2012: the year of the ice cream

Hello, my friends!  And, Happy 2012...the Year of the Ice Cream. 

OK.  I might have just made that up.  According to the Chinese Zodiac, it's actually the Year of the Dragon.  But, after our experience with ice cream making yesterday, I'd say that there are few better ways to ring in a New Year than with homemade ice cream.  While dragons are admittedly fierce and flashy and fire-breathing and all, ice cream is faithful, the ultimate in comfort foods.  And, if there's something I like when change is in the air, it's comfort.  With all the New Year's resolutions (read stress and pressure) flying around, it's good to have a comfortable, old standby. Enter ice cream.

Now, as comforting as store-bought ice cream is to the taste buds (I admit that I'm a sucker for Ben & Jerry's), I often look at the ingredient lists and wonder why ice cream requires a long list of twenty plus ingredients.  I personally don't find that comforting.  So, when this ice cream recipe required a mere four ingredients, I was sold.  After just one bite in, I was completely convinced.  Homemade ice cream is the way to go.

We had the luxury of borrowing an ice cream maker from a friend, whose ice cream and sorbet creations we had tasted and loved.  I imagine that this process would not have been nearly as simple had we been using the tin can method or the plastic bag method.  While both sound fun in their own way, the ice cream maker was a cinch!

So, welcome 2012 with some ice cream!  If you have an ice cream maker or know a very sharing friend who would loan theirs to you, you're guaranteed to be one very happy, very full-bellied, very well-comforted girl or guy! I bet that, after a bite, even the flashiest of dragons would be forced to agree.