I is for Ice Cream

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Number of bowls of ice cream eaten in my life: more than 1,000Number of years worked as a professional ice cream scooper: 4 Number of countries in which bowls of ice cream were eaten: more than 4, less than 20. Number of times made ice cream myself: 0

These statistics are skewed! It was time to change that big fat ZERO. I have happily admired, eaten and served ice cream for years without ever trying to make it myself. That's crazy. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to make ice cream, but I can now put myself among the elite. And I have two words to describe the experience: WOW, and YUM.

At home in Ann Arbor with my folks, we spent a lot of time this weekend watching Wimbledon and making things. I had found this recipe in the July Real Simple magazine, and was really excited to make my favorite ice cream flavor: Mint chip.

The ingredients are "real simple:"

2 bunches fresh mint

1 cup whole milk

1 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

6 large egg yolks

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

The mint leaves I found were definitely spearmint, and they reminded me of the tea we drank in Morocco, the kind that isn't really tea, it's just mint leaves and sugar.  The recipe called for two "bunches” and since who knows what THAT means, what I included could very well have been 4 bunches, or even 8! It was MINTY.

First step: The MINT.

Minty-Ice-Cream

What a beautiful bowl of mint!

Not quite as attractive after it takes a sauna with whole milk and heavy cream...

Second step: The CUSTARD.

Make-Mint-Ice-CreamCollage

It was at this point that I realized: Green ice cream can be naturally green in color! This was 100% natural green color.

This part was highly labor intensive. Thankfully, I had two sous chefs.

Third step: CHURN, baby CHURN.

Oh, this is the fun part... The Kitchenaid mixer doesn't have a lid so you can watch the show.

IceCreamStir

Fourth step: The CHOCOLATE. And a little nod to San Francisco!

Chocolate-Chunks

Fifth step: The EATING.

Eat-Ice-Cream

Even Mabel enjoyed the mint... Mint-Ice-Cream-with-Mabel

Ooh my. If I had to give this ice cream a name, it would be Moroccan Mint Chip. You're transported to Marrakech with each bite. Exotic, calming, delicious.

And it will always remind me of tennis.