Leap Into Spring With Delicious Mint Ice Cream!

For those of us who live in the western hemisphere, it's the time of year when we get to spend more time outdoors. It could be as simple as a local walk, or more adventurous such as visit to a tourist attraction or even going away on vacation. In all those scenarios, eating ice cream becomes an option and a pleasurable one at that!

I've just been for a walk in the Spring sunshine around a lake not far from my home. No sooner had I parked my car than I spotted the small ice cream counter at the boathouse cafe with a queue forming! The walk could wait a few more minutes I thought :)

So I waited patiently for my turn and without hesitation chose a mint choc chip ice cream cone. Just one scoop, no sauce, no chocolate flake. At the start of the ice cream eating season you have to build up to such things! It was delicious and not too much of an indulgence to put me off my walk. So I was able to feel indulgent without any guilt! I love this ice cream flavour and, indeed, have my own recipe for homemade mint choc chip ice cream.

This is a great ice cream to serve at home for family or friends. One of my favourite ways of serving it is with fresh fruit and a sprig of fresh mint from my garden, all set in a chocolate waffle basket.

It makes for an interesting and colourful dessert whilst not being too heavy such as a pudding might be. So it's ideal for completing just about any menu.

Note: I chose the sprig of fresh mint because it is a timeless and wonderfully versatile herb. I was reading about it just recently and its history in culinary dishes goes way back. It was popular in medieval times as a salad ingredient along with purslane and even flowers like the primrose. So if you fancy a salad with a difference check out this page about medieval salad dishes from the 12th century. Having a cup of fresh mint tea is another option of course. I love to pick fresh mint from my garden, drop it in a cup and just add boiled water. Letting it steep for 5 minutes produces such a refreshing drink. I love it!

So whether it's ice cream, a salad or a hot drink, fresh mint can be on the menu in your home in many different ways!

Mint Choc Chip In The Rain - No Worries!

My recent ice cream blog post about Ice Cream For A Queen mentioned how people would be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee with street parties and concerts, etc. The celebrations were spread over 4 days up and down the length of Britain as well as in Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia.

In Britain the weather was not the expected sunny, warm spell that everyone had hoped for. There was a lot of rain in some places. Even so, it didn't dampen the spirits of people in their keenness to celebrate and have a good time.

Here is Dylan, phtographed by his dad Paul at a fun park near London over the Jubilee weekend.

As you can see, it had been raining and although many children might look glum dressed in a plastic raincoat, unable to enjoy the outdoors .... not Dylan! An ice cream treat of a delicious mint choc chip cone was all he needed to stay happy. Simple but delightfully innocent and heartwarming. Dylan has loved ice cream since he was a baby - check out one of my previous ice cream blog posts entitled 'The Ice Cream Smile' from 2010 when Dylan was still in his high chair and see what he was doing with ice cream even then!

Thanks to Dylan's Dad Paul for kind permission to use his photos.

Oh and 'Happy Birthday' this week Dylan. Hope you get to enjoy lots more ice cream :)

Mint Choc Chip Sundae

Popular ice cream flavors remain pretty constant or so it seems from the visitor stats on my ice cream recipes website. The top 10 ice cream flavors have hardly changed in the last 5 years and mint choc chip ice cream is always up there! Personally, I think the color and flavor make mint choc chip ice cream a perennial top 10 ice cream :)

Here is one of my favorite ice cream sundaes ... a combination of mint and chocolate in different ways. It's a waffle basket with a dark chocolate lining (you can just as easily use a plain waffle basket or even a small glass dish) filled with lots of goodies - chunks of fresh melon, pineapple, a juicy big strawberry, mint choc chip ice cream, a chocolate decorative wafer and a sprig of fresh mint from the garden.

Ice Cream In A Basket

Ice cream in a basket? Yes, it's just one of many great ways of serving ice cream at this time of year.

Waffle baskets are similar to waffle cones and I like the ones lined with chocolate as it adds a little extra 'oomph' to the ice cream. What's nice about a waffle basket is that there's enough room to have a scoop or two of fresh ice cream wedged in between a few chunks of fresh fruit.

Check out my mint choc chip ice cream sundae in a chocolate-lined waffle basket. Delicious!

Read about the origins of the ice cream sundae and Google's Ice Cream Sundae Doodle

Ice Cream Cone Holder - A Welcome Idea

Have you noticed how, whenever you eat an ice cream cone there's always a bit which melts without you noticing and drips down onto your fingers? It then risks getting on your clothes and, what's more, it tends to all gather at the base of the cone and make it soggy and sticky.

Some people would say that's part of the fun of ice cream and when I was a child I would definitely have agreed .... but now? Well, I must admit to finding myself clutching a paper tissue in readiness before I even get served at the ice cream counter!

Countenance my delight, therefore, when I was recently handed an ice cream cone in its own paper cone holder - free of charge and without asking. It was even branded with the local ice cream maker's name .... a nice little marketing ploy and one I wholly congratulate them on.

Here's a picture of the mint choc chip ice cream cone my son chose - you can see the paper cone holder quite clearly.

FOOTNOTE: In N. Ireland they use the term ice cream poke instead of ice cream cone.

Hairdressing, ICT & Ice Cream

Like most people I have to get my hair cut once in a while and this week I paid one of my regular visits to see Naomi who cuts my hair for me. She's been cutting it for a couple of years now I suppose and she's very good. She's always friendly and we usually enjoy a good chat. The other day was no exception. She was explaining how the salon had just changed its range of hair colorants and how she is getting used to using them. Apparently, it's all done by numbers and she has to try and match a client's color from the previous range to the new one. We agreed it's a bit like a recipe, having to get the right balance of ingredients so that the end result is just right. That was it ... we only had to mention the word 'recipe' and I started talking about ice cream!

After that we indulged in discussing our favorite ice cream flavors. It was the end of Naomi's working day and I was the last client there so I felt at ease developing the conversation. Katie, who had just washed my hair, then joined in the discussion. We all agreed we love ice cream yet found out that it's for very different flavors.

• Naomi enjoys raspberry ripple ice cream.


• Katie prefers strawberry or mint choc chip ice cream.


• I of course like just about all of them but would have to admit to preferring good old fashioned vanilla ice cream.
  

Same thing happened when I was ordering a new handset for the office telephone system the next day. I rang Gary who had last helped me with our telephones 3 years ago. I half expected to hear that he had moved on as is so often the case with people these days. But no ... he was still there, much to my delight for Gary is a fantastic ICT (information and communications technology) field sales consultant, knowledgeable, efficient and courteous. In a matter of minutes he had sorted my problem and I said I would write about his efficiency on my ice cream blog, but only if he told me his favorite flavor. He had little hesitation in saying 'chocolate'.

Many people I've talked to over the years have told me they like chocolate ice cream. It's amazingly popular .... and it's not difficult to understand why. If you make it with a rich custard base and use real chocolate it's absolutely delicious!

So thank you Naomi, Katie and Gary for providing me with a greater insight into people's ice cream tastes. I find I can never guess what ice cream somebody is going to say they like so I enjoy finding out whenever the opportunity crops up. I wonder who's next ? :)

Ice Cream Jigsaws

Making ice cream at home can be fun, even for children (as long as they're supervised!) but once they've made and eaten the ice cream, how do you stop them wandering off to sit down and maybe watch tv or play the same old computer game over and over? Here's one answer - ice cream jigsaws.

Everyone loves jigsaws - I have many happy memories doing them with my son when he was younger - and because I know so many people love ice cream I decided to bring the two things together. Based on some of our own photographs on ice-cream-recipes.com there are now 4 free, downloadable jigsaws you can do on your computer. The jigsaws are of 2 ice cream sculptures that my friend Barbra helped to make (Granny's House and Ice Cream Pyramids) and 2 ice cream sundaes that I made and photographed at home (Mint Choc Chip wafer basket sundae and Lemon Sorbet).

I hope the actual photographs that the jigsaws are based on might even serve to inspire some of you to make more of your own ice cream presentations - it's great fun and when you see people's reactions to what you've made it feels really worthwhile.

Read more about making ice cream sculptures

Here's a great daily jigsaw puzzle you can do online.