We all scream

We started getting home milk delivery a month or so ago, which has been quite nice, though it requires a minimum order of 3 bottles per week, which we haven’t quite been finishing. 2 weeks ago Clare made yogurt with the surplus. This week we switched the order a bit and got some cream, to try our hand at making ice cream. We thought that a great time to do it would be when our friends Christine, Ian, and Melanie were visiting.

Spencer and I picked them up Friday morning from the airport. Then we went to lunch at the Thai restaurant by our house, where we all delighted in the wonderful tofu dishes. Then we all took naps (except me), then we grilled dinner, and then got to making ice cream. There was only one hitch. We don’t have an ice cream maker. However, I had been reading online about different ways to make ice cream with makeshift materials.

One common way is to use 2 coffee cans. We don’t have any coffee cans though. Another way is to use 2 ziploc bags. You can only make a tiny bit like this though. Another way is to simply use 2 different bowls, or a bucket and a bowl. You put the ice and rock salt in the bigger of the two, and the ice cream mixture in the smaller bowl. The rock salt lowers the freezing point of water, so instead of having 32° F ice cubes, you get more like 28°F water. The cold transfers to the cream mixture gradually as you stir it. I thought that we could try putting a bowl under our kitchenaid mixer to get this effect. Unfortunately, it did not work too well. I think there was just not enough surface contact between the ice and the bowl. We continued trying different makeshift add-ons for about an hour. Eventually I got a bigger bowl, with high sides. We filled that with the ice and salt, and put the kitchenaid bowl inside that, and stirred it by hand. It probably took another hour or so, but eventually it did work. Next time I think we would start off with the 2 bowl method. Or perhaps we will get an actual ice cream maker, if we ever see one on sale.

I should note that all the pictures taken with the powershot were by Melanie, and all the ones with the 40D were taken by Ian.