Project 60 Number 17

Making ice cream. It is actually a wee while since I made this. It had been on the Project 60 list but I had sort of given up on it as ice cream makers of the sort I wanted were horribly expensive and I wasn't about to spend that sort of money on something just to make one batch of ice cream, which isn't something I'm a huge fan of in the first place. In fact you might wonder why I wanted to do it at all, but its partly down to watching too many cookery competitions on TV and partly because - well, you know, I'd never done it before. And at the end of the day that is what Project 60 is all about.

Anyway the OH took to haunting e-bay looking for ice cream makers and eventually he found one that he assured me was a bargain. It was still an eye watering amount of money but it was a good machine and almost brand new. The person selling it on e-bay said they had bought it but discovered after using it only once that her husband was lactose intolerant so that they had no further use for it.

This puzzled me a bit. Ice cream makers are not cheap and it seems to me that by the time you have the sort of disposable income that allows you to purchase one you are surely of an age where you have previously noticed that you are lactose intolerant?

However that might be, the OH purchased the machine and it duly arrived. He couldn't wait for me to mentally gird up my loins ready to use it and he made some ice cream almost straight away. It was very nice. Emboldened he tried again. The machine made a funny noise, a bit like 'phutt-bang' and died.

I was not amused.

I am now going to cut a long story very short and just say that due to helpful people; the lady we bought the machine from, and in customer services at both Lakeland and Sage , we ended up with a brand new machine, as the one we bought was still under warranty. It took a bit of doing, but only because it was hassly and involved people digging out invoices and till receipts and scanning them and e-mailing them about, but it was done.

I have now used it twice and although I am not one for blowing my own trumpet I will say that the ice cream produced was lovely. The OH has used it rather more often and has been more adventurous with his flavours. I have stuck to vanilla, while he has done raspberry, lime, and cinnamon and chocolate chip. Honours are however about even since he 'cheats' and uses cream, whereas mine have been custard based and therefore more difficult to do.

 

Some of my cookery based Project 60 things have been one offs, but I have enjoyed making the ice cream, despite the minor panics around issues such as 'why is that mixture so foamy?',' is this custard thick enough' 'why is the machine playing that stupid tune? and so on. So I fully expect to make much more nex year and am already planning how best to try making it coffee flavoured.