who, what, where, when

getting ice cream

Summer is just about over and I feel a bit like I’ve abandoned by blog these last few months.

I spent the first half of summer working on a project that left me exhausted week after week. It was fun and exhilarating but EXHAUSTING!! Two months later when everything was wrapped up I spent a week zonked out on my couch. By the time I popped back up it was time to hop on a plane to sunny and hot Dayton, Ohio. After two days of gorging out on Americana (think Arby’s and Chick-fill-a) I returned to New York sans child. That started a week of endless social events.

Embarrassingly so, a week of nightly dinners with friends, food and booze left me.. exhausted.

As much I loved being back in the scene a week of heavy socializing left me, once again, glued to my couch. I spent my second weekend sans child at California Pizza Kitchen sitting with my husband in silence because at that point I was all talked out from the socializing. I even sipped on water for the entire meal because, as of present, margaritas make me a little sick.

I guess there is some to truth to having “too much of a good thing.”

We welcomed Graycen back on Friday!! I think I grinned like a crazy chester cat until the moment I saw him. Now, with only a few weeks left of summer I need to get organized. The little man starts school in September which has me seriously weepy.

august recipe: ice cream sandwiches

 

 

Williams Sonoma Ice Cream Sandwich kit

 

My August recipes were a total bust and left me feeling like a bit of a tool. I could write at length about it but that would probably be a pretty boring post. Suffice to say I didn’t give the recipes much thought until the final days of the month. I quickly narrowed my slim pickings down to three recipes and went shopping… more problems arose and in the end I only made one recipe.

The recipe I ended up making was by Williams-Sonoma. Back in December I picked up an ice cream sandwich kit that was on sale and just screamed of cuteness. The kit included a brownie recipe along with cookie cutters to make a cowboy boot, a sherif badge and of course that all too necessary cowboy hat. Upon my first assembly of an ice cream cookie the following comedy ensued…

ice cream sandwich flop

 

Peeps.. when I pushed the ice cream out of the mold this is what I got.. clearly my ice cream was too soft.

Now, I’m all about honesty so here’s the deal. I managed to assemble one more cookie after the above that came out way better but it wasn’t perfect. That’s when I quickly got over my desire to perfect an August recipe and didn’t attempt to assemble anything else.

As for the taste, it was “ehh.” I don’t know if it was the ice cream or the brownies (I think it was the brownie) but something had a menthol taste (to me at least). I would have preferred a more sweet tasting “cookie” i.e. brownie. My husband said the ratio of cookie to ice cream was off and he would have preferred the brownies to be thinner. I get what he is saying and completely agree… BUT at the thickness I had made the brownies I was having trouble keeping them intact. If I ever dare to make these again I’ll use a different recipe for the base of my cookie.

 

brownies using the WS recipe

finished recipe - ice cream sandwich made with brownie "cookies"

If anyone else has gotten a WS Ice Cream Sandwich kit I would love to hear the outcome of their attempts.

pink fluffiness

cotton candy via Martha Stewart

I was chatting with my mother about Graycen’s birthday party. Now in regards to my own birthday, for almost a decade now my mother has traveled to wherever I am so that she can celebrate the occasion with me. It’s a time I always look forward to. I was born six days before Christmas and my birthday is definitely the bigger celebration come December. When my son made an appearance into our lives my mother called and shared some devastating news with me. She felt that going forward she’d only be able to spend every other birthday with me.. because you see, on alternating years she would visit us for Graycen’s birthday.

Yes, I was devastated to learn this. I’m very close to my mother. As in, I almost start to cry the instant I think of her. The verb “attached” would be downplaying my affection and feelings towards her. My son is only going on two and I’m not certain where things stand at this point but I made it clear that I am her child, Graycen is not. So much for putting the pressure on her.

So envision my mother and me chatting about my sons upcoming birthday. He’ll be two but long before he was even one my mother was eager to attend his first birthday celebration. As you I wrote in my post here, we planned to wait until he was a bit older to do the full on birthday bash. As it stands, that is still the plan BUT we’re having a Birthday Party this year – think something wonderfully small.

Here’s a snippet from the conversation I had with my mother…

Me, feeling extremely smitten: We’ve decided to have a birthday party for Graycen!

My mother, seemingly unsmitten: How many people will there be?

Me, feeling caught in my own antics: Uh.

Me, internally laughing my ass off: Three people. Graycen, Frederic and me.

 

If you recall this post then you know I’m big on hosting parties that involve no guests other then myself and my husband. It seems we are moving into bigger territory these days and have decided to let one more person in on the fun – Graycen. We keep getting pressure to actually invite someone to the party.. as in other kids but I’m perfectly content on a party for three. And clearly it’s so me given that the first comment my mother had was “how many people will be there.”

I am still trying to narrow down my thoughts but yesterday I started to think – cotton candy must be involved. Check out these fun takes on it.

Ever clever Martha Stewart with Cotton Candy Floats

Cotton Candy ice cream topped with white chocolate by Blue Bunny's

graycen and ice cream

A combination of the summer heat and a heavy toddler have left me traveling less and less with my camera but on a rare occasion, just a few Sunday’s back, I lugged the thing around. It was a Sunday afternoon when I had managed to pack way too much into a single day. There were just too many experiences happening around the city and I wanted to be in the middle of everything. Our final destination was to be an ice cream social at Murray’s Cheese Shop in the West Village. My son hasn’t acquired a taste for ice cream so I knew he’d be less then impressed. Wanting to add some joy to his day we hit up a few new playgrounds in the neighborhood.

graycen, a park in the west village

After the water sprinklers had been dealt with we dived into some ice cream. It was good.. but the hot fudge – flipping phenomenal! And the crushed almonds from Spain – to die for! We left the store having purchased both items and then spent the week eating Ice Cream Sunday’s into the wee hours of the night after Graycen had went to sleep.

 It was a good week.

murray's cheese shop, west village

 

cheese crates, murray's cheese shop, west village

 

ice cream social, murray's cheese shop

 

ice cream social

 

 .. and that hot fudge that you really HAVE to try, go here to learn more http://www.knipschildt.com/flash.html