Let's Talk About Ice Cream!!

We did it! We made it through our work stretch and into our beautiful evening of pizza and rest! It was a slightly less restful than I hoped, only because somehow I ended up with a solid dozen mosquito bites. It's been ten years since I had that many all at once. And I never saw, heard, or felt a single one of those pesky guys until it was too late. Most of the bits are conveniently located right where some piece of clothing rubs so they itch all the time. 

I'm a mosquito buffet and always have been, but it's true that I haven't struggled nearly as much with them in the last few years. Guess that's over!! But in between lavender oil applications and mind-over-matter-refusing-to-scratch, I'm loving my weekend!!

It's not just been buggy here...it's been HOT!!! I'm guessing the same is true where you live. I've read about crazy hot weather all over the place. I drank a full 32 ounces of water after we got home from a walk at 10 pm last night because it was still almost 90 degrees outside! So of course, hot weather has me thinking about one of my most favorite things in life, which is ice cream! 

I am sure most of you know that I absolutely adore ice cream and could eat it three times a day year round. (I actually think the perfect shop combo is an ice cream/coffee shop!) 

It's been five years now since Ryan and I found an ice cream shop on vacation that made the most perfect salted caramel ice cream, and I was willing to move to that town, solely for that. I've wanted to try to make my own version of it, but I'm so scared it won't be as tasty that I haven't attempted it yet.

It's been probably 10 years since I had the most perfect homemade ice cream at a friend's house. I was brave enough to ask her for the recipe, and she was kind enough to share it. It's a basic recipe, so it's easily modified with mix-ins. And that led to my ice cream inspired secret Pinterest board, where I've been hoarding ideas of different perfect ice creams...

As you can see, this whole ice cream love has taken on a life of its own.

So here are some of my ice cream faves and quirks:

* Salted caramel anything. And the creamier and thicker the caramel, the better. 

* Oddly enough, I usually pick chocolate syrup over hot fudge. It's not that I don't like hot fudge. It's that it's usually so rich and thick that it impedes my ability to focus on the ice cream! 

* I love themed ice cream and can even be persuaded to order something based on a cute name. I'm a marketing director's dream.

* I usually pick candy mix-ins over fruit, but I always pick real fruit over fruit flavored anything. Too many of the flavors aren't accurate, it seems. (This was totally proven wrong when Sean and Sarah had us over for dinner the other night and served an Amish homemade black raspberry ice cream. That flavor was perfection.)

* Ice cream in a waffle cone is the BEST. 

* I have a recent fascination with homemade ice cream sandwiches that use cookies. I am pretty sure I actually made such sandwiches once as a kid. (Found a recipe in a kids' cookbook and tried it.) 

Maybe one of these days that whole ice cream/coffee shop thing will happen. In the meantime, and in this heat, I'll just continue dreaming up my favorite flavors and combos. (And maybe sampling it now and then, though I promise not to do that three times a day.)