Screamin' for Ice Cream!

I finally attempt to make some and--surprise, surprise--it's actually good! And a note about Lady Liberty🗽🗽🗽

Homemade vanilla, delicious, but slightly melted as I attempt a photo angle!

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”¹

That was a memorable chant from my childhood, usually uttered in unison with a flock of other kids whenever we had ice cream, which was as often as we could, especially in summertime. There was an ice cream shop at a small shopping center just a few blocks from our house in Palo Alto, then a sleepy little university town, not the center of the Silicon Valley universe that it later became. My favorite flavors changed over the years from Rocky Road to Peppermint Stick to Maple Nut. The price was affordable—maybe 5 cents for a single, 10 for a double. At home, we almost never had ice cream, except on Friday nights as a special dessert after the sabbath meal—and then only if you finished everything on your plate, including the dreaded spinach or brussel sprouts!

Old-fashioned ice cream churn (Credit: Sando Mejias Brito, Dreamstime.com)

I do remember trying to make ice cream one day with my friend Nancy when I was probably 6 or 7. Somehow we’d learned from Nancy’s mother that you needed cream, sugar, ice and salt. What we didn’t know was that the salt was intended to be combined with the ice to lower the freezing point; you were supposed to stir the ingredients in a bowl surrounded by the salted ice until they thickened to ice cream consistency. Instead we dumped the salt—probably a cup or two—in with the cream and sugar and proceeded to mix. As you would imagine, the result was inedible. That memory stuck with me, and I never attempted to make ice cream again—until last week.

My dusty, never-opened ice cream maker.

That was when I remembered the Cuisinart ice cream maker I’d purchased a few years back. It had been on sale and I couldn’t resist. But then it joined some other neglected items I’d bought on impulse, including an Emile Henry Bread Cloche that I’d used once and an Instant Pot that got quite a workout for a while, then was relegated to the back of the closet for no reason I can explain. (I wonder if you have any appliances, cookware or tools that once caught your fancy and now are gathering dust.)

Thrifty Drug and Discount store in a vintage photo and the brand's much-loved cones. (Photo credit: Thrifty website, www.thriftyicecream.com/about-us)

I’d been reading several stories about ice cream, particularly about the possible demise of the beloved Thrifty brand ice cream cones in the wake of the Rite-Aid bankruptcy. Luckily, I’ve just learned that Rite-Aid has found a buyer for the ice cream portion of its business. Whew! A lot of folks will be relieved. The ice cream, first launched in 1940 at a small factory in West Hollywood, was served in cylindrical scoops first at Thrifty Drugstores, then at Rite-Aid after Thrifty Drug closed. It developed a cult following, particularly on the West Coast, where it’s still being made, though in a different location.

My friend Jolene Handy recently purchased one of the cylindrical scoops, apparently a design from the ‘40s, and, in her latest newsletter, wrote about using it to make ice cream sandwiches. She also purchased a Cuisinart ice cream maker, but, smart cookie that she is, got a pint-sized version that I imagine she won’t wait years to use! My machine makes a full quart and a half, which I’ve already discovered is a dangerous amount of ice cream to have around!

But boy did I have fun making it! And I was shocked to discover how very easy it was and that even a mechanophobe like me could manage to figure it out! There are just four parts to the machine—the base with its motor; the freezer bowl that sits atop the base and contains the frozen cooling liquid that encircles the ice cream mixture that is poured into it; the mixing paddle that fits into the lid that locks into place and allows you to watch the ice cream swirling about through an opening and to pour in additions, like chips, nuts, sprinkles, fruit, etc.

The machine, doing its thing; vanilla ice cream, almost done; and after adding chocolate chunks.

For my first venture, I was my usual cautious self, opting to make the recipe for the Simple Vanilla Ice Cream that’s included in the little booklet that comes with the machine. (Here’s Cuisinart’s recipe, which includes variations for smaller amounts!) I made the version that yields 5 cups—about 10 1/2-cup servings. It includes five ingredients: 1 cup whole milk, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, a pinch of salt, 2 cups heavy cream and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. That’s it. I couldn’t resist adding chocolate chips—which I decided should be chocolate chunks—about 1 cup’s worth of 72% chocolate. Maybe next time I’ll toss in chocolate Oreos, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or brownie bites!

Here’s the video I made of the process. My husband Jeff, the man behind PhotowalksTV and an expert in these matters, told me I should have used a mic—maybe next time.

One thing to remember is that before beginning the process, the bowl needs to be stored in the freezer for between 16 and 24 hours, depending on how cold your freezer is. This ensures that the cooling liquid in the sides is sufficiently frozen to work its magic of conjuring up ice crystals out of swirling cream and sugar. It sure beats pouring salt into ice!

The resulting ice cream comes out of the machine noticeably softer than the packaged variety—but without all those stabilizers usually found in commercial varieties—no mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gum, and guar gum, and no artificial colors and flavorings. Once you scoop it into a container and pop it into the freezer for a few hours, it hardens beautifully, though when you pull it out, it softens faster than supermarket varieties, undoubtedly because of the lack of stabilizers.

Putting the chocolate chunk ice cream into the container. It’s a bit on the soft side but firms up well in the freezer after several hours.

The ice cream that I made was rich, creamy and delicious—as nice as many ice creams you can buy at the store. All that heavy cream really does make for an irresistible dessert, but of course it isn’t low calorie—there are about 222 calories per half cup of the vanilla, with 73% of that coming from fat—and I didn’t factor in all those chocolate chunks! The directions that came with my machine say that you can sub lower-fat creams like half and half, milk or even nondairy milks and artificial sweeteners for the sugar. More daring experimentation is clearly in my future!

You can also make much lighter, less caloric desserts, like frozen yogurt, which has a yogurt base instead of cream, or sorbet that usually uses no cream or milk at all. I made a frozen berry and cherry yogurt that was a bit on the tart side, but quite good—especially when paired with a little vanilla ice cream, and a few fresh berries!

There are also recipes for custard-style ice cream, a rich concoction in which egg yolks and cream are cooked together to make custard, then cooled and added to the other ingredients. In our travels, Jeff and I have tasted some fabulous frozen custard—like my favorite, Nielsen’s (in Utah and Las Vegas)—so this is something I’m eager to try!

And then of course there are ice cream sandwiches (the cookies I wrote about in my last post would work beautifully), pie à la mode (in my opinion the only way to eat a pie) and simple ice cream in a dish or on a cone. If you happen to have one of those cylindrical scoops, all the better!

One last note about ice cream: Jeff happens to be an ice cream fanatic who claims to have bought at least one ice cream cone in each of the 120 locations he’s visited for his PhotowalksTV show, from Palermo, Italy, to Barcelona, Spain, to Paris, France, to Amarillo, Texas, to Tucumcari, New Mexico. He says my ice cream is great, but his new favorite, at least of the commercial varieties, surpasses every one he’s tried. I wasn’t along on the most recent trip, so I can’t weigh in. Any guesses? He promises to reveal all later this month on a Photowalks episode. Stay tuned.

Lady Liberty

As we celebrate America’s 249th birthday this Fourth of July weekend, I’m not really in a very celebratory mood. I’m worrying about my country, particularly the millions of unfortunate folks who will lose their healthcare, food benefits and so much more following the passage of the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

I’m also heartsick about the immigrants who are being cruelly rounded up daily in L.A. where I live and elsewhere around the country. They’re being snatched by masked ICE agents (though it’s turned out that some are imposters!) from the restaurants, factories and fields where they work, from their homes, from the churches they attend and from the law courts they visit to try to become or stay legal in this country. Some farmers markets, food trucks and small restaurants in this city and elsewhere in Southern California have had to close temporarily—or possibly permanently—for lack of workers as many immigrants stay home for fear of being picked up. Even those who are citizens are worried about being swept up in the raids.

It’s a cruel irony in a country whose most beloved symbol is the Statue of Liberty, a towering figure that has welcomed millions of immigrants to this country as they sailed into the New York Harbor and whose base blazes out the words that have given hope to multitudes. As most of you know, I come from an immigrant family, and though I’m not sure if they actually passed Lady Liberty en route to America, those words have always meant a great deal to me.

They were written in 1883 by poet and activist Emma Lazarus in a sonnet called “The New Colossus” and were inscribed on a bronze plaque at the base of the statue in 1903. The words of the “mighty woman with a torch” called “Mother of Exiles” represent the kind and compassionate heart of America that I hope will beat strongly again someday soon. We have to keep working hard to make that happen and never ever give up on our democratic ideals and our country.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

A picture I took in the fall of 2016 shortly before the election.

The bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty (Credit: National Park Service)

Wishing you a happy holiday weekend. As always, thanks for reading, liking, commenting and subscribing to this newsletter. If you enjoy it, please share it with a friend.

See you soon!

Ruth

1. The slogan came from a popular song first published in 1927. You can read more about it in this Wikipedia entry here and listen to the song by Harry Resor’s Syncopators here.