Fro to the Yo
But summer is over you say? Hardly. Around these parts things are just heating up so to honor this wee bit of warm weather I decided to whip up a frozen treat. I typically would go for a heavy cream based something-or-other but after eating our faces off on vacation I decided to live a little lighter and make a simple, vanilla yogurt.
The great thing about frozen yogurt is that can be pulled together lickedy banana split! There’s no need to let the custard chill for 24 hours before mixing. A little cooling and couple of spins in the maker and you’re done. This one goes from mixing bowl to belly in under 90 minutes.
From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Makes about 1 quart (1 liter)
3 cups (720 g) plain Greek yogurt (I used 0%/nonfat but low or full fat would be delicious)
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix yogurt, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Salad Slingin’ Sunday
Oh Sunday. I love you so (insert sleeping in, day hikes and Extreme Home Makeover). But there’s no denying the inevitable Monday morning dread. Regardless of how I’m feeling on any given Sunday its loved and loathed arrival always means that it’s time to prep for another work week. A quick pass through my schedule helps me organize a few details. What days looks to be more challenging at the office? When will I work out? When can I see friends? And laundry, when will that happen? In addition to the bit of time management I also try to be mindful about my mid-week meals.
Why Did the Dairy Cow Cross the Road?
To get to the pint of Guiness, of course. You see, there is a magical thing that happens when a hearty stout meets heavy cream and chocolate. It’s called GUINNESS CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM!
It sounds a little hair-brained doesn’t it? You might think this idea was compliments of the folks who put bacon and garlic into chocolate chip cookies. Not so! In fact I stumbled onto this recipe while looking through those from the great David Lebowitz’s in his book The Perfect Scoop.
Yule (b)Log
I love the yuletide season and for the past five years I’ve indulged by hosting a party to share it with friends. It’s become a tradition that I look forward to more each year. Along with my circle of close girlfriends, there always seems to be a special guest or two. Someone’s parents or friends visiting from out of town. There are a few recurring themes; some variety of sparkling cocktail, a new play on gift’ing and loads of butter in many fattening and fabulous forms. This year managed to deliver on all three rituals. Most fun was the manifestation of the butter in my first attempt at a Buche de Noel.
Schmancy Tartare
Last summer I was lucky enough experience a meal at The French Laundry in Yountville, CA. Each course was as spectacular as I’d anticipated and watching the staff carefully handpick the days’ produce from the restaurant’s garden was a special treat. If you have a few minutes, take a look at Anthony Bourdain’s experience there in this video (know that the first 5 minutes of this vid is of Anthony eating oysters in SF. If you’re in a hurry, scrub/fast-forward to 5:56 to jump to his time at The French Laundry.).
It’s hard to recall which dish was my fave but most memorable was certainly the salmon tartare cornets with sweet, red onion creme fraiche. Think miniature ice cream cones filled with smooth salmon tartare and cream. Every inch of the buttery crisp cones were impeccably browned and their petite size made the ratio of fish, cream and cracker in each bite pure heaven.
To Market
One of the great advantages of living in San Francisco is having access to some amazing fresh produce, year round. A number of the world’s finest chefs as well as home culinistas/os draw their inspiration from these local flavors and lucky for us, the local sun, rain and soil composition grant both Alice Waters and Alice Whatchamahoozy access to the same special ingredients. Both of these leagues tend to collect their fundamentals from farmers’ markets throughout Northern California and none have garnered more heart than that held at SF’s historic Ferry Building.
1 comment