The first person to respond was Harriet. "Ben & Jerry's Pistachio," she answered quickly. Carol went next with Bryers' Mint Chocolate Chip - a classic. Jarrett then responded that he was having a hard time deciding but chose Thomas Sweet's Vanilla-Strawberry-Banana Blend-In. Callie chose a local small batch producer/food truck - Zsa's Salted Caramel (a flavor, by the way, that always sells out quickly at the twice-annual Food Truck-a-Thon at my local Co-op in Swarthmore). Connie didn't know the brand of hers, but the flavor for sure - Mocha Chip. I named Ciao Bella's Key Lime Graham. It turns out that both Erik and Angelique aren't big ice cream eaters so they had trouble with this. Erik finally named a banana milkshake and Angelique chose simple strawberry. Just as we were closing out, Jarrett changed his mind. "No, not the blend-in. Change mine to chocolate soft serve from…what's it called...that gross roadside place…" (laughter around the table).
We had a great time talking about our small distraction from regular business. It got me thinking some more about ice cream. A few years ago I embarked upon making my own ice cream. My husband had bought me a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer for a birthday and there was a special deal where it came with a bonus attachment of his choosing. Smart man, he chose for me the ice cream maker attachment. However, I had let a couple years pass before giving the ice cream making a try. I imagined it would be complicated. I thought I'd try what seemed a simple enough French Vanilla from the accompanying recipe book. The custard base was involved, and though I got through it and even tried again to make a few variations - it was more than I'd bargained for, especially on my own, and the results were only okay.
Then my co-op offered an ice cream making class. I signed up and that's when I met Philadelphia-style ice cream. Much less cooking required. Very simple recipes. Now this was going to be a lot easier! I can do this regularly! And I can play around too! I was excited to jump in and soon I was even creating my own flavors with my new found methods - Blueberry Buckle ice cream. Strawberry-Basil-Balsamic ice cream. The fantastic thing about Philadelphia-style ice cream is that it starts off with only 3 key ingredients: Cream, sugar, and your flavoring (you add an acid if you're using non-citrus fruit as the flavor). To make Strawberry-Basil-Balsamic, for example, my total list of ingredients was: Fresh strawberries, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar (my acid), sugar and cream. Simple. Fresh. Cold, creamy wonderfulness.
It was a revelation to find that I could do this myself. We're told in so many ways by our current society that we're too dumb to make or do things ourselves. I've become much more interested in making my own food from scratch since reading the following quote by a friend of chef Michael Ruhlman, "Americans are being taught we’re too stupid to cook and it’s simply not true."(from his blog post: America: Too Stupid to Cook).
It has changed my thinking about food, for sure, but other things too. What else have I been taught is more difficult than it really is? Praying? Reading and understanding the Bible? Talking to others about what I understand things to mean, and what that means for my faith and my life. All of those for sure.
I have a hard time starting a prayer. Where to begin? Well with ice cream it is cream, sugar, flavor. With prayer, you can start with thanks, confession, and asking (actually, prayer can be even simpler - you could just do one piece to start with!) Reading the Bible? Well, with ice cream I started with a recipe. Take it from the top. Just open it up and start in. Or, even better like I did - find a class. Some other people to read the recipe over with and ask questions, someone else who's done it before to guide the way. Before you know it, you're reading on your own!
It turns out that it doesn't have to be as hard as it might at first seem. Start off slowly, get your feet under you, and you'll be making ice cream with ease and enjoying an enriched faith life you weren't sure you could have. And you can always move up to custard-style ice creams later when it feels right. ;-)
~ Natalee Hill
PS: I didn't intend it this way when I came up with my blog post idea, but this post feels like a good plug for our Biblical Studies at St. Martin's. So, I'll just mention that we currently have three sessions running. NO experience with the bible and NO homework is required for any of them. This is your ice cream class!
PPS: Some ice cream recipes to get you started
1: The absolutely most-simple ice cream recipe ever - perfect for kids! (NO maker necessary!)
2: When you're ready to commit to an ice-cream freezing device. (There's a link for how to make it if you don't have the ice cream maker too - it will take longer, but it can be done!)
3: Custard-style for the truly committed. (From Food & Wine Magazine, so it must be good, right?)
