I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

People have upon occasion asked about the strange chemical-sounding things I put in my ice cream recipes. Now, part of that is because for some things I prefer using the chemical name because it has many different brand-names depending on who is selling it, so for those things I think it will be less confusing if I use the chemical name. But that begs the question of why I'm using those substances in the first place.

So bear with me while I discuss ice-cream making, and the reasons behind my choices of ingredients.
( the quest begins )

Onward! Upward! The quest continues!

Work Christmas Do. At Cutler & Co (we get high-class Christmas dos at our work).
The chef was a Food Artist - and I don't mean that as a food arrangement artist, but as a taste arrangement artist. The canapés were impressive. Stuff I wouldn't have imagined together became all intriguing. That's one of the things I love about our Work Christmas dos - I get dragged outside my food "comfort zone". An adventure in food. Not that I would want to do it that often, but once a year is good.

Best thing: the dessert - violet ice cream (yes, I kid you not), chocolate ganache, raspberry sauce, raspberry crunchy things, cinnamon meringue, a sponge that looked like a sponge, and some sweet powdered substance underneath the ice-cream. Oh, the violet ice cream was awesome, very delicate in flavour with a perfumed aftertaste a bit like eating a frejoa (bad idea to take a mouthful with the chocolate because the chocolate overpowered it).

Second-best thing: cabbage and fennel salad, with just a hint of lemon - seriously, I would not normally rave about a salad, but this was such a deft mix of flavours I was very impressed.

The rest of the food was yummy too, those were just the stand-out best bits. Lamb, fish, crustaceans, sauces and tiny portions of vegetables. You know it's a high-class restaurant when you can count the pieces of carrot in a dish (there were four).

I was also very impressed with how they catered for J who needed gluten-free food. Usually the best a restaurant has done is make special variants of the main and entrée dishes for her, but (a) they brought her her own plate of canapés without the crackers underneath them (b) she got her own gluten-free bread (toasted) while the rest of us were having our bread rolls (c) she was given a menu specifically made for her. Outstanding.

Home Made Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients:
* 1 punnet of Strawberries (bordering on the overripe)
* 1 T pure maple syrup
* 2 T sweetener of your choice (I used "Just Like Sugar" because of its citrus undertone)
* 1/2 t Guar Gum

Method:
1. Chop up the strawberries, cutting out the bad bits.
2. Puree the strawberries (I used my stick blender)
3. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth and slightly thickened.

To serve:
Pour over chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

It was delicious.

There is nothing like a properly sour slice of sourdough dipped into warm, thick, smooth, homemade vegetable soup. Which is what I just had for lunch.

I am amazed that the loaf that I bought yesterday (from the supermarket bakery, of all places) was actually properly sour; so many times I've had something which has been called sourdough, which perhaps had a similar texture to real San Fransisco sourdough, but didn't have the taste. Once in a while, I'd come across a proper one, say, at a restaurant with their own baked rolls, or something like that, but I'd given up hope that one could actually buy a loaf of proper sourdough in this country.

Of course, what will happen is that it was a one-off sourdough special, and that they won't ever bake it again. But I shall enjoy it while I have it.

Another ice cream experiment! Not that I haven't been making ice cream, but it hasn't been that experimental, since I'm on a good thing with the fruit + skim milk powder recipe. Anyway, here's an experimental variation.
( Peachy Keen! )

Another horribly hot day. So of course, there is ice cream!
( Igor, what did you do with the Maple Syrup? )

Old wordcount: 5377
New wordcount: 5623
New words: 246

Though half those words were suggested by JB in our last brainstorming session. Still, they are now Proper Words rather than Notes.

I had two passionfruit (passionfruits?) as part of my dinner. Passionfruit is (are?) one of those kind of fruit (my grammar is confused) - I like them best fresh, by themselves without anything else. Passionfruit sprinkled on other things (such as pavlova or fruit salad) leaves me completely unmoved, and as for passionfruit flavour - bah! So I kind of surprised myself by actually enjoying the by-themself fruit, freshly chopped open and digging out the insides with a spoon.

I'm kind of like that with mango too; mango-flavoured things leave me unmoved, but the whole eating fresh mango experience is YUM. And the only reason I haven't made any mango sorbet yet is because my fresh-fruit-and-veg mixed-box delivery hasn't delivered me any mangos yet. Hmmm. Surely I have them listed as a fruit I like? Maybe they're too expensive to be included. After all, this isn't Queensland.

I have a couple more ice cream experiments to post, but I get the impression you're all bored with them. Problem is, I still want to post them so that I have them all in one place (under the "ice cream experiment" tag)
( here, have a poll )

Woke up this morning and found that there was no water coming out of the taps.
But I had chilled a sorbet mix overnight, so I made sorbet.
( The peasants are crying for water! Let them eat sorbet! )

Last Thursday I made stewed apples for ice-cream purposes (and to use them up); which was just in time to feed to my house-guests as they arrived that evening.
Today I had a second insight regarding gelatine...
( But I read it in a book, Professor Snape! )

I found this recipe for Christmas Pudding Ice Cream and wanted to see what I could do with it.
( That isn't cream, Igor! )