Icecream, sorbets oh my!

I recently received an icecream maker for Christmas and have been rather keen to use it.

First off we made vanilla icecream, we made up a custard and waited for it to cool before putting it into the icecream maker. We waited in anticipation and watched the paddle stir the mixture slowly freeze to become icecream. It turned out to this beautiful golden colour and so creamy! Yay our first batch was a success.

Second we tried making a ruby grapefruit sorbet. Now that took a little bit longer as I think I put way too much in and conked out the motor on the icecream maker. Luckily I had my handmixer to help out and just kept putting it back in the fridge to freeze and now we have a yummy sorbet to celebrate new year's eve with. Can't wait to sprinkle in the campari though=)
 

I've included the recipes for the vanilla icecream and ruby grapefruit below.

Vanilla Icecream (makes about a small tub 500mL)

• 4 egg yolks
• 250mL milk
• 250ml thickened cream
• 100g caster sugar
• a few drops of vanilla essence

Pour milk into saucepan and bring slowly to boiling point but don't let it boil. Put in vanilla essence.

In a bowl beat and mix egg yolks and sugar until thick. Pour milk into mixture of egg yolks and sugar whilst stirring. Pour mixture back into pan and heat gently until the custard thickens. When you see a film form over the back of the spoon it's time to remove the saucepan from the heat to cool. When custard base is cold, stir in the cream. Transfer the whole mixture into the icecream maker.

Ruby grapefuit sorbet (makes about 800mL)

• Juice of 8 pink grapefruit
• 250g caster sugar
• 1/2 cup (125ml) Campari, plus extra to drizzle

Strain the grapefruit juice into a saucepan, add the sugar and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Cool, then stir in the Campari. Pour the mixture into a shallow container and freeze until frozen at edges. Remove from freezer and beat with an electric beater. Pour back into the container and refreeze. Repeat 2 or 3 times. (Alternatively, use an ice-cream machine following manufacturer's directions.) When firm, place scoops of sorbet in serving cups or dishes and drizzle with a little extra Campari before serving.

Christmas and all that jazz

The lead up to Christmas has been crazy, you notice that the shops suddenly become jam packed with people, the streets are even more crowded than usual and there are queues to use the parent's room?! It's been tricky trying to navigating with a pram with so many people about but luckily this year I haven't had to do too much Christmas shopping.

This year's gift to the family was a 12 month calendar of James. I titled it the 12 weeks of James so you could see the progression of changes taking place and it just happened to fit in that James would be 12 weeks by Christmas. It was difficult to choose only 12 photos as I had been taking photos of him everyday since he's been born so I think there would be a few thousand shots by now. I was really impressed with the final product too.

We also made a couple of batches of orange marmalade with Cognac to give as presents as well. As the creative one, I created labels for the jars Jaemin's Jam with his footprints shrunk to fit. These turned out to be a hit with the family too. Recipe is courtesy of SBS food -orange marmalade.(http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/1387/Orange_marmalade)

The weather on Christmas day turned out to be perfect for an Aussie Xmas. As always there's reigning chaos with preparing food, kids running around, stereo blaring, Dad trying to time the BBQ so that the meat is still hot on the table and of course some Korean soap blaring in the background. As the dining area was west facing it was stinking hot so the only way to cool down was to jump into the pool. It was James' first dip in the pool and he wasn't too fussed, think he was more preoccupied with trying to eat his fists. It was a great day with lots of feasting with Korean, Romanian and Aussie dishes to choose from. I know an interesting hodge podge of cultures.

Boxing day was spent up at Wentworth Falls with about 20 extended family members. We had an impressive 7 course degustation menu which was dedicated to James. By the end of it, I was stuffed. Worked off the feast with a few games of badminton before the the rainclouds descended.

As this was James' first Christmas, I was taken aback by his collection of presents. My husband commented that this would be the only year that I would be able to open his presents, next year he'll probably open them himself but probably be excited by the wrapping paper rather than the gift itself. Who knows?!

Insomina

I've been meaning to start a blog for awhile and I thought what better time than whilst I'm suffering from insomina. Its been something that has recently occurred with the birth of my son 12 weeks ago. My sleep pattern has been governed by the needs of my little man and once I'm up, my head starts buzzing about what things I should do.

I think about making a start on culling a few thousand photos I have taken of the little man or trawling through my contact list and updating it or just general pottering around.

At the moment, I'm doing all of the above and I'm hoping that I can at least finish one thing before the little man is up in a few hours for the next feed.