Strollerderby : ice cream

Kitchenista -- Snow Ice Cream

Brett Singer — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

With yesterday's record snow fall, lots of kids doubtless indulged in the snow ball fights, snow angels, and the requisite snowperson ("snowman" seems so last century). But if you want something new, why not try making...drum roll please...

Snow Ice Cream!

This is a real thing, and Valerie Reiss over at Beliefnet's new blog FreshLiving actually went the extra mile and made some. Just to report back on how to do it, and to make absolutely certain that it wasn't poison. Tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

The recipe is pretty basic:

2-3 cups clean snow
2 TBs half-and-half
1 TB maple syrup
1 TB cocoa powder
1 dash pure vanilla
"Add ingredients to medium-small bowl, smoosh with a spoon, serve and enjoy!"

It would never occur to me to do something like this. Then again, I live in Manhattan, where most of the snow turns brown within minutes of landing. Valerie scooped some fresh powder off of her fire escape, other city dwellers could try a park; Central should work, although personally I'd watch out for stray dog mess. Or wait until the next snow fall.

So I haven't tried snow ice cream, but it sounds like just making it would be a hit with kids. One to file away for the next snow day.

Source: Beliefnet FreshLiving

Image: All Recipes (also another way to make it)

Australian Family Says They Were Served Poop Ice Cream

JeanneSager — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:03:00 GMT

Bringing new meaning to the words, "this tastes like crap," an Australin family claims a Sydney hotel staffer served them a bowl of "human excrement ice cream."

Steve and Jessica Whyte took sons Tom, Thomas and Ben to the popular Coogee Bay Hotel after seeing it advertised as a family-friendly venue in which to watch a rugby final match. That they have two sons with almost the same exact name doesn't mean the Whites deserved these kinds of just desserts. A bowl of ice cream, with what they say looked like "compacted chocolate" at the center, was served shortly after Steve Whyte complained to hotel staff that he wasn't able to watch the rugby match as promised.

Jessica says she had the spoon to her mouth when the stench of fecal matter burned her nostrils. She immediately spat the alleged crap into a napkin, but says it scared the s**t out of her. OK, not really, but she has said it has shaken her to the point where she's uneasy wiping their youngest child's hind end these days. The Whytes are glad their sons never got at the frozen feces, but they're hopping mad that someone would serve this to their kids.

An Australian government lab tested the supposed poop, and the report confirms it "has an offensive odour and physical properties similar to human excreta ... and to contain fragments of a variety of plant matter typical of excreta." A statement from the hotel, meanwhile, calls the allegations "suspicious," and accuses the Whytes of trying to extort $1 million from the hotel owners.

It sounds like someone's full of s**t.

Image: The Daily Telegraph (the Whyte family)

Five-Year-Old Catches STD From Dad's Towel?

What Won't Men Do With a Diaper?

Family Keeps Dead Mother in the Freezer For More Than a Year

Want Free Ben & Jerry's? Go Vote

Furniture Industry Won't Suffer as Long As We Keep Making Babies

They Say: More Children Have Allergies

Bipartisan Group Says McCain Would Be Bad for Kids' Health

Want Free Ben & Jerry's? Go Vote

JeanneSager — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:27:00 GMT

If the future of our country, state of our economy, healthcare situation . . . aren't good enough reasons to vote on Nov. 4, I've got one that's (almost) as good. Ben & Jerry's is handing out a free scoop of ice cream to everyone who votes.

What's the catch?

There is none. But it does have its benefits (that stretch beyond your belly). Want to show your kids that voting is worth it? You can talk to them all you want about poverty, war, campaign finance reform. But show them there's free ice cream in it for them? Dude, I'm so totally there. Maybe it's a cheap shot, but, hey, if it works. . .

They don't even care if you care who you vote for; as long as you do it. So when you're done picking the next president, get yourself (and the kids) over to a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop with your "I voted" sticker or a snapshot of yourself in front of the ballot box. The promotion runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., so even late voters can get creamed.

Just save me some Phish Food.

Image: JunkFoodBlog

Family Keeps Dead Mother in the Freezer For More Than a Year

Mother's Milk - Good Enough for Ben, but What About Jerry?

What's Worse, Getting Fat or Getting Pregnant?

They Say: Parents Don't Know Kids are Too Fat or Too Thin

Just in Time for Halloween: How to Make Your Own Slime!

Kitchenista: A Searchable Feast

Adrienne Martini — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:30:00 GMT

If you are at all hungry, do not read further. Also, if you do not want drool on your computer's screen, do not read further. For the rest of you, click on.

Foodgawker is a searchable database of web recipes with gorgeous pictures. You've seen food before, you say. How is this different?

To you, I say:

Chocolate, ice cream and vegetables. If the recipes are half as good as the pictures, we will all be eating well.

Now if they can figure out a way to make these foods magically appear on my desk in edible form, my life will be complete.

Photo credit: eatingoutloud

Kitchenista: It's Magic, Baby

Adrienne Martini — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Back when I was a kid, waaaaay back in the late '70s and early '80s, I was a Magic Shell junkie. I had whole rituals devoted to the stuff -- and always made sure to put enough on so that there'd be hard chunks to pry up once the ice cream was gone. By the end of the summer, I'd eat it off of frozen spoons, scraping thin layers of the hard stuff off with my front teeth. I'm drooling a bit just thinking about it.

One sad, sad day, I stopped and read the label. Horrorstruck I swore never to eat it again. Seriously, stop sometime when you're in the dessert topping aisle and glance at the label. The wonders of modernfood science, indeed.

And so I gave it up.

Until I got pregnant with my second baby and was eight months gone in July. The temps hovered in the upper '80s. I was the size of Pluto, back when it was still a planet. We had no AC. Ice cream was my only delight, my only love. Magic Shell whispered my name one day at the grocery. For three long, hot weeks, I mainlined the stuff, suffused with guilt but so very happy.

I wish I'd known then that you could make your own Magic Shell with just a couple of ingredients, namely coconut oil and chocolate. While it still isn't health food, this recipe does give you some quality control and eliminates all of the stabilizers, etc, that are hard to pronounce.

I'm not sure yet if I'm strong enough to have this in my kitchen again, especially since ice cream season is just around the corner. But I might have to give it a try, just for you, dear readers, to let you know how it compares.

Photo credit: McAuliflower

You Scream, I Scream for Adult Ice Cream

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:05:00 GMT

There's something whimsical about the ice cream truck. It toddles around, singing, shouting, keeping kids tangled in childhood and bringing adults back to it. But who needs a Tweety Bird pop at 30? Thankfully, Gourmet magazine is adult-sizing summertime treats.

And let's face it, if your children's ice cream truck handed out these delicious treats, you'd no doubt push the neighborhood kids out of the way to be first in line. (As if some of you don't already.)

Apple-celery granitas. Chocolate-covered mint ice cream terrine. Peach praline semifreddo with amaretti. I am loving summer all over again.

Kitchenista: The Best Ice Cream You Ever Made In A Baggie

Patti — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:03:00 GMT

Go right now, put this together, shake the heck out of it, and tell me it isn't real, honest-to-goodness ice cream. I'll wait here until you come back.

See? Told you so! I didn't even have rock salt in the house, so I used the fancy, expensive sea salt in my cupboard (it's ice cream, we must sacrifice). I wrapped the baggies in a dishtowel and swung them back and forth while I walked around the house troubleshooting an internet issue over the phone, and before I'd resolved the router problem, I had myself a little bag full of ice cream. Ice cream, which I MADE BY MYSELF. And then I ate it by myself, because a half cup of ice cream isn't big enough to share with two kids (we'll make more after naptime). No fancy electric machines, no ponderous hand cranking. With an expected high of 90 today and no air conditioning, this couldn't have come on a better day.

I saved the sack full of ice and salt in the freezer to reuse, but I think I'll put the next batch of ingredients in a tightly lidded plastic container. Eating ice cream directly from a baggie feels kind of desperate, but it's too yummy to wait for a bowl.

(image credit: The Patent Pending Blog)

Meredith Allen's Summery Art (on a stick!)

Patti — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:28:00 GMT

Next time my kids plead for one of those hideous Dora-shaped frozen pops when the ice cream truck is circling the park, instead of shuddering and saying no I may be willing to open my mind a little bit. After all, I wouldn't want to stifle any artistic instincts they might possess.

Meredith Allen's series of photographs of melting ice pops, shaped like various cartoon characters and shot at different recreation spots between 1999 and 2006, have changed my perceptions of these nasty, gumball-eyed little horrors. You too may be looking for beauty in snack treats after a glance at her gallery of intensely colored images.

And jeez, if there was a Dora one, I'd even think about buying a print.

(image credit: Meredith Allen)

Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day Today!

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:33:00 GMT

For ice cream lovers, this is the best day of the year. It's the day participating Ben & Jerry's stores hand out free cones from noon until 8PM.

Parents, this is your dream come true. For those that are into extrinsic rewards and bribes, you can hang this over your kids all damn day! Kids not listening? "No Phish Food for you!!!" And if you play your cards right, you may be able to hit up every store in your town. (But you didn't hear that from me.)

Now grab the Chunky Monkeys and go get some free ice cream!

San Diego Ice Cream Vendors Banned from Selling (Toy) Guns

Karen Murphy — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:57:00 GMT

"Hey kid, can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'd like a Nutty Buddy and an AK-47, please?"

"Coming right up."

Not only are my hypothetical ice-cream vendor and kid customer impossibly polite, but soon they'll be illegal, at least in San Diego, where city council recently proposed an ordinance to ban the sale of realistic toy guns from ice cream trucks. I say sell the guns in the schools where they belong. [kidding. I so am kidding]

Seriously, WTF?? Is it just me or isn't there something really wrong about selling guns from ice cream trucks? Call me crazy but I thought they sold...ice cream. When I was growing up, the siren's call of some insipid tinkly kid's song would blare through the neighborhood at dinnertime and all the lucky kids who had the money would swarm out of their houses and gather at the curb to buy their confections.

In my day, the closest thing you could get to a gun from the ice cream man was some popsicle-thing with the word "bomb" in it.