (currently available only at Walmart)
3) Chocowlate Chip: Fair Trade Certified Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Cows (Scoop Shop only)
4) Snickerdoodle Cookie: Buttery Ice Cream loaded with Snickerdoodle Cookies

QA: Laure Lane and Andre Ouellette

Laure Lane (FF: Mint Chocolate Cookie) & Andre Ouellette (FF: Brownie Batter) from Quality Assurance showed us how they make sure each pint has just the right amount of chunks and swirls and even crosscut a sample pint for us to take a look.

Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie: showing off evenly distributed chunks and swirls

And then we dug in.

I'm pretty excited to say that I think I've found myself a new favorite flavor! Milk & Cookies is the ultimate Cookies n' Cream-lover's fantasy. It's a sweet cream vanilla base that is just riddled with cookie goodness. No digging around for the good chunks in this pint. They're everywhere! It's brilliant.

Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie, named after VT's very own Olympic medalist, snowboarding darling, was a sleeper hit. The maple ice cream isn't too cloying; it tastes sweet and wholesome, with some badass chewy blondies to shake things up.

Peanut Brittle was also a pleasant surprise, with a base that tastes akin to salted caramel, and a nutty, brittle crunch. We learned later, after chatting with Marketing, that "Peanut Brittle" was almost called "Peanuts Envy," which would have shifted this flavor up a few notches on the favorite scale, obviously.

And finally, after all the buzz on the food wire about the fabled limited edition Flourless Chocolate Cake, we finally got our grubby little blogger hands on a pint! If you are a dark chocolate lover, you will fall hard for this pretty young thing. It is beyond decadent. Rich rich dark chocolate ice cream, with chunks of flourless chocolate cake (similar to fudge brownie chunks, but less chewy, more like chilled truffle), and swirls of chocolate frosting throughout (swoon!). A little goes a long way with this flavor.

Off the line

Along with the brand spanking new flavors, we also got to experience the awesomeness of what is known as ice cream "off the line." Once you've tasted ice cream off the line, it's hard to imagine anything better. It is freshly made, snagged from the factory line before it has a chance to make it to the deep freezer, and is exploding with glorious butterfat flavor. The consistency is like a super premium, melty, frozen custard Blizzard. It has inspired me to develop the willpower to let my ice cream sit out for a bit when I'm eating it at home…that, or remember to 10 second nuke it before scarfing.

Flavor Gurus: Peter Lind, John Shaffer, Eric Fredette

Inside the R&D Kitchen

And now, for my favorite part of the trip, meeting the Flavor Gurus behind it all! This trio of tie-dyed genius are responsible for wonders such as Cookie Dough Ice Cream (true story, Peter Lind, there on the left actually used to work at Rhino Bakery, where Ben & Jerry's still sources all their cookie dough, and was at the forefront of figuring out how to move from hand-making the flavor to putting it in pints), Chubby Hubby, and all of this year's new flavors.

We were invited to create our own flavors with the chefs!

I had been dreaming up my ultimate flavor for weeks…and had my heart set on an homage to SF, if you will: a Salted Caramel Ice Cream base, with Swirls of Fig Jam, and Chunks of Chewy Blondies. I even had a name for my masterpiece. Are you ready for it? "Can You Fig It?" I know, awesome.

Alas, the ice cream gods were not smiling down upon me, and it was a bust. Not a fig was to be found in the Ben & Jerry's R&D kitchen. Utter sadness. Mental note, next time, must bring own fig jam to the party. I'm not gonna lie, I'm tempted to purchase an ice cream maker just to actualize this fantasy of mine, because now I have a killer craving for something that only exists in my mind.

Geeking out. Oh, food bloggers.

Since my hopes and dreams of flavor stardom were squashed, I regrouped and came up with Choc-Work Orange: a creamsicle-like base (comprised of the standard vanilla based pumped up with 8 milligrams of speckled vanilla and orange extract), copious amounts of chocolate cookie and brownie chunks, plus a fudge swirl.

Other inspired flavors created by fellow bloggers included a Lemon Drop-inspired number with a summery lemon cream base, raspberry swirl, and blondie chunks, as well as a Sweet and Spicy flavor with cinnamon ice cream, a pinch of ancho chile, maple blondie chunks, pecans, and caramel swirl.

Oh man, what an experience. I'll be dreaming of chunks and swirls for days to come. If you found yourself in Ben & Jerry's R&D Kitchen, what would you make?

************

5 Fun Flavor Facts:

• Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream, made with nutty waffle cone pieces, almost never made it -- Colbert took issue with the flavor ("That doesn't work for my character…I don't waffle.")
• Snoop Dog keeps calling for his own flavor. Gin N' Juice, anyone?
• In honor of the Simpsons movie premier, Duff & D'oh-Nuts was created -- comprised of chocolate and cream stout ice creams with chunks of glazed chocolate doughnuts.
• Ben & Jerry's have been known to wear their political views on their pint sleeves, and in September 2009, renamed Chubby Hubby to Hubby Hubby for the month to celebrate the freedom to marry.
• On April 19th (Patriots Day in Boston), Ben & Jerry's will be giving away free samples of their new Boston Cream Pie flavor in three of their Boston Scoop Shops (Prudential Center, Newbury Street shop, & Park Plaza Shop) from 10am to 12pm, while supplies last. The ice cream is coming, the ice cream is coming!

Pumpkin pie ice cream, from beginning to end, at Three Twins Ice Cream

No one eats more ice cream than I do. I know, it's a bold statement--one that some may want to challenge. But I'm pretty confident that it's true. I generally hide the fact from friends until they really get to know me. My family all expects that pints disappear quickly--they hide them amongst the bags of frozen broccoli and peas in the freezer. And one of my favorite parts about going to school in Boston was that it could be 20 degrees and snowing and there'd be a big line for J.P. Licks wrapping around the corner on Newbury St. Those were my kinda' folks.

Thankfully, San Francisco doesn't disappoint either. When I first moved to the Bay Area, I really tried to fight my passion/addiction with a variety of sugar-busting cleanses and tonics. But I've given in. And lately in a few of my favorite scoop shops, I've noticed some seasonal flavors that I can't stop talking about. Fall has definitely arrived and there's no time like the present to get yourself a cone before the season--and these flavors--pass us all by.

Three Twins: How can you not love a local organic ice cream shop that was opened by young native, Neil Gottlieb after deciding to ditch business school and just get moving? Named after their living situation at the time (he lived with his twin brother and his wife), Neil set about to open a sustainable, green business. And it's sustaining me, that's for sure. While pumpkin is not an unusual flavor this time of year, their pumpkin pie ice cream is truly extraordinary. They use real pumpkin that they roast, skin, puree, and infuse directly into the ice cream along with a healthy dose of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. I've had many a pumpkin ice cream cone, but never one with ribbons of real, vibrant pumpkin throughout.

Check out the real pieces of pumpkin!

Three Twins Ice Cream
254 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 487-8946
Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 12pm-10pm
Fri.-Sat. 11am-11pm; Sun. 11am-10pm

Bi-Rite Creamery: Salted caramel fans, rejoice! You will fall in love with the brown sugar ice cream with ginger crumble swirl. It has that super soft, creamy consistency you're used to, but with flecks of ginger bits and rich, perfect caramel--it's quite something. I've been known to get a cone with a scoop of that and a scoop of their seasonal apple pie, a denser ice cream with streams of cinnamony crust and spiced chunks of apple.

Bi-Rite's brown sugar ice cream with ginger crumble swirl

Bi-Rite Creamery
3692 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 626-5600
Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11am-10pm
Fri.-Sat. 11am-11pm

Ciao Bella Gelato: While I usually prefer hitting up some of the local shops, Ciao Bella has a luscious cinnamon gelato that you really should try. It is literally bursting with warm, autumnal flavors. The gals at the Marin shop told me that people either love or hate this ice cream largely because there is so much cinnamon in it. I fall into the love category--although a little goes a long way. I've heard rumors that they're doing a lovely fig balsamic gelato although the past few times I've gone to do some first-hand research, they've been sold out.

Ciao Bella's Cinnamon Gelato

Ciao Bella
One Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 834-9330
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 11am-6pm
Sat. 11am-6pm; Sun. 11am-5pm

Humphry Slocombe: Masters of innovative and seasonal flavors, these guys have created something magical in their Guinness Gingerbread ice cream. This one does sell out quickly--folks call, email, and tweet about its whereabouts--so you may want to check that they've got a bit before heading over. What I appreciate about this ice cream is its subtlety. Owner and ice cream magician, Jake Godby, doesn't hit you over the head with a strong ginger flavor nor does it have that occasional yeasty aftertaste that other Guinness ice creams have. Instead, it has that super creamy texture that folks have come to love at Humphry Slocombe and a quick hint of stout flavor along with bits of warmly spiced gingerbread. After a few licks, you'll remember that Jake used to be a pastry chef and a baker before he got into the ice cream world. It's obvious here.

Humphry Slocombe's Guinness Gingerbread

Humphry Slocombe
2790 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 550-6971
Hours: Everyday 12pm-9pm

I grew up in Southern California. I lived there until I was 25, and inherited most of my food prowess from my mother. She is great at seeking out hole-in-the-wall restaurants with divine food, and we had very few bad meals during my childhood. After moving to San Francisco, my food obsessions became a little more focused, and I often have a list of new places that I'd like to try in Los Angeles. Combine my careful research with mom's, and we spend most of our time tasting our way through my days in Southern California.

Small tangent here, but our family has another...hobby...that you may find strange. We love to check out old cemeteries. We appreciate the history that can be found in cemeteries and, of late, have become quite enamored of a cemetery in Los Angeles where many, many movie stars are buried: Hollywood Forever. The history of this cemetery would take more time than I have right now, but I truly believe it should be on the "must see" list for anyone visiting Los Angeles.

I spent the holiday weekend in Southern California with family, and on Friday we had a couple of out-of-towners who wanted to see Los Angeles. Mom and I put together a fun trip. It was by no means a comprehensive look at Los Angeles, but it provided the guests with an overview of things that we find interesting and tasty.

Stop #1: Westwood Cemetery.

This tiny cemetery in Westwood is one of my favorites. I used to work at the building next door, and we would eat lunch in the cemetery among the graves of Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Dominique Dunne, and others. New tenants include Merv Griffin, Rodney Dangerfield, Jack Lemmon, and Peggy Lee. Though our guests found it initially strange that we would be visiting cemeteries, this first stop chipped through their pre-conceptions and they were ready for the rest of the day.

Stop #2: Milk Restaurant.

After a drive through Beverly Hills and some of the Westside, we stopped at Milk for a sweet treat. I learned about Milk last year through an interview on Good Food. Bret Thompson, the owner, is making handmade sweet treats such as ice cream bon bons, drumsticks, red velvet cake, cookies and sorbets. I have only been here for sweets -- they are delicious and worth a stop. The crew ordered a drumstick, a root beer float, some ice creams and an ice cream bar as our first tastes of the day. It's fun to take out-of-towners here -- the restaurant is right next to CBS studios and has the vibe of the entertainment industry. Even if you don't recognize stars, you will hear lots of conversations about scripts, pilots, shows and other stars.

Stop #3: Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

A quick stop at Grauman's Chinese Theatre was necessary to see the kitschy part of Los Angeles. We stayed a very short time until one guest said, "I get it, this is kind of like taking tourists to Fisherman's Wharf, isn't it." An apt analogy, as locals never tour through Mann's Chinese Theatre, but tourists always want to see it. After watching tourists laying down next to George Clooney's handprints, we quickly left.

Next week, I will tell you about the rest of our Los Angeles Tour. It includes potato tacos, and one of my favorite Japanese meals in Southern California.

Milk Restaurant
7290 Beverly Blvd. (at Pointsettia) [ Map ]
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.939.6455

I'm a very impatient person, but on this trip to Minneapolis patience and forbearance paid off in spades. That said, St. Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream was harder to get into than SPQR at 7:00 on a Friday.

Our first attempt was via the web on Saturday morning. Since we were crossing the grand Mississippi to pay a virgin visit to the St. Paul Farmer's Market, we thought we'd drop by for a frozen scoop or two before lunch. The website put Izzy's opening hours at 2:00pm, which rather late for what is still essentially summer, but we decided to swing by anyway. Maybe the website was wrong.

We got Izzy's, which was clearly closed, and looked at the hours painted on the glass door. They stated they opened at 12:00pm. It was 11:00am. Without anything left to do in the capital city, we went back to Minneapolis to lunch at Bryant Lake Bowl. (This was a happy side trip because we had our first taste of Surly beer, but more on that later.) At 12:30 we headed back across the river. Izzy's was still not open. This time we found a red sign stating that their "fall" opening hours (valid only for September and October because true Minnesotans know that November is not fall but winter) was 2:00 pm. Lord.

Frustrated and yearning for the elusive salted caramel I had sampled over a year ago, we trudged to Kowalski's on Lake Street. We knew they carried Izzy's but sadly, not one pint of salted caramel could be found. I didn't want to be mad at Izzy's -- after all, they were (by their calculations) the first shop in the nation to be run by solar power! Also, I really wanted to get my husband in on that salted caramel because the lines at Bi-Rite have been Bi-Ridiculous.

Our third and final attempt on Monday afternoon actually got us in the open door, but as we scanned the list of ice creams, we saw no Salted Caramel. We looked in the pint freezer. No salted caramel.

We sighed sadly and made other delicious choices -- sampling an incredible pink grapefruit sorbet before settling on seasonal pumpkin and coffee -- but when I mentioned to the girl helping me that I had been hoping for the mythical salted caramel, she said, "We're making it right now. We'll have it tomorrow." I said, "Oh, I'm leaving town tomorrow..." She said, "We'll have it for you when you get back." "No, I live in San Francisco," I mourned. "Hang on," she said. She went next door -- TO WHERE THEY WERE MAKING THE ICE CREAM -- and came pack with a fresh pint. "We haven't blast-chilled it yet, so it's more like soft serve consistency," she told me apologetically.

Did I care? I would have taken it if it was fully liquid! (Also, since my father has this odd habit of microwaving his ice cream to make ice cream soup, this would be better for him.) It was served that night after dinner and received rave reviews from the whole family.

Sweet was the long-sought taste of salted caramel, but sweeter was the way we got it.

Although the calendar says it's only May, it feels more like July this week. My kids are begging to go to the pool every day and I'm craving ice cream. Strawberry ice cream to be specific. Strawberries are in full season in all their sweet glory and what better way to stave off the heat than to indulge in icy cream and fresh berries.

I have often made strawberry ice cream using heavy cream, berries, sugar and not much else. Although these desserts have been creamy and sweet, they were a bit lacking. Without eggs, ice cream just doesn't have the full body and character I'm looking for in my dessert. I have hunted for years for the perfect strawberry ice cream recipe, but most use between 6 and 9 egg yolks. Now I love egg custards (and ice cream made with eggs is essentially just frozen custard), but the more eggs included in a custard, the richer the flavor. Although this can often be a very good thing -- such as with vanilla, pecan or chocolate ice creams -- the richness of too many eggs in custard can detract from the natural sweetness of any fruit you add to it, flattening the flavors. Plus eggs are high in cholesterol and fat, so if I can, I try to avoid them in abundance. What I wanted was a lighter strawberry ice cream with the depth of flavor eggs provide, without overshadowing the strawberries and casting them out of the limelight (or raising my LDL levels).

I recently read a NY Times article that used a pudding recipe for ice cream. The problem is that it uses 8 egg yolks (yes, 8!). I remembered that my pudding recipe is thick and creamy and only uses a couple of eggs, which seemed much more reasonable. I decided to tweak it a little, however, using strawberries instead of chocolate. I also added one extra egg yolk to help bind the ice cream as I was worried the strawberries -- which naturally have a lot of water in them -- would make the custard runny. Heavy cream also seemed a better choice than the whole milk I use in my pudding as this is ice cream we're making, not ice milk. My final alteration was to include some lemon juice and zest to help brighten the strawberry flavors. Finally I plopped everything into the beautiful ice cream maker my husband's aunt bought us a few years ago (thank you Aunt Susie!) with excellent results. The final product had a deep strawberry taste, a rich and creamy texture, and a more complex flavor than the plain cream strawberry ice cream I've made for years. It also allowed the strawberries to star, unlike some custard ice creams I've tried. And best of all, it helped cool us off during this heat wave.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

Makes 4 - 8 servings

Ingredients
3 cups of fresh strawberries (cleaned, hulled and chopped)
½ cup plus 3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Zest from one medium lemon
3 large egg yolks
3 Tbsp corn starch
Dash of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation
1. Puree 2 cups of the strawberries with 3 Tbsp sugar and the lemon juice. Cut up the third cup of berries, mix them with the 4th tablespoon of sugar, and set aside.

2. Heat the heavy cream on medium-low until it starts to steam with small bubbles around the edge. Turn off the heat.
3. Whisk egg yolks with ½ cup sugar in a bowl until the mixture is a light yellow color.
4. Add the lemon zest, corn starch, and salt to the egg mixture and whisk thoroughly, making sure there are no lumps.
5. Add about a half cup of the warmed cream to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously to temper the eggs.
6. Add the egg mixture to the cream and incorporate thoroughly.
7. Cook on medium-low just until the mixture starts to bubble. Be sure to frequently stir or the mixture will start to burn at the bottom. I used a whisk, but a spatula would also work.
8. When the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat and add the strawberry puree.
9. Stir in the vanilla.
10. Chill in an ice bath.
11. Cover with plastic wrap, being sure to let it sit directly on top of the pudding to avoid a skin forming.
12. Refrigerate until fully cooled.
13. Place mixture in your ice cream maker, along with the last cup of berries you set aside in Step 1, and then let it do its thing for about twenty minutes.
14. Place in a container and place in the freezer. Stir every hour or so until firm so it evenly freezes.
15. Serve.

Tips:
1. If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can still make homemade ice cream. David Lebovitz shows you how to make ice cream without a machine.

2. This recipe would also be great using peaches, nectarines, plums, or any other type of berry.

What is the most decadent dessert you can think of? For me, and my childhood memories of trips to Wolfie's in Miami Beach, Florida, it's a tall ice cream sundae or a giant banana split, with no less than 2 scoops of ice cream, rivers of hot fudge, and a mountain of whipped cream (hold the formaldehyde-soaked cherry please!).

Recently, using my birthday as the perfect excuse, I decided that I deserved something a bit over-the-top (and perhaps I was paying homage to that big-eyed childhood excitement of ordering the most decadent thing on the menu). Luckily for me, I've managed to position my home within walking distance of the Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. What I consider, hands-down, to the be the best ice creamery in the Bay Area, and located on, in my humble opinion, the most amazing culinary street in the Bay Area (home to Delfina, Delfina Pizzeria, Tartine, and the Bi-Rite Store).

Before I get into the ooey gooey goodness of my birthday treat, let me describe the Bi-Rite Creamery for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of sampling this year-old ice cream shop's creamy delights. On any warm day, and especially on a rare warm night, you can be sure the creamery will be packed, a long giggling line snaking down the block, chock full of families and young hipsters, folks from the neighborhood and those who've traveled across the city. All there just to get a taste of the artisanal, seasonal flavors that go into Bi-Rite's ever-changing ice cream menu.

Salted caramel.
Honey lavender.
Creme fraiche.
Chai spiced milk chocolate.
Double ginger.
Balsamic strawberry.
Roasted banana.
Luscious lemon. (ok I added the luscious)

Maybe some of the flavors sound out there. But they also have The Best-Ever Yummiest Vanilla Ice Cream. (no really, I swear, that's the title). And Super-Extra Bittersweet Rich Dark Chocolate. And on a recent trip, one of my all-time faves, Rocky Road. Granted it was made with homemade marshmallows and marcona almonds, but it was the best damn Rocky Road that I've ever put in my mouth.

Anyway, I had determined, at least for me, that the banana split was their most decadent item. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of decadence at Bi-Rite Creamery. They have an entire sundae menu. Hell, they have a s'more pie! But their incredible version of this old-school treat had me wide-eyed and feeling naughty.

They start with two giant scoops (or was that four scoops?) of ice cream, your choice. I chose creamy dreamy vanilla and salted caramel. (Ok, before you say "ick" for those of you who haven't tried it, salted caramel is by far my favorite flavor, with it's intense flavor and almost fluffy melty texture. It's not for the timid--it is sophisticated, rich, intense, and yes, decadent.)

The ice cream is drizzled with bittersweet warm chocolate, and then the blow torch comes out. Seriously.

They split the banana, sprinkle it with brown sugar, and fire it up until it's crisp and caramelized. Nestled on top of the ice cream, my perfect banana split is then topped with freshly whipped cream and a handful of caramelized toasted walnuts (I opted out of this last embellishment as I'm allergic to walnuts).

Mmmmmmm. Heaven. I have to admit though, I did have to split my split. But it was all I could do not to lick the bowl when we were finished. I can't wait until my birthday next year. I think I might make this a tradition.

Bi-Rite Creamery
3692 18th Street (between Dolores and Guerrero)
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.626.5600

One of my favorite things to do is go to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream.

I'm sure most of the locals just blanched at that sentence. The food snobs are horrified that I'd be common enough to let such "plebeian" ice cream pass my lips, and the regular snobs can't see hobnobbing with the tourists.

Before I moved down the street, I would have agreed with you. Smelly sea lions, tee shirt shops, and overstuffed tourists whose matching fleeces advertise their ignorance of San Francisco weather? Blech. I've never had much heart for the Wharf, and though I'm a chocoholic, Ghirardelli's middle-of-the-road milk chocolates don't do it for me.

But then we found an apartment that's so close to the Square that the smell of freshly made ice cream cones practically wakes me up in the morning. Add to that my boyfriend's obsession with ice cream, and we were bound to become regulars.

Instead of being dragged kicking and screaming, though, I've found that I adore having an ice cream at Ghirardelli Square. Nevermind that it's Dreyer's (the truck pulls up every morning, regular as rain). Everyone is happy on vacation, and so the place is just brimming with smiles and laughter and good vibrations. People are thrilled to death at the thought of stuffing a gigondo ice cream sundae in their bellies, and no one minds the wait.

As it happens, they also serve some of the best chocolate chip ice cream around. The secret is the size of the chip; if it's too big, the chip stays cold and it's difficult to taste the chocolate. But these chips are teeny-tiny flecks that melt in your mouth, imbuing the ice cream around it (mint, vanilla, or espresso) with chocolatey goodness.

If you live in the city, you owe it to yourself to head to the Square one evening soon. It'll put a smile on your face, guaranteed. Who says Fisherman's Wharf is just for tourists?

Far from the golden hills of California, with endless lush stretches of forest and field, the Green Mountain State lives up to its name. My road trip continues, and this week I find myself heading toward the Northeast Kingdom. Along the way, near the shores of Lake Champlain, I've been enjoying two local treats.

Faced with the uncertain future of sugar maples, eating maple creemees whenever possible is an imperative. Sugar shacks dot the countryside, and if a sign and an arrow point the way to a creemee, I am there. Soft vanilla ice cream swirled with this year's maple syrup -- what better way to celebrate summer in Vermont?

If you're picky about such things as real ingredients (and you must be if you're reading this blog) then be sure to ask at the creemee stands if they use real maple syrup. If not, well...there's always another sugar shack further down the road.

In the village of Barre, pronounced "barry" as I was gently reminded by a local, an especially memorable variation appears in the guise of a maple sundae. At the window of Caesar's Fare, where a red siren light promises rescue from snack attacks, you can order two scoops of maple-walnut ice cream topped with maple syrup (Grade B = "Better & Bolder") and more walnuts. The bitterness of the nuts balances perfectly the sweetness of the syrup. Whipped cream and maraschino cherries complete the experience.

Another local flavor comes from a metal tin. At the other end of the sensuality spectrum, dry and crisp Common Crackers have sustained generations of Vermonters. Round, puffy and neatly halved like a French macaron, they're the New England embodiment of pragmatism. Originally purchased annually by the barrel, these crackers served as breakfast when soaked in milk, lunch when nibbled with cheddar cheese, afternoon tea when spread with jam, or dinner when served with chowder.

Common crackers are descendants of the long-lived, well-traveled hardtack much-maligned by sailors and soldiers, and their close cousins include pilot crackers, water crackers, and sea biscuits. Recently revived by the Orton family, owners of the Vermont Country Store, the crackers are still available 180 years after they were first cut and baked in Montpelier.

I've been enjoying my mini-barrel of common crackers with shards of Grafton Village's six-year cheddar cheese in between my maple creemees. Who cares about crumbs in the car or lactose intolerance with the open road ahead?

Stay tuned for an update next week from Maine. If all goes well, I'll be posting photos of freshly dug steamers and buttery lobsters.

In the meantime, please feel free to share coordinates for your favorite lobster shack along the Down East Coast!

I love ice cream. No, I mean I really love ice cream. I love ice cream so much that I ditched our ancient, puny, barely-functioning refrigerator and bought a new refrigerator because the old one wouldn't freeze my ice cream canister. I even had to rip out two of the six cabinets in our kitchen to fit a normal-sized refrigerator. No, I swear it's true.

I decided that if I was going to go to such lengths for ice cream, then the next step would be to figure out how to maximize the potential of my electric ice cream maker. It's a Cuisinart. It gets really good reviews, and it does work well as long as you use it correctly. After much trial and error, here are the steps that I found were crucial:

1) Freeze the hell out of the canister and don't take it out of the freezer until you are completely set up and ready to freeze your creamy delight.

2) Everything should be prepared in advance. The ice cream base needs to be super cold. The machine should be on the work surface, plugged in. Have an ice cream receptacle (that you will transfer the semi-frozen treat into) ready along with some plastic wrap. Get a rubber spatula.

3) Your adrenaline should kick in at this point. Everything needs to be done quickly. Run to the freezer, grab the canister, slam it onto the machine base, put the beater into place, put on the top, turn on the machine, and then pour in your base.

4) Okay, now you can relax, sit back, have a glass of wine, make some chocolate sauce, whatever. Just keep that motor running for about 30 minutes. Once your base starts to resemble ice cream, you need to start moving quickly again. Use the spatula to get it into the receptacle. Seal it with a kiss, or plastic wrap, and toss it into the freezer for a little while to firm up.

Of course, none of this matters if you don't have a good recipe. Personally, I prefer French-style custard ice cream, rich with egg yolks and cream. If you are even thinking of substituting skim milk for the cream, don't bother making the ice cream. Gelato is a whole different story (don't worry, I'll get to that in another IC Chron). Which is what leads me to my new favorite ice cream recipe: Meyer lemon ice cream. (Yes, ice cream is seasonal, good for all seasons, and just as delicious in the winter as it is in the heat of the summer--you just have to crank up the heat and snuggle under a blanket to enjoy it).

Kim's Meyer Lemon Ice Cream

4 large Meyer lemons, preferably organic

1 pint heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup whole milk

1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

5 large egg yolks, preferably organic

Scant 1 cup granulated sugar

Use a sharp peeler to remove only the colored part of the lemon zest from 2 lemons, in large strips. Try not to remove the bitter white pith, but if you do, you can use a small, sharp knife to scrape it off. In a saucepan, gently heat the cream and milk just until steaming and small bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Use the small knife to scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean pod and add the pod, seeds, and lemon zest strips to the warm cream. Remove from the heat, cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes.

Place a medium-sized bowl inside a large bowl filled with ice water. Set aside.

In a clean saucepan, heat 1-2 inches of water over medium heat until simmering. Using a balloon whisk, in a heatproof bowl, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth and very pale yellow. Reheat the cream mixture just until it begins to steam, but before it boils, and then slowly pour it in stages through a fine-mesh sieve into the yolk mixture, whisking as you add it (it's easier if you ask someone to help you with this step). Stir the mixture together thoroughly and then place the bowl on top of the saucepan of simmering water. Stir the mixture slowly until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (or reaches 185F/85C). Be careful of the steam when you remove the bowl from the saucepan. Pour the ice cream base into the medium bowl (the one set in the larger bowl of ice water). Use a fine zester (a microplane works best) to zest the remaining two lemons into the base. Stir and let the base cool to room temperature. Press a sheet of plastic wrap onto the top of the base, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

When you are ready to make the ice cream, juice the 4 Meyer lemons and strain the juice through a fine-mesh sieve. Stir the juice into the ice cream base. Review the steps of setting up the ice cream maker (esp if you have a Cuisinart like I do) and then freeze the ice cream according to the manufacturer's directions (or mine). Scrape the base into an airtight container and freeze for at least 1 hour before serving. Enjoy!