three years ago i took a picture of myself “stealing” peas from organic valley’s chief marketing executive’s employee garden. a few years ago, somebody from organic valley asked for pictures from the employee garden to be used in a presentation, so i gave them the picture with many others. it must have ended up somewhere in our graphics department, because this week i was pleasantly surprised to see it blown up on the wall of the employee cafe with a few other food/garden pictures.
so now you know how i ended up listening to academic, journalist, activist and writer, raj patel, speak ( he’s an excellent speaker by the way ) on the global food economy and participatory democracy at a fundraiser for the valley stewardship network in front of my disembodied hand stealing theresa’s peas.
i think there’s a metaphor in there somewhere. or maybe not.
and so, after moving 3 yards of dirt from one place to another i thought it’d be nice to take a rest on the lawn and say hello to The Girls who are normally a little wary of The Big Man, but are willing to abandon The Raspberry Patch to investigate when he has A Bit of Food.
being well-versed in The Way of The Chicken, i do believe they are thinking, “WHATCHADOING? WHATCHADOING? WHATCHADOING? GOTSOMEFOOD? GOTSOMEFOOD? GOTSOMEFOOD?”
and more, “WHATCHADOING? WHATCHADOING? WHATCHADOING? GOTSOMEFOOD? GOTSOMEFOOD? GOTSOMEFOOD?”
being The Great Defender of All Members of The Pack, pushkin decides it’s time to investigate The Situation.
without being too anthropomorphic, i recognize well the slight furrowing of his brow indicating Worry that Someone or Something May Be In Distress.
all is Right As Rain, though, with a good scratch behind the ears.
it might sound morbid, but whenever i walk into a voting booth i invariably think of all the people who have died defending our freedoms, including the right to vote and all the people who have died around the world attempting to get the right to vote.
it seems like the least i could do is to stay informed of the issues to make the best decision i can with a mark on a ballot.
by the time i cast by ballot right before the polls closed over 1,600 people had voted in the controversial kapanke recall which is easily 4 times what would be considered a normal turnout in a mid-term election.
it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out. i saw a lot of unfamiliar faces at the voting station, including the elderly man in the booth next to me who had appeared to have never voted before.
amusingly ( or not ), despite the new sort-of requirement for a driver’s license and signatures on paperwork, kris voted after me and discovered the kindly volunteers had mixed up our ballot numbers and names which could have possibly invalidated both our votes.
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.
of course, if you’re visiting jasper beach, you might rightly expect to find some jasper, but it occurred to us that none of us could identify jasper if it hit us on the head. which, i think, is the same reaction we had the last time we went to the beach. but, hey, it’s still a grand time looking for coole rocks even if they aren’t jasper. a grand time, that is, once you get past the fact that the ocean is take-your-breath-away freezing even in august. and the stone beach can be a little rough on tender feet 🙂
it seems that odin has inherited our humble love of rocks and, at least for now, enjoys strolls along rocky coastlines looking for Just The Right One.
you can find all sort of neat rocks, but which are jasper? well, it turns out, NONE! that’s right, according to the maine geological survey the red rocks on the beach are a volcanic rock called rhyolite and not actually jasper:
“Although Jasper Beach is named after the red volcanic stone that is common on the beach, that rock is not truly jasper. Jasper is a form of silica that is enriched in iron, whereas the red stone on Jasper Beach is a fine-grained volcanic rock called rhyolite. Its attractive appearance is also due to the polished surface formed by constant abrasion against sand grains.”
so, these fine specimens certainly aren’t jasper. or even rhyolite, but they’re still pretty neat ( bonus points will be awarded for helping me identify the rocks ).
odin, switching feet while balancing on a wet, slippery rock as the waves come and go. what could possibly go wrong ( thankfully, nothing, this time )!
