My new mantra during ice-cream making, by Betty Turbo – buy it here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/71915983/face-meltingly-awesome-variety-pack-of

I was gifted an ice cream maker earlier this week, right in time for Memorial Day Weekend and the official start of summer. I was so excited to start mixing and churning, but I didn’t really know which recipe to start with, so I turned to the ice cream expert in my family, my lovely cousin Agnes (aka Betty Turbo). Here’s how it went down:

Now, I trust Agnes. She gives great advice! Plus she’s way cooler than me and super talented and I know that she would not intentionally lead me astray… but I have to say, I’m not sure if this David Lebovitz’s chocolate ice cream was the right place to start. I should have done more research.

I’ve made ice cream only once before, two winters ago, and I remember that we were anxious and skeptical about the process AND that I never got to sample the final result. I also know that whatever process that we went through back then was not nearly as complicated as the one I just went through this morning. In fact, I’m pretty sure that we made TWO different ice creams in the amount of time it’s taken me to get to the churning stage of this recipe. Not to mention the fact that I’ve had all of these… LESSONS that I’ve learned along the way.

Lesson #1: Sift the cocoa powder

Or else it will be chunky and impossible to break up.

Lesson #2: Buy high-quality chocolate

Don’t use the bar of bakers chocolate that your roommate unearthed and is marked 50% off.

Lesson #3: Read the F’ing Recipe All the Way Through

How many times must I learn this!? Read it! And then read it again!

Lesson #4: Check the Ingredient List

Make sure you have all the ingredients on hand or you may find yourself without vanilla extract (the very last step) at a crucial moment and have to forego it entirely because it’s 7am and too early to ask the neighbors if you can borrow some.

Lesson #5: Always have ICE on hand

For some reason our refrigerator doesn’t have an ice-maker and so we’re forced to make do with two trays of ice that we would constantly be refilling if we actually used ice. In this particular recipe, you have to make the mixture and then let it sit in an ice bath for 30 minutes, replacing the ice as it melts. Obviously, I am having to skip the replacement step as I used all available ice for the initial bath.

Lesson #6: Know how to work your ice cream maker before putting ice cream mixture in to churn

If I didn’t have enough doubts before this step, they multiplied ten-fold when I couldn’t get the thing to snap in perfectly. Not only that, but I’m not sure there’s ENOUGH of the mixture to be moving around enough.

I will definitely update this post after this thing finishes it’s business and re-freezes or whatever it’s supposed to do, but it’s not looking good, friends. I’m afraid I’m being defeated by ice cream and that is just so sad.

(Update #1: I churned for 20 minutes and then threw it in the freezer. I never want to look at it again.)

I’m super behind the times because I just discovered The Wanted on the American Billboard Music Awards show last night, which I was only watching because of Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen. I’d HEARD “Glad You Came” before and I knew I liked it but didn’t know who sang it and didn’t really care. So I watched their performance of “Chasing the Sun” and “Glad You Came”, appreciated the fact that they were actually singing live and jumping off things on stage (see video), but when they each had close-up shots they kind of freaked me out. (Please note that this hasn’t stopped me from playing “Glad You Came” on repeat.)

Behold: Look-alike Gossip: The Wanted Edition. Old readers of Studer’s Rumors will appreciate this the most. Apologies for a) stealing all these pix off of the internet and b) smooshing them together with the help of Microsoft Paint.

Max from The Wanted or Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) from Grey’s Anatomy?

Tom from The Wanted or Patrick Filscher from guest starring in everything?

Siva from The Wanted or Taylor Lautner from Twilight?

Nathan from The Wanted or Frankie Muniz from Malcom in the Middle?

Jay from The Wanted or Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network?

Now I can’t look at these guys without thinking of their American doppelgänger- nor can I help but notice that every single one of their faces seems to be stuck in a perma-Blue Steel pose which is really bizarre. Soooooooooooooooo, yeah.  That’s about all I have to say about that.

Roasted Beets, Red Onion and Feta Quinoa with Lemon Oregano Vinaigrette

Carrot Soup with Miso & Sesame

Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Garlic Chips

Coriander Spiced Potatoes with Spinach Sauce

Risotto Primavera

Carrot Top Pesto (just because we’ve got ‘em)

It will be a week of pretty great eats – feel free to stop by! Especially on Wednesday because I’m having a lunch party and it will be fun.

Then, it was these Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips, seven varieties of which I scooped up on sale at Rite Aid and was obsessed with for two weeks. Amazing because you don’t have to wait for them to dry and relatively easy to apply (though I must admit that Carly is much better at it than I.)

Then came along The New Black – a five-piece ombre set that is being sold at Nordstrom. I immediately emailed Neighbor Jamie who works there and demanded that she bring me the purple Haze when she came home, which she did ever so nicely. I’ve been rocking this for the past two weeks and I love it – it’s subtle enough that people don’t really notice it, but when they do they’re totally excited about it – plus it’s a nod to Jimi Hendrix and Seattle.

Now, it’s this Ciate Caviar Manicure which Melogna spotted on Pinterest a few weeks ago but has since gone on sale at Sephora. The three-color sets sold out within HOURS online, prompting me to actually pick up the phone and call the downtown store to see if they had them. Unfortunately, they don’t come into the stores for another two weeks but you can be SURE that I’ll have it in my hot little hands on the day of their arrival!

Caviar Nail Polish

Today, as I suffered through my second class (which was actually MUCH better than my first class last week), I came up with this analogy for what it’s like to be back:

You know those reusable handwarmers? The ones where you crack a little button and the liquid turns into crystals and gets hot? And then it’s kind of fun to reshape the crystals and break ‘em apart? That’s how my body feels, but opposite. It’s like I’m made out of those little crystals and they’re kind of break apart in each posture, resulting in a more loose and limber me.

I remember my family used to have one of those hand warmers and it must have been when they were a pretty new thing because I was never allowed to crack it and heat it up as often as I would have liked. Maybe they used to be expensive? I distinctly remember the bright purple pouch that came with it. I wonder if that’s still around somewhere.

This adventure coincided perfectly with the second season of The Walking Dead and I had multiple conversations with customers as to what one would do in the event of a zombie apocalypse. In this unlikely (let’s hope!) scenario, it seems pretty essential that one would need a gun in order to survive, and one must also be able to SHOOT that gun.

I’ve basically decided that if there is a zombie outbreak, I’m screwed. The only gun I’d ever shot before our training event was some kind of shotgun and some clay pigeons in the great state of Montana (eyeroll to all the Montanan’s reading this, you all can be SO annoying with your state pride) and though I’m PRETTY SURE I hit the clay pigeon, it’s entirely possible that it just sort of broke itself in the air.

My fingers are crossed that perhaps I just get to become a zombie without having to go through anything TOO traumatic. I’d prefer if it was just a little scratch or bite that turned me, not something horrible like a zombie clawing my chest open or having a pack of them take me down and eat me.

Anyway, after spending hours watching The Walking Dead and more hours discussing the actual likelihood of having to be prepared for such a travesty, I have come up with a list of all the ways in which I am NOT prepared for a zombie apocalypse:

1. I don’t know how to shoot a gun – I mean, not REALLY. I know how to load bullets thanks to LSA and I know how to point a gun and how to pull the trigger but I’m lost as to how to load a magazine and what sorts of guns do what. All my life I’ve had the good sense to stay AWAY from guns and it’s served me well but if zombies get involved, I ought to know how to protect myself!
2. I’m not even sure where/how to go about buying a gun – I think I could do this at Norpoint now, but can anyone just, BUY a gun? How long does one have to wait before they can take it from the store?
3. I hate running and have no endurance – so if they came after me, I’d probably make it like half a mile before they caught up to me. The zombies in The Walking Dead move fast when they want to!
4. I have never even seen a dead body – and since I’ve never seen a dead body before, I expect that I’ll be quite traumatized when I do see one – and if I see them en masse, I’m sure I’ll become catatonic and therefore at the mercy of any oncoming zombies. Eek!
5. And finally, and most importantly: if I was on the run and the entire infrastructure of the world had crumbled and therefore there were no working SHOWERS, I would have to shave my head because I would have horrible dreadlocks after a week I would likely run out of conditioner within two weeks. Talk about a nightmare!

Turns out it WAS a date, but that he’d also cancelled it because he wanted to do some stuff around the house. (Chores over love, I totally get it.) But then he made a great point: I should have a list of my top 5 happy hours. He was right. I SHOULD have a top 5, but why limit it to just five? Here are my top SIX.

Barolo and/or List: [TURN OFF YOUR SPEAKERS BEFORE CLICKING THOSE LINKS! Isn't it bad web etiquette to have music embedded in your website? Sheesh. Don't let that deter you from going here though.] Since these are owned by the same people, I’m giving them just one spot on the Top 6 because they also have the same great deal: between 3-6pm, their bar menu is 1/2 off and bottles of wine (red, white, AND rose, my fave) are only $14. Get a small group of friends together and challenge yourselves to see how many of those you can drink! Actually don’t do that – I can tell you how it turns out: all your friends pick on you for being single and make you feel bad about yourself. But at least you won’t suffer from sticker shock when you get the bill.

Happy Hour: 3-6:30 and 10-close every day. 50% off bar menu, $3.5 wine, $3 beer, $14 bottles of wine. Try: the lamb burger, ravioli or gnocchi, grilled Ceasar salad. Everything is good. I prefer the List crowd over the Barolo crowd. If you happen to be in the University District, one of the owners also owns Mamma Melina’s and you can find the same great HH over there.

The Alibi Room: This is great for first-time visitors of the Emerald City, because it’s located within the Pike Place Market and right across from the famous Gum Wall (which I tried to take a visitor to just last week and she found the entire idea so disgusting that she refused to get within 20 feet of it- fail!). It’s dark and kind of gritty in an old-school Seattle kind of way.

Happy Hour:  3-6pm, M-T and 12-6pm F-Sun. $3 beer, $4 wells, $5 food! Try a mini pizza or the bruschetta, or anything really. Beware the steep stairs down to the bathroom! Good for groups.

Local 360: This is a place you go for the mission: 90% of the ingredients they use comes from within a 360-mile radius of Seattle. Isn’t that neat? I do my best to be mindful about where my food comes from and if you’re at all intrigued by this idea, I promise that you’ll enjoy your experience at Local 360.

Happy Hour: 3-6pm and 10-late, every day. Drinks $4-5 / Food $4-$8. Try: the Corndog, the PB&J Bon Bons, the Rabbit country style pate. Beautiful private dining space in the back where the Mercantile used to be. Expect to attend my birthday dinner there in August.

Maximilien: You can find me on this patio when the sun is shining! But probably not any other time because it is primarily a romantic French restaurant in the Market. But when the sun is shining, it’s the place to enjoy a great view of the Sound and some pretty fantastic mussels and frites and a few glasses of wine.

Happy Hour: 5-7pm, M-F and 8-10pm on Saturday. $5 glass and $20 bottles. $4-5 cocktails and $3 beer. Try the frites, the cheese plate, and the foie gras if you’re in to that kind of thing.

RN74: This is where we waited out Snowpocalypse 2012 – or rather, waited for it to START. Work was cancelled before a flake of snow fell and in honor of the impending storm, RN74 had an all-night happy hour. I just love the ambiance of this spot and the train-station-esque signs that flip around and change. It’s quickly become my HH go-to and NOT just because my bus stop is right outside.

Happy Hour: 3-6pm M-Sat and 10:30-close. $5 wine and cocktail of the say, $3-5 food. Try the pretzels and the ahi tuna poppers. Go early if you’re with a group and want to secure the lounge seating.

Lecosho: Continue down from Post Alley from the Alibi Room and you’ll soon arrive at Lecosho – tucked within the Harbor Steps and you’ll find a great little European/Northwest spot, home to my current favorite happy hour DISH, their housemade sausage and lentils.

Happy Hour: 3-6pm every day, 10-1am Sun-Th. $3 beer, $4 wine, $5 cocktail, $5-$9 food. Try: the housemade sausage and lentils and the grilled sardine tartine.

Now, I realize that there are some glaring omissions from this list. For example, what about The Pink Door? Well, it’s always too frickin’ busy and I can never get a spot on the patio when I want one so how can I call it a favorite if I can’t ever go!?  Well what about Sazerac? That’s a good one, but would I rather go there than any of these other places? Probably not. What if you’re in the mood for sushi? Well then I’d go to Umi Sake House or to Red Fin – but I’d probably opt for cheap sushi at Genki first. Howzabout Palomino? We’re fighting ever since they took their pigs-in-a-blankets off the menu. What about Ruth’s Chris? I do love their cosmos, but it’s a chain. Actually, several of these belong on a “Pre/Post Theater Happy Hour” list. I’ll get right on that!

1. The Book Larder – I’ve been following The Book Larder on Facebook ever since they opened, and I just love that there’s an entire store dedicated to cookbooks! It’s genius. They’ve got almost every book you can imagine, with a special focus on local authors, of which there are many. As a regular Cookbook Social attendee, I loved recognizing each of the books and knowing that I’ve eaten from them! The Book Larder also has a little demo kitchen and they host events with cookbook authors – including Christina Tosi, Gail Simmons, and Rick Bayless. Celebrities!

image via Dot's Delicatessen

2. Dot’s Delicatessen - Hungry after looking through cookbooks for an hour, we asked the owner of the Book Larder to suggest somewhere to eat, given that the store’s neighbors now include a restaurant called “Hunger” and a cute butcher shop called “Dot’s Delicatessen”. “You’ll die for Dot’s”, she said, so obviously that’s where we went because the line at Paseo was about 30-deep. Dot’s is an adorable local dine-in/take-out eatery, featuring house-made sausages and pates, and local meats in the case, as well as sandwiches and frites! Including poutine, my favorite. We snacked on their local hot dog, a pork belly & egg sandwich, an order of poutine and collard greens with bacon. Delicious!

image via http://seattle.todaysmama.com/2011/05/local-party-supply-spots/

3. Home Cake Decorating Supply Co. - I think I’ve mentioned this before, but Home Cake Decorating Supply is literally a baker’s version of heaven. They have sprinkles in every color you can imagine. They have muffin tins in all sorts of different shapes, and they have chocolate-making supplies that have been tempting me for weeks. (I’m drawing the line though – chocolate-making is going TOO FAR). But, most importantly, they have GLUCOSE, which is like a super sweet thick and stringy corn syrup and an absolute essential ingredient if you’re cooking from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, which as you know, we are, and constantly. The woman who owns Home Cake Decorating Supply Co in incredibly nice and helpful and we’ve promised to bring her some of the fruits of our labor.

Glamorous, isn't it? Cash and Carry in Ballard.

4. Cash & Carry - don’t get blinded by the deals here. Sure, you can get a 20lb sack of potatoes for like, $7 bucks but you can ALSO get a 24-pack of toilet paper for $13 and it’s really quite terrible in terms of quality. But that bad decision aside, this is my new favorite place to shop because you can get giant bricks of butter and cream cheese for a fraction of what you’d spend at a grocery store. Now, you may not have room to store all the things you buy. If you come over to my apartment, you’ll notice a 25lb sack of flour sitting on the floor… or on a chair… or on the table – there just isn’t anywhere to put it! But since we’re pretty committed to baking, it’s essential that we have enough flour, sugar and butter at all times. And so we shop where the restauranteurs shop.

blue ombre cake for Heather's birthday

For Heather’s 31st, I whipped up up this 5-layer blue ombre cake which was of course, inspired by Pinterest and actually not all that difficult to make, so long as you’re comfortable using a lot of food coloring. I used boxed mixes (3 of ‘em) and out-of-the-jar frosting just because I saw no reason to make this experience harder than it needed to be, though I felt guilty the entire time. However, boxed cake mixes exist for a reason AND they’re delicious.

Blood Orange Tart

We were graced with a bunch of blood oranges in our New Roots Organics box last week and I threw together Smitten Kitchen’s “Flaky Blood Orange Tart“. Mine wasn’t quite as pretty as hers, and for some reason I misread the directions several times and had to keep removing and rearranging the oranges – but it tasted great and I ate it for breakfast.

French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms and Roasted Stuffed Potatoes

We had a last minute party for the Oscar’s, which we didn’t really invite anyone to but was fun anyway. We made The Pioneer Woman’s French Onion Soup stuffed mushrooms and goat cheese mashed potatoes stuffed into hollowed out potato skins. We also used some leftover spinach pesto and threw it into a big batch of hummus. We served some leftover salmon burgers that Heather had made for our house guests the night before and Alice Waters’ spicy cauliflower soup. And unfortunately there is no picture of the amazing cinnamon bun PIE that we made from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, which has basically become The Bible in this apartment.

Spinach Pesto Hummus and Salmon Burgers

Alice Waters' Spicy Cauliflower Soup

And then today, on Leap Day, I spent the entire day baking. The ENTIRE day. I made a double batch of homemade Oreos, cornflake-chocolate chip-marshmallow cookies, confetti cookies, BAGEL BOMBS and chicken pot pies. Then I boxed them all up in what I called the “Ultimate Leap Day Lunch Box” and dropped it off with the lovely Sara R., who for some reason is the recipient of nearly every single baked item that comes our of our oven. We drop off goodies at her office on a regular basis, the lucky girl! Anyway, how cute is this:

Leap Day Lunch Box

Chicken Pot Pie, Homemade Oreos, Momofuku Milk Bars Bagel Bombs, Cornflake-Marshmallow-Chocolate Chip Cookies and Confetti Cookies

What did you do for Leap Day? This certainly wasn’t an entirely “out of the ordinary” day but it was rather lovely. Believe it or not, I actually got a significant amount of work done too, even with the running back and forth to the kitchen.