Day 4 from Burbank: French Ice Cream

6:30am "Mommmmmmmm!!!!! Wake up!!!!! We have to make French ice cream!!!! Is it ready yet? Can it be mint chocolate chip?"

My little guy "helped" me make creme anglaise.

After his nap we got out the ice cream maker that I borrowed from my brother.

Hubby: "Just use the ice in the freezer. That's plenty."

Cut to the emergency run to the store for more ice and rock salt.

Did I mention the bucket leaked water all over the counter onto the floor which is bad because there has to be water in it at all times so I had to babysit the thing for an hour? Then, I think I burned out the motor. Fantastic.

Hubby walks in and says: "Why don't you just buy some ice cream?"

I give him the look that stops time.

Then very very quietly I say: "Because I'm trying to be French."

Apparently Shaboom has an ice cream maker that you just pour cream in, turn it on and 20 minutes later you eat it.

I'm giving my brother his ice cream maker back.

There must be some beautiful Organic (whatever that means) ice cream in a carton out there. But frankly I've lost the appetite for it.

Day 16 From Burbank: Rockin the Frazzled Mom Look

Granola, strawberry yogurt and dark chocolate for breakfast.

Boring computer problems had me on the phone with a guy in India for an hour and a half.

Time for a walk.

3 and I were almost out the door....The phone rings. I had to be across town in 2 hours. Which means my 3 year old goes with me because Hubby is deep in the 9th hole of a golf game. Fantastic.

We get to my appointment on time. I bribe my little angel with the promise of ice cream if he's good.

He's a perfect child.

Well, he's really good for 3.

Okay, I'm totally exhausted by the time my appointment is over.

I gather our bag of toys, lunch/snack bag, stroller, purse.....everything.

We are almost out the door when a very Nice Lady smiles and says....

Nice Lady: "You're really rockin that frazzled mom look!"

(This stops me in my tracks.)

Me: "Thanks?!"

Nice Lady: "Oh, you know what I mean. Polished is so overrated."

We head straight to the first ice cream store I could find.

In this case, it was Cold Stone Creamery.

There's no sharing today.I want my own.

3 and I order.

His involved oreo cookies.

Mine was a chocolate ice cream with hot fudge dream.

We both go into an ice cream - trance like state.

Awakening every once in awhile to smile at each other.

When we were done, 3 leaned over and whispered "Momma, this is the best day ever."

Hubby gets home from his golf game and I'm off to do 40 flights of stairs. This half hour is now my break during the day. I can listen to whatever music I want, breathe and accomplish a goal.

Dinner was a ham, roasted red pepper and goat cheese crepe.

P.S. I am a frazzled mom.

Fresh Peach Ice Cream

I was craving peach ice cream today.

Which is strange because I've never craved peach ice cream.

I found a recipe here.

This is all you need.

Fresh Peaches

Lemon Juice

Cream

Sugar

Vanilla

Simply Delicious

Have A Peachy 4th!

Peach Ice Cream

Happy 4th of July! Something has come over me this week because I am craving peaches. I bought a box of beautiful juicy peaches yesterday and decided to make homemade peach ice cream to bring to Aunt Bonnie's BBQ today. 

I took this peach ice cream recipe and changed it just a little bit. Instead of finely cutting the peaches, I just pitted them and pureed them in the magic bullet, skin and all. So much easier and the fruit won't become a weird frozen lumpy cube of ick. 

I also added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Hubby came into the kitchen and tried to eat all of it. It's that delicious.

I hope you have a safe and wonderful day.

xoxo

Lemon Sorbet

With the lemons from my tree I made this refreshing Lemon Sorbet.

Simple syrup with lemon zest.

3 cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

One ice cream maker.

Delightful.

---------------

Next stop. Peach ice cream or peach sorbet? Hmmmm.

Day 41 From Burbank: A Horse Dressed As a Lion In the Middle Of A Sneeze.

Karen sends her posts from Burbank, CA, USA

After a delicious breakfast of tomatoes, basil, lots of garlic (Hubby's still gone so why the hell not?) and baguette I look out my front window and this is what I see.

This is a picture I took of a horse dressed as a lion in the middle of a sneeze.

I love this picture so much I could just stop here.

Every year the city of Burbank has a parade.

Ours is one of the streets they block off.

There are cowboys and indians in my front yard.

Embarrassing Fun Fact about me!

True Story

Did I ever tell you about the secret crush I've had on Paul Revere since I was 7 years old?

Let's just say that when I finally visited Paul Revere's House in Boston last year and saw his silver and gold work I burst into happy tears.

Back to the clowns and little ponies!

(A clown holding a mirror up to my face is actually a fear of mine.)

There were firemen (sigh) ....I mean fire trucks!

Marching bands and cool cars.

By 2:00pm the streets are cleaned and there's no sign of the parade.

Time to go to Momma's house for a pajama party! Tammy came over to spend the night too. (So you already know it's gonna be fun!) Momma fixed one of her classic dinners: wing dings, rice a roni and cole slaw. My childhood comfort food.

The Sgt Major and Rosalie came over. Way too much fun!

I lugged my ice cream maker and ingredients over to my Momma's and made mint chocolate chip French ice cream for everyone.

I think we are all going to make it a monkey pajama party weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Day 2 from France: La Glace (Ice Cream)

Shaboom! here...

Breakfast - Sugar butter lemon crepe. Strawberry yogurt with granola and chocolate chips.

Pineapple. Had 4 pieces of French French Toast (pain perdu) . They're the size of an egg.

Went shopping in Paris. Bought conditioner. BORING.
Walked 4.6 kilometers.

Snack -1 apple

Small glass of wine. Make that 4 sips. Obsessed! spilled my wine all over me. Quelle surprise!

French Kool-Aid (Oasis - just a sip or 8, as I had never tried it before. Holy sweetness, Batman.)

Half a butter lemon crepe.

2 scoops of home-made blueberry ice cream. Delicious!

Day 49 from France: Visitors From The StatesNotre Dame & A Lot Of Walking

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris...

I got up at 10am to rush out and meet friends! I have friends! And they speak English! And they GET me!

I got to the station and realized there was a train strike. So I went home to call their US cell phone to let them know I'd be late. That gave me enough time to scarf down 5 madeleines and a coke.

Another train strike - shocker! Here's the scene at Gare du Nord.

Here's the beautiful stop at Cité...

When I got out of the subway, I ran to meet my friends near Notre Dame.

The end of Mass...

French Scouts...

After Notre Dame, we went to the Île Saint Louis for the famous Bertillon ice cream. I ordered vanilla & nougat - 2 scoops! And what's ice cream without a café au lait?!

We then headed to the Marais and I ate a pain au chocolat on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville.

The Marais, or the gayborhood as I like to call it, was CRAWLING with people.

After a vigorous day of playing tour guide, I came home to eat a mango yogurt, 1 bite of a sugar butter crêpe, 1 piece of chocolate and went to bed at midnight. We walked for about 10 hours straight, so I was pretty tired and fell right asleep.