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.

Allin's Diner

We've been meaning to stop at Allin's Diner in St. Charles for ever.

We finally did Thursday, and then again today. It is much better than I expected, and the menu is more upscale and interesting than I was expecting.

The chili is awesome!



We must go back so that I can get some grits for breakfast.

The dog ate what?

The new puppy at Chris's dad's house tried to eat Chris's glasses yesterday.

Since we're leaving for Florida in about a week, this caused a bit of a panic.

Lenscrafters to the rescue!

It took a total of two hours for the eye exam and everything.

We also found out that Chris has strabismus, or he is cross eyed. We have never noticed it before, and his previous eye doctor did not diagnose it. Since Chris doesn't seem to be having any problems, we are not going to do anything to treat it right now, but we're going to keep an eye (ba-da-dum) on it.

What I'm reading

The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí Ian Gibson.

YHEC State Championship Day 2

Chris did his last event this morning.

.22 Rifle


He also did some of the unoffical events.

Skink catching


Silly hat games


Extreme sitting around

YHEC State Championship Day 1

We're in Jefferson City for the 2009 Missouri YHEC State Championship. Chris did a lot of his events today. He worked really hard and increased his scores over last year.

Sporting Clays


Muzzleloader


Archery


He also did Wildlife ID, Hunter Safety Trail, Hunter Responsibility Exam, and Orienteering today. Whew!

Jefferson City

We're staying at the Doubletree Hotel in Jefferson City this weekend.

It is nice, but I wish our rooms were on the other side so we could see the capital building.

Where I'm headed, I hope!

I love this story.

One more time, with feeling!

My car is back at the shop today. The new a/c compressor that was put on for $1009 last week does not work. We just wanted them to put on a new belt and tighten it, but when they did, the compressor seized.

They're fixing it under warranty. I suspect it never worked correctly to begin with.

I can't stand having someone besides Dennis working on my car.

Broccoli flowers

This is what happens to broccoli when you don't pick it.



It never formed much of a head, so I let it go. The flowers are pretty.

Sick day

I stayed home from work today.

I took two naps!

Playing in the sprinkler

We bought a new $5 sprinkler.

It took two grown adults getting soaked to get it set up so that it watered the plants and not the street, house, cars, or front door.

It was fun :)

Chris's Trophy Room

Now we must start one.

He got second place Wildlife ID today at YHEC.

And the wedding cake had a turbo on it!

Friends were married this evening at Villa Antonio Winery.

Dennis and I had a good time and caught up with some people on the way back machine.

People from the Neon club.

Now I must sleep.

Baby tomatoes!

Sweet!





On the Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant. I've pruned this one to two main stems. It is not crowding the plant next to it yet.

Dead heuchera

One of my heucheras has died.



I really don't know what happened to this one plant. The two right next to it, and all of the plants in the front landscaping are doing just fine.

I'm going to Colorado!

The results are in!

Dennis, my dad, my uncle and I all successfully drew elk tags for Colorado.

That is going to wipe out a week's worth of vacation days and our Missouri whitetail firearms season for 2009.

I can't wait!

Now I need to get busy buying gear.

Well just - ew!

Lacey had to have her anal glands expressed today.

I so didn't know this was an issue.

She feels better now, and that's what's important.

We'll be paying the vet another $20 if it ever needs to be done again.