Foraged-Blackberry No-Churn Ice-cream & Totoro Choux au Craquelin

What to do with the many buckets of FREE local blackberries you've picked along railroad tracks, parks and roadways in Vancouver? How about Foraged Blackberry No-churn Ice Cream?

Your leaf or mine?
How about stuffing Choux au Craquelin with that blackberry ice cream?

Cream puffs are dead easy to make.  Top it with craquelin and you're good to go

The craquelin are perfectly round and crispy on the top.

I made some crėme pâtissière with which to stuff the choux au craquelin.

Here are my bowls of whipped heavy cream and the blackberry ice cream mixture ready to combine for the no-churn blackberry ice cream.  I had pureed the blackberries and sieved out the seeds for a beautifully smooth texture.

Heavy Whipping Cream is whipped stiff and then incorporated with your ingredients to lighten the texture of the ice cream

I used a whisk to combine the mixture without deflating the whipped cream

Olive thinks that the Totoro Choux au Craquelin was cute

These went over well at my family bbq.  Good stuff! Make good use of all those free blackberries!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Earnest Ice Cream, Vancouver

London Fog

Do you ever argue with family members about where to eat for dinner? well, this is us practically every weekend.  I figured out a compromise.   One person chooses the resto for dinner and another can choose a different place for dessert.  Win Win!

awww! the cutest coolest ice cream truck evah!

Well, today was a double win for me because I got to choose sushi for dinner and also suggested Earnest Ice Cream for their dessert.  Our dinner at Sushi Mania on Main was okay. I didn't like the cramped quarters but the prices were very reasonable.  I enjoyed the assorted tempura and everything was comparable to other Japanese restaurants I usually go to.  Stomach didn't like the resto for some reason (which he couldn't verbalize).  Usually if it's cheap, he likes it.  So I'm wondering what his beef was.  We snagged a table early before 5:30pm. After that it filled quickly because essentially, it seats approx 20 people total in that resto.  I'll only come back if I'm eating out early and I'm in the 'hood.

the Earnest ice cream bar! see that little corner table with the glasses? there's a self-serve filtered water tap.  what a good idea

After dinner, it was a skip and a hop over on to Fraser street for dessert at Earnest Ice Cream, which was on the agenda because the kids totally didn't want sushi for dinner.  They wanted pizza of course.  Earnest Ice Cream was the carrot I dangled to get me some sushi.  And a tasty carrot that was.  It's located on the East Side of Vancouver kind of out of the way of usual high traffic foodie places. In general, this isn't a trendy area of town.  It's next to a Szechuan restaurant, a vegetarian restaurant and The Beehive hair salon near a residential neighbourhood.  This is good, because at least you can find parking nearby.  The kiddies thought this place was a real winner.  We were here around 6:30 pm which is still pretty early.  There were peaks and lulls in the lineup.  But essentially I didn't have to line up at all.  I was a little disappointed that I couldn't actually see the ice cream as usual in many of the places we usually go to. However, the focussed menu helped.  I gave a taste test of: Strawberry Rhubarb and Blueberry just to see.  The strawberry rhubarb had intense strawberry flavour and the blueberry was a beautiful purple.  In the end,  we chose Milk Chocolate, Blueberry and the London Fog (Earl Grey flavoured).

Blueberry Ice Cream on a Waffle Cone

Bib's Blueberry Ice Cream was a radical departure from the fluorescent pink bubble gum gelato she usually demands at ice cream and gelato parlors.  It doesn't matter where we go; she'll ask for bubble gum or cotton candy.  In fact, she chose "that 2000 flavours place mommy" Um no, dear that's 200 flavours! I tell her she can't go to a place that serves 200+ flavours and order the same thing.  There's no point. She should try different flavours.  Or at least try different pink flavours. She is rarely swayed though.

At the Earnest counter, she asked for bubble gum flavour again and I said they didn't have that sort of stuff. I told her she'd like the purple one, which somewhat appeased her.  But she was guarded.  In the end,  I figured she's all about vibrant colour anyway.  It was a good choice for her. Afterwards, she said it was better than bubble gum.   There were blueberry skins all over which of course indicated it was chock full of blueberries!  You can order "kid-sized' ice cream here too. So the Blueberry cone she had is I think kid-sized but it didn't look too much smaller than the adult cones.  Her serving seemed to be bigger and better value than my ice cream in the bowl. That, or we ate our bowls of ice cream so quickly and waited so long for her to finish hers that we thought she had a more generous portion.  Ice cream eating technique may have something to do with this too as with a cone, she's a licker; not a biter.

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Bebe ordered the Milk Chocolate Ice Cream.  Upon her first bite she exclaimed "Oh my God!" She said it was the creamiest, richest chocolate ice cream she's had.   She didn't allow Stomach a taste and come to think of it I didn't get to taste any either.  

I thoroughly enjoyed my London Fog.  The Ice cream barista (they serve coffee here too) told me that it was Earl Grey flavoured.   I just ordered it without tasting it prior as I love anything tea flavoured. Now, I didn't think I detected predominant Earl Grey flavour but I saw flecks of tea leaves and I am assuming the colour is the infusion of the tea in the ice cream base.  I'm not a big Earl Grey drinker in any case.  Isn't Earl Grey bergamot? a sort of citrusy flavour? I didn't get that. I felt it was tea-based because of the colour but really it didn't matter because I really like it.  The predominant flavour/texture is cream and any infusions were lost on me.  I think any of their flavours would probably be awesome because their ice cream bases are made from quality ingredients.  You can tell when it hits your mouth.  Full fat. mmmm.

The menu today: Tahitian Vanilla, Salted Caramel, Whiskey Hazelnut, Blueberry, Cardamom, London Fog, Pecan Cinnamon Swirl, Matchstick Espresso Flake, Milk Chocolate, Strawberry Rhubarb, Vegan

I wanted to purchase a pint (or two!) of their Cardamom and the London Fog but I had to go to Shoppers afterwards. :(  Too bad. Maybe next visit. The ice cream comes packed in a glass canning jar, which looks absolutely gorgeous.  The idea of frozen glass was a bit worrisome for me though because I often drop my ice cream containers pulling it out of the freezer door.  Earnest Ice Cream is very good about recycling and all their little tasting spoons are steel (you deposit them in containers after tasting) and if you eat in they serve it in a porcelain bowl.  Their water glasses are made of glass (of course) and when you're done you just leave your dirty dishes in the plastic dish container in the corner near the front. With high ceilings, rustic wood floors and panelling, clean white counters, stainless steel and friendly servers, it was a nice environment.  I think we'll be back soon. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

LAZY SUMMER LOCAL STRAWBERRY & VANILLA ICE CREAM TARTS

Fresh local strawberry & vanilla ice cream tarts 

In keeping with my "Lazy Summer" theme I started with my last post, I thought I'd show you a sneaky-delicious treat to use up those local strawberries that are so juicy sweet this month.  After we visited the driving range in Richmond, we noticed the blueberry & strawberry farm next door to it had a "U Pick" sign.  It didn't take much to convince the kids to pick berries.  They were half-way across the strawberry field before I could finish "Do you want to pick..."

Frozen tart shells are an economical and time-saving trick for making summer berry desserts.  Keep a sleeve on hand in the freezer for the summer.

I pre-bake my tart shells and leave them on the counter to be assembled as needed.  Assemble only what you'll eat or you'll have soggy tarts with melted ice cream flooding your plate.

local strawberries are dark, sweet and juicy right now!

Slice the strawberries in half if they're small; in quarters if they're large.  I like to use medium-sized strawberries because they fit perfectly on the tarts.

Use a good quality vanilla ice cream. If you're in a rush and need to feed a crowd, you could assemble the tart shells up to filling them with ice cream...then freeze them all on a sheet pan until ready to serve.  Then, just slice and top with the berries.

7 yr old is taking pictures for me...so expect some fuzziness and weird focussing occasionally

Fill the pre-baked tart shells with vanilla ice cream.  [If you are going to need a lot of these, fill them all and place on a sheet pan and re-freeze to harden the ice cream and store until needed for serving]

The pictures have an interesting perspective taken from my 7 yr old's height.

I'll be making just 3 tarts for serving so I had to hurry as the ice cream melts fast in the summer!

Just one more strawberry half to complete the dessert and ready to serve...

Enjoy your family and friends...and the local berries! Don't sweat the small stuff

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

LA CASA GELATO

Pink Gelato again? 

Well, here we are at another gelato shop and the girls are choosing yet again, pink ice cream.  Bib chose the Bubble Gum flavour at La Casa to compare against the one we had at Amato Gelato (Mario’s). 
I think it looks about the same.  Don’t you agree?

Directly inside the doors of La Casa are ice cream cakes and other cold confections for purchase.

La Casa rocks for sheer volume of gelato.  There are scores of flavours and the place is packed with people sampling the different flavours.  There are some wacky ones indeed.  I saw “Basil Pernod” and a smorgasbord of International flavours like Durian, Rambutan, Chocolate Cookie Dough, Pistachio, Cassata and Chocolate Jack Daniels. 

I don't know about you, but flavours such as wasabi and curry, chocolate chili, balsamic vinegar, roasted garlic, pear and gorgonzola...I don't know.  Kind of novel, but not exactly something I personally would like to try.  I haven't seen too many people actually go beyond the taste-test to order a full scoop of these weird ones.  Calories for me are hard-earned and I'm not gonna waste it on wasabi ice cream.

After you purchase your gelato, you order it at the counter from the staff…who run about at the beck and call of patrons who request little samplings of the various flavours.  You give them your token and get your gelato…and then you have to walk outside to eat it.  There are no seats inside to eat your dessert.  Walk across the street next to the parking lot.  There is a lovely little garden there with flowering plants and lots of bench seating.

Stracciatella.  My choice.  I enjoyed it.  There are bits of dark chocolate chunks in the gelato.

Chocolate Cookie Dough:  Chocolate ice cream with chunks of cookie dough.  Bebe enjoyed her choice.  She avoided re-ordering pink gelato again since she overdosed on the Bubble gum gelato at Amato last time.

Located on Venables, in the Strathcona area (my old stomping grounds in high school!), La Casa is a huge pink building situated on a corner.  Parking is on the street and in a lot across the street.  The garden eating area is lovely in the summer when the flowers are in bloom.  I found the prices higher than Amato and I didn't think that having more variety with the hundreds of flavours was necessarily better.  Not all the flavours are that yummy.  And it takes all that much more time to choose a flavour.  It certainly is busy and kid-friendly of course.   It's a definite destination on a hot summer evening.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

AMATO GELATO CAFE

Bubble Gum Gelato.

With so many different flavours at Amato Gelato, you’d think my daughters would order something exciting.

The gelato at Amato Gelato is more limited in selection than that of International on Venables,  but I think the flavours Amato has are more popular. 

The White Chocolate Pistachio was speaking to me.

Guava Gelato.

The problem with having two daughters is that everything they want is pink.  Pink clothing, pink accessories and practically anything else that comes in pink.  Unfortunately, this also translates into pink food.

Bubble Gum Gelato.  This gelato was a light pink colour and had really intense bubble gum flavour.  Bebe ate half of it and then felt overcome by the gelato and couldn’t eat anymore.  Stomach finished it and remarked that it was very “bubble-gum-ish”.  He surprisingly liked it.  I don’t think it helped Bebe that Stomach said it tasted like her bubble gum flavoured Disney Princess toothpaste.  haha.

My White Chocolate Pistachio gelato was exactly what I wanted.  There were no icky lumps and bumps of pistachio…just pistachio flavour and a very serene light green colour swirled with the white chocolate.  It was smooth and lovely. 

My favourite flavours at Mario's Gelati are:  Black Sesame and Green Tea.  I particularly like the single portion desserts that they distribute to local restaurants:  the green tea ice cream slices, the hedgehog and bacio nero, the tartufo and the gorgeous lemon sorbetto in the natural lemon shell. You can take a look at the individual desserts HERE.


For some reason, I have always called this Mario's Gelati.  I didn't realize it was called "Amato Gelato Cafe" until I looked it up to post it on Urbanspoon.  The link leads to a page that calls itself "Mario's Gelati" though...so I'm not totally wrong.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad