I need an ice cream maker.

I'm rapidly turning into an ice cream snob.

First came the days of Breyers, whose classy (and actually minty) Mint Chocolate Chip made me turn up my nose at Edys' green, nearly flavorless junk. Then Haagen-Dazs, with its rich vanilla and decadent caramel. Now I balk at anything less than Oberweis, in my opinion the nation's finest iced cream (narrowly beating out Gilles Frozen Custard, mainly because of proximity).

And after seeing all these recipes for DIY sorbet, gelato, custard...I have to make some of my own. Meaning I need an ice cream maker. Meaning, unfortunately, I need to spend more than they charge for a shake at my local Ice Cream Shoppe.

Now, I'm not opposed to spending money on indulgences. I have a staggering DVD collection and I'll be wasting $400 come September so's I can play one game. But those things last forever! Ice cream doesn't last an hour in my house!

Still, I must. A whole world of culinary experimentation and unnecessary weight gain beckons, yearns, cries "Smylie!" at night while I sleep--

Look, I'm not crazy, I just really like ice cream. So I need your help. Where should I start? What brands are the best? Do I go manual or spring for electric?

Oh ye all-known sages of confection (all of whom, like, totally read our blog), please give me some tips. Because I need to make this recipe as soon as possible.

-Jim, hoping he gets to try all these soon, too

Mochi goodness

I'm a huge fan of mochi ice cream; always have been, always will be. Mochi is a sort of sticky rice that encases a ball of ice cream leaving a dry dessert with a gooey and creamy inside. It comes in all sorts of flavors from mango to green tea, to red bean or your simple vanilla. Despite its Japanese origins, the first time I had it was at Bob Chinn's crabhouse. And while the restaurant is quite close to my house, it was rather inconvenient for my budget. The problem was, at that time (and this was years ago) I couldn't find it anywhere else. It seemed to be sort of a rare thing to carry, even in restaurants. If I was going to continue feeding my addiction, something had to change.

Well, as it turns out, they now sell it at the grocery store! Trader Joe's to be exact, but I'm sure others have it too. So last night, I had the pleasure of eating mango mochi in my very own home. No tip necessary! Best idea ever.

And, this newfound magnificence led me to get a bit creative in the kitchen last night. I made a quick and easy dessert that would be appropriate for any fancy occasion, and it was quite possibly the best thing I've ever put together!


All you need to do is serve one mochi ball and surround it with fresh berries or even mandarin oranges. The ice cream leaks out a bit at the bottom through the rice and mixes with the berries (which the mango flavor is suited quite well for.) It is refreshing, delicious, you name it. I'm in love.

Bringing back the soda shop era

I went to RAM (a local microbrewery) the other night to meet some friends. I wasn’t in the mood for beer, so I decided to go with a root beer float for a decent $3.99. Much to my surprise (and quite frankly, my embarrassment), I received the largest overflowing mug of vanilla ice cream and root beer deliciousness that I have ever seen in my life. If you’ve been to RAM, you might know that their desserts are notoriously humongous, but never have I been served a drink in such gigantic proportions. To make matters more embarrassing, while I couldn’t help but crack up hysterically at the ridiculous sight of what now became my gluttonous mission, the waitress kept a completely straight face (she also just happened to be extremely unfriendly.) No grin, no nothing. If it weren’t for my friends, I might never have had validation that this float was out of the ordinary.

The root beer float option however, is not. Maybe it’s just me but I’ve been noticing root beer floats, or the float concept in general, popping up all over the place. Some have even gone so far as making root beer float cakes (see more recipes at Recipe4Living.com .) Sure, it’s no new idea, but perhaps it’s becoming trendy to bring it back. Wendy’s is in on it too. Visit one lately? They now have frosty floats where you can pick any soda to mix with either chocolate or vanilla frosty (their version of ice cream.) And, each time you get one you have a chance to win a Wii! Bringing back a classic is downright genius if you ask me. Not to mention, the combination of carbonation and ice cream is delicious.

This trend, so to speak, has put me on my own mission: to bring back the phosphates. What’s a phosphate you may ask? Well, the writers at cloudcreations.com explain:

“Phosphates were carbonated beverages made-from-scratch by the 'soda jerk' using carbonated soda water, flavored syrups and phosphoric acid, an ingredient still used today in many brands of soda-pop including Coke. Popular flavors included cherry, lime (usually called a green river), chocolate and vanilla.”

But more importantly, they are delicious! Well, at least the chocolate ones are; the lime sounds iffy.

If you didn’t know what they were, don’t feel bad. It’s been my experience that anyone under the age of 50 that I’ve encountered has never heard of such a thing. And, neither had I until a few years ago when I took a trip to visit my grandpa in Florida. We went to a local diner where a whole slew of his friends had ordered chocolate phosphates. They would respond to my look of confusion as if I was the one who was nuts. Anyway, they forced me to try a sip, and in a nutshell, it was like a party in my mouth. Mmmm.

So I say, bring back the phosphates, and the entire soda shop era for that matter, because that generation sure knew how to indulge.