Strawberry Ice Cream

I made some ice milk as soon as I could after I got my new ice cream maker, but this batch of strawberry is my first attempt at "ice cream".



I'm not complaining. I think I will let the berries macerate a bit longer next time, because they're frozen in there like little ice cubes. I wish they have a bit more give when bitten. Other than that, I'm so sold on this machine. *love*

Cuisinart Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
1 pt fresh strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 T lemon juice
1 c sugar, divided
1 c whole milk
2 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract

Combine strawberries, lemon juice and 1/3 c of sugar. Allow the strawberries to macerate in the juices for 2 hours.

In a medium bowl, whisk milk and sugar until dissolved. Add heavy cream, vanilla, and any juices from the strawberry mixture. Chill thoroughly.

Churn per ice cream machine's manufacturer's instructions, adding berries during the last five minutes of the freeze cycle.

I added a few drops of red food coloring to the milk and sugar mixture.

Florida Day Three

I got up early this morning to walk along the beach. There was a thunderstorm just south of us. The birds were out feeding in force. Lots of shells wash up on Treasure Island.



Once Chris got out of bed, we played in the Gulf view pool for a while before we had to check out of our room.


Chris finally got to feed the seagulls as I was packing.


We drove north up Gulf Boulevard to Clearwater, stopping at Sand Key Park.




Our last stop on this trip was The Florida Aquarium.




We ate dinner at the Tampa Airport Pizza Hut, stopped in Atlanta again, and landed in St. Louis right at 11:00 PM.

Florida Day Two

We spent the whole day today at Busch Gardens.

Florida Day One

Chris and I left St. Louis at 6:00 this morning.

This is Chris's first flight.


Our rental is a Dodge Caliber. I am pleased with it, and I think the folks at the Belvidere Assembly Plant have continued their fine work.


We're staying at Thunderbird Beach Resort on Treasure Island.


Here's our room


And the view out our floor to ceiling windows!


We ate Cubans for lunch at The Floridian.


We spent most of the afternoon playing on the beach and in the water.


This is my birthday trip, so we went out to Sloppy Joe's for birthday dinner.

Then I got a pina colada from the Tiki Bar at Thunderbird and we went out to the beach to watch the Gulf sunset.

Pantera's Pizza

Mmmmm.

Dennis and I went out to Pantera's Pizza last night.

Going there is like entering a time warp. The decor, menu and taste remind me of when I was a kid.

I'm having leftovers with Pepsi for lunch today.

Ice Cream Maker!

Dennis got me a birthday present. He wasn't supposed to, because I thought my Florida trip was more than enough, but he did anyway.

Margarita #3

2 oz tequila, 1 oz Cointreau, 1 oz lime juice, 1 oz simple syrup (1 part sugar, 1 part water).



The Patron Silver is too good to make into a margarita. I think it would be better straight up. This one was not quite as good as margarita number two.