Am bacck!(Mr. Freeze - freezies)

Apologies bloggies, I had the Dolce family in town this week and it was a full on week of eating, drinking, sightseeing and enjoying the glorious London sunshine. Not London Ontario, London England! Yes, that is correct Mother Nature was very kind to bring sunny and warm weather for almost the whole week! I was as shocked as you probably are reading this. One day it rained and was like 'proper' British summer so they did get the full London experience.

Lots to blog about foodie wise - one observation: having little kiddies around means you need to feed them constantly and their eating habits are sometimes peculiar. I think the highlight for them was the copious amounts of ice cream we had each day in various formats. Luckily I had a box of freezies, the Canadian term for an ice lolly, in the freezer which kept them calm for at least 3 minutes each day. The rest of the day from 7am til their bedtime of 9pm (it really should be 7.30-8pm, but they were too excited to sleep) was filled with constant action and they both didn't take naps! Again, much respect goes to parents everywhere. It is tough work!

I never bought so much milk in my life, these kids drink a lot of milk in the morning and at bed time. Well am going to miss them dearly but it was fantastic and will cherish all the fun we had, there are some great memories to stash away (and lots of photos!).

So back on track this week with blogging and foodie-stuffs!

x

Chocolate cake with butterscotch icingServed with Häagen-Dazs' Cookies 'n Cream ice cream - what more could you ask for after dinner? Look who's returned from sunny Australia? Our favourite legal eagle...xx

SOMA ice cream
The berriest ice cream you have ever had. It was almost too flavourful as it was soo potent. You are not used to eating pure crushed blueberries mixed with a little bit of water and sugar - blueberry ice cream is usually almost 90% artificial with blueberry flavour added.

When I tasted this ice cream it tasted nothing like the bluberry ice cream that I am used to. Instead it tasted strong and the blueberry flavour was almost over powering as it is so concentrated. I saw them make a huge batch of the puree and it was basically a 10kg bag of frozen blueberries poured into a large blender and pureed with ice.

Am sure the mango, strawberry and the pistachio were made the same way. Oddly enough, I didn't like the ice cream as it was too much, too strong and maybe the right balance of sugar and fruit was not made, the mango seemed too sweet while the blueberry seemed too sour.

Oh well - I will definitely keep taste testing!

Go to the Jane Corkin gallery and then SOMA, in the Distillery District, for art, chocolate and ice cream and let me know what you think.

Get the scoop...Japanese style

As we are trying to beat the heat, lots of us are turning to swimming pools, lots of water and sitting in front of fans, air conditioners or retreating under shady trees (which doesn't work in this heat!)

In Japan you can go for your fatty treat of ice cream - aisu kuri-mu.

An article in the Globe & Mail today states that a single half cup (125ml) of most Haagen-Dazs ice cream flavors delivers more saturated fat than a McDonald's Big Mac. Shocking, non?

As I mentioned in a post in the early days gelato is the way to go.

In Canada you can get organic ice cream and for the vegetarians - soy, rice and hemp varieties.

The one thing we do not seem to have is the flavors like they do in Japan.

(See pics) From this ice cream parlor in Sapporo, flavors sold are - cheese, squid, salt, curry, cherry blossom & sesame. mmmmmmm.....
And on the menu to tickle your taste buds even further there are flavours like sweet potato, beer, sea urchin, aloe, fermented beans and more.

Not sure how brave I would be to try these flavors...

We had the loveliest visitors over for dinner last who arrived from Japan only the night before. They were gracious guests and although we did not speak the same language our translator Kiki and Ayuko were wonderful and somehow we understood each other.

They brought us lovely gifts of traditional Japanese cake and jellies...posts on those to follow.

I Scream
It is too cold outside to have ice cream, well that is my logic in the winter but you can always make exceptions to your own odd rules right?

Tartufo which means 'truffle' in Italian, is one of those exceptions to the rule. This ice cream dessert comes in a ball usually covered in cocoa powder, chocolate shaving or ground nuts.

The insides are usually two types of gelato - this one is chocolate and raspberry served at Terroni's on Queen W. Traditionally it was vanilla and then a whole cherry on the inside but now there are several choices...just like the candy apple variations. See Dorgel's page for some of the other yummy flavours you can buy. When served it is cut into four sections and placed into a little bowl -one is missing in the pic due to hungry wolves who attacked. You can try making them at home in little moulds but it is probably easier to buy them and pass them as your own creations.

Soft serve gelato?! = Jolatti
This new website and concept 'Jolatti' was sent to me from lovely Nat in London who studied with the Damaso son. The Damaso's are the ones who started this soft serve gelato concept and are in Phoenix, Arizona. Check out their website jolatti.com
Latte. Zucchero. Uova.
Milk. Sugar. Eggs.
Three simple ingredients produce the rich, creamy texture of the world’s most savored dessert: gelato -yum!

I want one of these machines (maybe for my b-day?) and am curious to know how they make gelato 'soft' hmmm...may ask Nat to find out the secret.