i don’t know why but even though we’ve been doing it for many years, i am still surprised that we occasionally find enjoyment by going out and hitting a small ball around a course.
we go maybe 3 or 4 times a year which is not nearly frequently enough to get any good ( although i do occasionally win awards ), but infrequently enough to find it an amusing way to pass the time. perhaps we’ve stumbled upon the secret to enjoying the game of golf.
hitting a few buckets of balls on the driving range has become a semi-traditional start to summer.
odin, silently pondering his shot? or attempting to tune out all the advice we are trying to give him about putting his hands this-way-and-not-that-way and placing his feet just so? or both?
overall, odin has nice form, though we are still working on “keep your eye on the ball”.
observant golfers will note that odin might be a “lefty”, but only with golf a golf club. in tennis, hockey, baseball etc he’s most comfortable holding the raquet, club or bat as a “righty”, but such is not the case with a golf club.
we keep thinking he’ll adjust but he never does even after having proper lessons. time to buy some lefty clubs?
i knew i wanted something that really played to the home field advantage of being able to use eggs laid fresh in the morning by The Girls and i didn’t have to look very far since the recipe booklet for the ice cream maker had a wonderful-sounding recipe for triple chocolate ice cream that called for eight egg yolks!
anything with 3 kinds of chocolate, heavy whipping cream, half and half and eight egg yolks has to be super tasty, right? it’s like that old joke about pizza, even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.
( note: don’t miss the 2 cooling steps! i did which extended the whole process to three days given my schedule. you can certainly make the ice cream in one day if you plan ahead. )
triple chocolate ice cream
ingredients
2 cups organic valley heavy whipping cream
2 squares ( 1 oz, 30 g each ) semisweet baking chocolate, cut into chunks
2 squares ( 1 oz, 30 g each ) unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into chunks
2 cups organic valley half & half
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
8 egg yolks
4 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 bars ( 1.55 oz, 46 g each ) milk chocolate, chopped ( about 1 1/2 cups )
in a small saucepan, place 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate. heat over medium-low heat until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. remove from heat; set aside. in medium saucepan over medium heat, heat half & half until very hot but not boiling, stirring often. remove from heat; set aside.
in small bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder. set aside. place egg yolks in mixer bowl. attach bowl and wire whip to mixer. turn to speed 2 and gradually add sugar mixture; mix about 30 seconds, or until well blended and slightly thickened. continuing on speed 2, very gradually add chocolate mixture and half & half; mix until well blended.
return half & half mixture to medium saucepan; stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until small bubbles form around edge and mixture is steamy. do not boil. transfer half & half mixture into large bowl; stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream, vanilla and salt. cover and chill thoroughly, at least 8 hours.
put ice cream “freeze bowl” and mixing attachments in place and turn on speed 1. pour chilled mixture into freeze bowl.
continue on speed 1 for 10-15 minutes or until desired consistency, adding milk chocolate during last 1 to 2 minutes of freeze time. immediately transfer ice cream into an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours.
yield: 16 1/2 cup servings.
so, how does it taste? if you’re into chocolate and creamy, rich goodness, then really, really, really good. it rides right up to the line of over-the-top richness and stops just short.
sigh. the day finally arrived. odin’s last day of kindergarten. a bittersweet day to be sure. of course, odin is nothing but excited because not only is it the last day of school, but the Summer Birthday Kids also collectively celebrate their birthdays.
the parents of the Summer Birthday Kids are also excited because they get to have a special morning with the kids where we hang out with them in the play yard before the bell rings and go for the children on their morning walk and watch a special little celebration filled with laugther and songs and stories.
as is quite typical of a waldorf education kindergarten morning at his school, odin begins by climing his favoritest tree!
i’ll bet he’s climbed this tree every day for the past two years ( for those that don’t know, in a waldorf school kids usually don’t start first grade until they are seven, so odin is finishing his second year of kindergarten ).
he’s looking for a caterpillar that he discovered in the tree yesterday and was very eager for us to see it, but alas, the caterpillar had wandered off.
looooooots of running and laughter in the morning. it’s seems like A Proper Way to start the day and i can’t imagine it any other way ( sitting at a desk?! ).
then we went on a walk and watched the children empty their compost into the compost buckets and even got a little tour of the greenhouse where the older kids are growing all sorts of green things for the school garden.
and then it was time to take off the outside shoes and light candles and listen to songs and a wonderful story told by Miss Shannon about birthdays and make music and watch odin walk over a “Rainbow Bridge” laden with silk scarves to mark the passing of The Kindergarten Years ( no cameras allowed for that part 🙂
when i was growing up i always extra enjoyed having a may 25th birthday because it came just around the time the school year was ending and the unofficial start of summer, memorial day weekend. all kinds of awesomeness happening all at once.
now, my approaching birthday reminds me that odin is almost done with another school year, ending his Kindergarten Years, and i’m another year older ( and certainly not getting any younger ).
which is all good. it is The Way of Things. though i sure wish i could bottle of the feeling of walking together to school with odin nearly every day of The Kindergarten Years.
he still wants to hold hands, for now. when he’s not riding his bike.
it’s hard to believe that odin is approaching the end of The Kindergarten Years at school. he’s already super excited to start first grade but he’s also a little sad to be saying goodbye to his kindergarten teacher so he decided to give her a special little gift – a shell from the shores of maine that we collected on our vacation while possibly in search of jasper.
he quietly gave it to her after we walked to school and they exchanged a glance that made me quite sure she really appreciated the thoughtfulness of his sweet gesture.
odin and i gave his mother a camera for mother’s day, but i think there’s a little confusion over just whose camera it is! but he has good instincts – when i said it was time to go pick our first harvest of asparagus from the family garden, he asked to wait a minute and ran inside and grabbed his, er, her camera 🙂
i’m impressed with his ability to manage the camera and the plate while composing the shot 🙂
here’ a little video he shot while picking the first harvest.
and less than 20 minutes later it was being enjoyed at the dinner table.
odin was up very early putting his new finger knitting skills to good use as he wanted to make his mother a Very Special Bracelet before she woke up. he’s getting so good with the required eye hand coordination that i have to ask him to slow down to take a good picture.
he can crank out a nice 4 string bracelet or bookmark or whatnot in very short order while i still struggle with the basic concept of how to finger knit.
the finished product! he thought it would be a nice touch to take the picture with it shaped like a heart. i like his thinking. i’m sure his mother will love it.
now, let’s see, if i can get him to work 12 hours a day making bracelets and bookmarks…
then it’s time to wrap up a super secret gift we both got for her that she’s been wanting for A Really Long Time. odin thought it would be fun to wrap and color the entire box to make it super special.
i love, love, love that he whistles while he works. and a kind-of lonesome cowboy tune to boot that i can’t remember the name of at the moment.
