Bye Bye Breyers

I have had an ice cream maker for the past years. Unfortunately for me however, it was a fickle beast, often providing my guests and I with nothing but cool, loose cream. It was a very thoughtful gift however from my son, so I kept plugging in the hopes that it would someday become my friend.

At a recent dinner party, I announced to all – my son wasn’t there – that if my machine again failed me, it was going in the trash and I would tell my son that it broke! Sure enough, that night we the slurped strawberry cream and the trash bag was graced with a small electrical appliance.

Having researched a safer bet, I opted for the Cuisinart stainless steel unit. Great reviews and with my Bed Bath and Beyond coupon, easily manageable. Now having had it for a week, I have become quite the ice cream aficionado; which is kinda funny because I’m not a big ice cream eater. A taste generally does me fine, because I’m one of those chicks that would generally opt for a second helping of protein. The same can not be said for the men in my family… And they are not so quietly cursing me for my new passion, their lack of self control and expanding bellies!

The majority of recipes I have tried I have found on-line, or from the Cuisinart recipe book which was enclosed. As promised and unlike my last efforts, this magical machine has brought us the tastiest desserts within 20 to 30 minutes. From mint chocolate chip to vanilla bean, honey cinnamon with Baklava, and peanut butter, all have beat ANY grocery store 1/2 gallon our family has ever purchased.

My suggestion? Run, don’t walk to your nearest vendor and buy the Cuisinart ice cream maker. Do it now while the weather is hot and the creamy cold will especially rock your world!!! Just be forewarned that you may be criticized too for fattening up those with little to no willpower!

A Must Have for Managing Recipes

For those looking to better organize recipes, you should check out Living Cookbook 2011. Its capabilities are far better than software programs I have explored in the past, and new users can advantage a 30 day free trial download.

Living Cookbook offers some supercharged tools for anyone who cooks. A serious advantage is that one can copy and paste a recipe from the Internet in about 1 minute after practicing on a few. From that copied recipe, one can modify ingredients or directions, record the source, calculate recipe scaling and nutritional content, and even add a photo. These tools also apply to an original recipe or one of the hundreds that are provided in the program itself.

The search tool is also valuable, as is the ability to build your own cookbooks, creating sub-sections as the user sees fit. It additionally offers the ability to print those cookbooks, providing indexing and paginating so you don’t have to do it manually. Many other benefits are built into the program as well. There is a calendar and menu/meal planning tool, an ingredient shopping list, and users can print individual recipes on index cards or standard paper.

This is just a glimpse into the featured highlights of Living Cookbook, but if you’re looking for organizational tools for your recipes that is easy to use, I highly recommend that you check out this product. You can pull a free download by clicking to this link and if it works for you like it does for me, you’ll find yourself investing the full purchase price of less than $35!

Wine Aerator/Decanter

Wine Aerator

This was a Christmas gift from Mom. I appreciate good wine, but am by no means a connoisseur.  I was genuinely impressed by what I believed was a tangible difference in the wine with this aerator. I was also grateful that others were there to bear witness so that my wine palate was not the only judge!

Here is the link for the wine aerator that I received from Mom. http://winedown.net/I_Gemini.htm# 

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus. And He Must Drink Wine!

I must have been a very good girl this year because Santa and his elves were very good to me. Not only did I get the very fantabulous camera that I had hoped for, but I also received not just one, but 2 wine aerators! (Truth be told, I believe I got the camera so that my husband would get his big screen TV back; as we all know that The Food Channel looks best in HD! I think he was counting on my time newly instead being spent styling food and writing a blog, which would prove especially beneficial for him!)

Oh, but the irony of the wine aerators! Here’s the back story: The Wednesday before Christmas, some close friends (I’ll refer to them as elves for the purpose of this post) visited for noshies and drinks. My Mom joined us too. And as we elves opened our gifts to one another, my mother turned to me and whispered with a stifled laugh while pointing to the aerator, “Don’t use yours till Christmas…                     insert pregnant pause here…     That’s all I’m going to say!”  To put it simply, Mom had just let her gift to me ”out of the bottle!”

So here indeed I was, on Christmas Day with 2 of them, despite my having always been an aerator skeptic! With days of having been tempted by the unopened aerator under my tree, you can only guess what happened next…

Yes, you guessed it, we unboxed that 2 ft tall,  hand-blown glass and nickel architectural piece and within minutes had it primed for its first use! In order to best taste-test we poured a glass from the bottle and reserved it.  We then poured the remainder of the bottle into the aerator and began dispensing with its convenient and practical tap. Not only did it work – but it WORKED! All but Dad, who has taste buds primed for meat, potatoes and desserts, experienced the same result.  It tasted better, smoother, and had a nicer mouth feel.

I appreciate good wine, but am by no means a connoisseur.  I was genuinely impressed by what I believed was a tangible difference in the wine. I was also grateful that others were there to bear witness so that my wine palate was not the only judge.

Here is the link for the wine aerator that I received from Mom. http://winedown.net/I_Gemini.htm# . You can also find it on the Gadget Fun page with a clipped photo from the website.

The first one I received I am going to gift back to the elf that gave it to me.  This way, when I’m visiting her, we can enjoy the benefits together of aerated wine!