Winner!

THE JAM WINNER is .... CARRIE PASCHALL (whose birthday is this week too!!)

And the OTHER WINNER (I couldn't help but draw twice) is .... MAX MOYER!!!!

The Important things in Life: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

When I was 13, I babysat for the Peterson's up the street every Friday night (only now do I know how much they loved me) for $2.50 an hour and a pantry and freezer stocked with Mint Milanos and Bryer's Mint Chocolate Chip. I spent all of my hours delighting in minty sweets, talking on the phone, and watching TGIF. It was a 13-year-old heaven.

I have loved mint chocolate chip ice cream for years, the white mint in particular (the whiteness seems to sharpen the flavor, purify it). For decades I've thought Bryer's made the very best. And then, a year and a half ago, I discovered Hagen Daz Light Mint Chocolate Chip. OH the goodness. I may or may not have eaten a whole pint when I was pregnant with Eden. And I may or may not have done this a couple of times. Feast your eyes:

The tragic news is that they have STOPPED MAKING THIS ice cream. My friend Kim called the company to ask why (one of the many reasons we must be friends) and was told not enough people were buying it -- obviously because they hardly stold it ANYwhere.

The good news is that they began making this:

and five (really made up of only 5 ingredients) +
comes pretty close...

S-tuck

Eden's most frequent word -- as in the stroller I am dragging around the house is bumping into a chair leg and is "s-tuck," or I am trying to drink from my sippy cup but the handle is caught on my overalls and is "s-tuck," or my mom can't find me anywhere because I am fully under my crib hunting pacifiers and cannot get out and am muttering "s-tuck, s-tuck," or I am riding home from Malibu and for 20 solid minutes am tugging at my seat belt crying because I am "s-tuck! s-tuck!" Stuck.


...
it's actually more like "guck"

Rosemary Biscuits

In case you want to bake something delicious:


Rosemary Biscuits
(not the same as the ones at Gulfstream restaurant, but 5 of us ate an entire batch at dinner)

2 c flour
1 1/2 T baking powder
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 c butter
3/4 c buttermilk
1 egg
olive oil
coarse salt

-Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl.
-Cut 1/2 cup butter into flour mixture with mixer or your fingers until just crumbly (don't want to integrate butter -- some globs still are ok)
-Combine buttermilk and egg in separate bowl
-Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened
-Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 3 or 4 times
-Pat or roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness; cut with a 2-inch round cutter (or cut into squares with
a pizza slicer)
-Place on a baking sheet
-Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt
-Bake at 425 degrees for 14 to 15 minutes or until golden

-(They also happen to be delicious with fresh jam)

a PRIZE

We are joined by this intangible connective tissue of my writing posts in my living room and your reading those posts in your living room. It's all a bit magical. Thank you for reading.

Since I kind of like it when blogs give away prizes -- because this suspended spell of connection gets broken through by a physical object -- I thought on this night of my 200th post, I'd do a little giveaway too.

Here are the prizes:
*starbucks dark chocolate covered graham crackers (from my most recent list of likes)
*lychee tea (also from that list)
*a jar of my jam (which we have begun to eat on EVERYthing -- try it on Stacy's pita chips)

To be in the drawing, please leave a comment saying which prize you'd most like to win (or you can just say hi, or comment on the smash room) by Sunday August 9th Wednesday August 12th (not the last day of the Orange County Fair -- more about that later).

Again, I'm so glad you read. Thanks.

More About Jam

Everyone has her own way of working through stress: going for a run, kick boxing, furiously scrubbing something, breathing deeply, going to a smash shack (please, please click on this link -- should I not take Ben there for a date?), or, as it turns out, making jam. I have found nothing more therapeutic this week than busily chopping peaches, peeling apples, smashing blueberries, stirring bubbling frothy pots of fruit, and ladling concoctions into jars.



There is some relief in working with my hands, in being in conversation but also on task. And also something wholly satisfying in a little sealed jam jar filled with what I've made.

After my burned batch, I rallied -- so much, in fact, that Ben's tried to ban all jam making from the kitchen-turned-factory numerous times -- and have now made batches of strawberry, raspberry-peach, and blueberry. I'm hoping to make one more batch: peach.

Phew

Clearly Silas's love for flowers tucked behind his ears is not lost.
(nor is his freedom with magic markers...)