my foray into ice-cream-making

The concept seemed pretty simple, make ice cream with flavors you wouldn’t usually be able to get in the market. I had done this once with regular vanilla ice cream with some decent results, but that was on such a small scale that it wouldn’t have been able to be enjoyed by more than one person. So I decide to try making a pint.

Now, normally, making ice cream at home with an ice cream maker is kinda pointless, especially since they’re kinda expensive and you can just buy it at the store (and it’ll probably have better texture). Well, the exception to that would be if you have access to dry ice. Fortunately, in Davis, there are two such places to get it: Save Mart and Nugget. Apparently, with dry ice, you can make ice cream in just a few minutes, as the -160F CO2 blocks can cool down the mixture in a matter of minutes, giving a pretty good texture ice cream. Of course, finding that right mixture is key.

Ok, so I would also venture to say that, making regular flavors is kinda pointless as well. Why go through the expense and time of making vanilla ice cream when it’s 2.79 at nugget? I figured I needed to go for the one-off flavors, the kind of stuff you can’t get in markets. In other words, I wanna try the odd flavors like dragonfruit or cucumber or chicken. So, inspired by Heston Blumenthal’s bacon-and-eggs ice cream that he serves at The Fat Duck, I decided to give it a shot.

I started off with strips of bacon cut into segments, cooked in a pan until it started caramelizing. I poured in 2 cups of whole milk and started stirring. I let it simmer for a bit to give it the bacon flavor. I added eight egg yolks to it, and started stirring. Unsatisfied with the bland flavor, I added a few shots of bacon syrup to see if it’ll impart more bacon-y taste to it. Well, it most certainly did. By now, the egg had started to slightly scramble, which is what I was going for (apparently when eggs start to scramble they take on more of an eggy flavor). I took it off the flame and immediately strained it into an ice bath. This was followed by crushed dry ice being sprinkled in slowly and stirring until it thickened. It was pretty cool seeing the haze of CO2 arising as I stirred. The bubbling is pretty fun to watch too.

Of course, if you were at Luke’s fourth-of-july potluck, you know the rest of the story, but for those of you who weren’t there, well, you’re just gonna have to try it out and see if you like it. Personally, I thought it had a little too much bacon flavor and not enough eggs, but others differed in how they viewed the ice cream. As Luke puts it, he doesn’t seem to have ever recalled a stronger reaction to a single bite of food. Since this one clearly wasn’t a hit, I’m thinking of tweaking the recipe to see if it’ll work better next time.

50 beans | Coffee Crawl – Prague

Ok I’m just going to preface this post by saying that this will be LONG. A lot of times getting a cup of coffee was a good excuse to get out of the cold and warm up a bit. Also, coffee is good. Prague has a lot of coffee places, and, well…you know…

A Café
I kid you not, this place is called a café. This was my first cup of coffee in Prague, at 4:55am before a 5:10am train from Prague to Linz en route to Salzburg. I got a cappuccino with whatever Czech koruna I had on me (I had like $2 worth left over from the initial $20 I exchanged). It was a decent cup of coffee, nothing too special, but enough to get me up and running for the day. It was going to be a five hour trainride and I wanted to get some last-minute planning done on the train.

Costa Café
Yes, I am aware that Costa is a huge chain, but since I don’t have much experience with it, and they had good free wifi (which is more than I could say for our hotel at times), this was a good place to park for a bit and enjoy a macchiato. It was also next to an exchange place that gave decent rates. The macchiato was pretty good, they did the right milk to espresso ratio (equal parts milk to coffee).

Kavárna Slavia
The famous Grand Café Slavia is situated right on the river across the street from the National Theatre opened in 1881 (the same year as the theatre) and became a popular meeting place for both artists and intellectuals, including former president Václav Havel who was a frequent customer during his dissident years. If you find space, get a table by the riverside windows to enjoy beautiful views of the Prague Castle. Café Slavia is a very pleasant place to have coffee and or hot chocolate (I ended up having both since we came here twice). The coffee was pretty good…ended up getting an amaretto coffee. The hot chocolate came with a bit of ice cream, but the cocoa had an odd consistency. It was like drinking chocolate syrup. Stick to the coffee.

Café Trinity
Not all cafés were good. Well, I suppose the coffee here was decent, but this was definitely a tourist trap disguised as a friendly café. First of all, they advertised wifi, which didn’t work, and the menu was outrageous. We’re talking 110Kc for an espresso. This is normally 28-35Kc. Aside from the fact that it was a tourist trap, the coffee was decent. I got a cappuccino, which came out promptly and tasted decent. The foam was decent and it held for quite a bit.

Kavárna Obecní dům
This café is one of the best looking cafés I’ve seen so far – still has that classic old-style European café look. I had the Viennese Iced Coffee here…it was decent – can’t really mess up coffee and ice cream I suppose. The thing about this café is mostly the atmosphere – live band, grand crystal chandeliers, high ceilings and well-worn plush velvet seats. This is a café you can spend an entire afternoon in reading the paper or studying. Definitely a good rainy-day place to hang out.

Café Rozmani
This place was a small café on the side of the road that we decided to check out purely for the sake of getting out of the cold. I had an egg liqueur coffee (didn’t know such a thing existed). It was an interesting consistency – the egg liqueur kind of sat at the bottom unless you stir it up. Probably not something I would order again.

Ok maybe that wasn’t that long…thanks for reading. I’m starting to look into the next trip…not sure where though. Maybe coffee crawl Mumbai =)

50 beans | Coffee Crawl – Vienna

The second city in this series is Vienna. After the Turkish army was defeated during the second siege of Vienna in the 17th century, sacks of coffee beans were discovered in the abandoned Turkish camps. Legend has it that Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, a Polish officer, was given the bags of coffee as a gift. Having spent some time in Turkish captivity, he must have learned what these beans were used for, and used the beans to open the first coffee shop in Vienna. Kulczycki opened a coffee house in Vienna at Schlossergassl named the Hof zur Blauen Flasche ('House under the Blue Bottle'). This  helped popularize coffee in Vienna, and was instrumental in establishing the coffee culture there. While the blue bottle coffee house is no longer there, other cafés have sprung up to take it's place.

Since 2011, Viennese coffeehouse culture has been listed in the Austrian list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (put together by UNESCO). The Viennese coffee house is described in this inventory as a place "where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill."

Café Tirolerhof
Located directly across from the Albertina, Café Tirolerhof is a nice quiet place to sit, pour over a local paper (english available), and enjoy a cup of coffee. Upon walking in, you're invited to seat yourself at any table in this nicely decorated viennese café. As you sit you'll notice the velvet fabric that is on each seat, well worn by the butts of many viennese from years past =) I was able to enjoy an einspänner and homemade apfelstrudel here.

Café Sacher
This café is situated down the street from the Vienna Opera House inside the Hotel Sacher, and sits on the site where Antonio Vivaldi once lived. This café is famous for it's sachertorte, a chocolate cake with apricot jam filling, which was first created here. They offer the full sachertorte slice or a mini-sacher, depending on your mood/appetite. Since I already had breakfast at Café Tirolerhof, I opted for the mini-sacher, which is a 1x1 inch cube. I also opted to try the Viennese iced coffee, which is pretty much Vienna's version of the affogato, and consists of coffee, vanilla ice cream, and some whipped cream. The Viennese iced coffee was alright, the sachertorte was kind of dry (not a big fan but I figured I had to try the original here).

Café Landtmann
Founded in 1873 on the Ringstrasse next to the Burgtheater and across from the parliament building, this coffee house is known as a local meeting place for many of Austria's leading industrialists and politicians, and historically as being the preferred coffee house of notable Viennese such as Sigmund Freud and Gustav Mahler. The Viennese melange is great here.

Demel
Hofzuckerbäckerei Demel, or simply Der Demel, is a famous pastry shop and chocolatier in Vienna. Demel is located a block away from the Hofburg Palace and was once a purveyor to the Imperial and Royal court of Austria-Hungary. While I did not try the coffee here, I did come to buy some sweets for some relatives, and got a chance to look around inside. This place is a bit on the pricy side for candy – three small boxes of chocolates for €42 =/ but their sweets are pretty and creatively made. The flower in the picture above is a handmade piece of candy.

That's all for Vienna, the last and final post is coming soon and will feature the location where I spent the bulk of my trip: Prague. Until then, auf wiedersehen!

50 beans | Coffee Crawl – Salzburg

Two weeks ago I had a conversation with my boss which led to a conclusion that with a new project coming up, if I don’t take any time off now, I wouldn’t be able to until june/july. So, sort of on a whim, I got my vacation approved, checked for flights to Europe, and booked myself a flight/hotel for Prague (Reykjavik wasn’t feasible and Zurich would’ve been too much $$). 7 days later I was on a flight to Prague. Of course, the first two days I was in Europe solo, as Mike wasn’t able to make it till Friday, so I decided to book some rail tickets and check out Austria as well. This is a three part coffee crawl series – highlighting the cafés visited during my stay in Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague.

The first city is Salzburg, which is known as the birthplace of Mozart, and also the setting for The Sound of Music. It's a smallish town with many churches and old buildings, and the local people are very friendly. Coffee has had a long tradition in Austria. After the Turkish army was defeated during the second siege of Vienna in the 17th century, sacks of coffee beans were discovered in the abandoned Turkish camps. Legend has it that Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, a Polish officer, was given the bags of coffee as a gift. Having spent some time in Turkish captivity, he must have learned what these beans were used for, and used the beans to open the first coffee shop in Vienna. Back then, Salzburg was still an independent principality, but they didn’t have any coffeeshops yet, so if Vienna had coffee, why shouldn’t Salzburg? In 1703, Café Tomaselli opened its doors, and the Salzburg coffee scene started.

As the coffee scene in Austria flourish, they began to develop their own coffee habits. Here, coffee is traditionally served with a small glass of cold water and some sugar, and there isn't really much of a to-go concept. A visit to a café is an experience, and you should expect to spend at least an hour or so per visit, but the atmosphere will be warm and pleasant. Anyways...enough background stuff...the following is a run-down of cafés visited in Salzburg (sadly I couldn’t visit them all):

Café Mozart
Located on the famed Getreidegasse, this place was definitely geared toward tourists, but had decent coffee. They offered English menu’s and free wifi, and had the full range of Austrian coffees. I ended up going with an Einspänner, which is a strong black coffee with whipped cream. It was pretty good, but it seems that they kinda overdo it on the whipped cream a bit. I guess it is a good substitute for the creamer and sugar, as it can easily be mixed in to make a lighter cup.

Café Tomaselli
Founded in 1703, Café Tomaselli on Alter Markt Square is the oldest and most well-known of the Salzburg cafés. Salzburg’s famed son, Mozart, had coffee there and so did generations of local and international artists such as Max Reinhardt, Michael Haydn or Hugo von Hoffmannsthal. The old-fashioned interiors, worn velvet seats, and Austrian café culture make this place worthy of a visit and so is the coffee. The coffee I got here was the viennese melange, which is a cup of strong coffee with milk and a bit of whipped cream and almond shavings...it was pretty good.

Café Fürst
Came here too late in the day to actually enjoy a cup of coffee (didn’t want to be overly wired at night), but dropped by for a visit and to sample the original mozartkugeln (mozartball). Just around the corner from the Café Tomaselli in the Brodgasse, Café Fürst is the site where mozartballs were immortalised in chocolate for the first time in 1890. Notable for being the first handmade chocolate candies to have a perfectly round shape with no flat sides, mozartballs, of course, were named after the famed Salzburg composer, Mozart.

Ok...that's pretty much it for Salzburg...next up in this series we'll be visiting Vienna, where we'll get to explore the viennese cafés to experience what has been described as a place "where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill."

Weekend Scientist | Mason Jar Observations – Week 4

Well, this is sad. Today I popped off the metal top to check on the waxpaper, and I see that the orange oils have gotten all over the outside of the jar...inside still completely clear. Four weeks in, the fluid should be a bit cloudy and orange. I think I will have to call this a bust and start over. I don't know if I should try to reseal and keep it going for a while, but I will definitely start a new batch pretty soon. There are still oranges on the tree outside. I think the method will just need to change a bit. Maybe instead of waxpaper I will need to use some sort of plastic to get a better seal on the rim. Hopefully the new batch will work better than this did =/

Weekend Scientist | Mason Jar Observations – Week 3

yes, this little project isn't looking so hot. I think the combination of wax-paper and not tightening the top enough is causing too much of the alcohol to seep out around the lid. So far the only orange color change I've seen has been around the lid, whereas it should be going into the liquid down below the suspended oranges. I think by next week if the situation doesn't improve, I'm going to start a new one with a bit of a change in methodology. We'll see I suppose...

Weekend Scientist | Mason Jar Observations – Week 2

This is the week when self-doubt sets in. Did I seal the jar well? Does alcohol seep through waxpaper? is there enough left in the jar to preserve the oranges?? As i looked around the jar, I see a bit of orange oil on the outside of the jar where the cheesecloth peers out...raising my doubt even further. The sign of evaporated alcohol leaking out...is there enough left to make this experiment work? Should I start over?? It needs to be quite high-proof inside the jar for this to succeed. Ohh dear...maybe I'll give it a month before deciding to start over or not. Hopefully by then I'll know if the oranges are still preserved or if they'll start turning green...eek.

Weekend Scientist | Mason Jar Observations – Week 1

 I still remember my first encounter with lemoncello – the summer I turned 22, my family decided to do a family reunion in Alaska. One night after dinner, the waitress brought over a neon-yellow drink for us to try. I must admit, I was quite hesitant to try it for the first time. After all, the color looked a little weird – it was like someone stuck a highlighter in a bottle of something for a few months and bottled it. I cautiously took a sip as my cousins looked on. The tangy lemon flavor kind of wakes you up after a meal, and the sweetness of the sugar is a nice surprise. The waitress explained that they made it in-house, and gave us the recipe to try at home.

I had completely forgotten about that drink until my first trip out to Boston a few years later. On one of the slow weekends, a few of us had nothing to do, so we decided to explore the back-streets of the north end (little Italy). My friend Francesca was proudly Italian and would take point in guiding us through little Italy (and also navigating menus at some of the restaurants). On that particular Sunday afternoon, we were on Salem street, when she ducked into a little corner store when we were taking pictures of something. She emerged five minutes later with a bottle in a paper bag (I know…classy). Before she took it out, she explained the drink to us non-italians. The minute she said lemon-zest I had the strongest flashback to that day in Alaska. She pulled the cork off the bottle, poured out a little into a paper cups, and handed it to us. Although it wasn’t as good as the homemade variety, it was quite nice to feel that lemony zing once again.

The other day, I was bumming around on the NYT Times Magazine Blog, and in their food section there was an article about lemoncello. This time, there was something different about the recipe. They called it lemoncello, once removed, and the process is quite odd. Basically, the concept is similar to the extraction of flavors out of spices – the object (it can be fruits or spices) is suspended over some grain alcohol, and the container is sealed. The alcohol somehow manages to extract the flavor through a process the NYT described as D.S.M. (delicious scientific magic) – which I clearly don’t understand. The cool thing about this DSM, is that since the alcohol (at such high proofs) volatizes naturally at room temperatures, it somehow creates an environment within the still that extracts the flavors cleanly. Of course afterwards you'd add water and sugar to get it down to a manageable proof.

Anyways, yesterday I decided to embark on this scientifically-motivated culinary journey to see what all the hubbub was about. Of course, me being me, I had to change it up a little. Since my favorite color/fruit is orange, why not try orangecello? This process works with any citrus fruit, but of course, it's important to note that depending on the size of fruit, you'd have to vary the size of the jar. If you're gonna do pomelocello, you'd have to have a pretty gosh-darn huge jar.

Apparently the entire process takes between 9-12 weeks (depending on how warm the climate is), and requires a lot of patience. Opening the jar would set the process back to square one. I swung by target and bought all the necessary equipment for the homemade still (I know…what must my parents think??) – gallon-sized mason jar, cheesecloth, and grain alcohol (everclear – apparently vodka is too weak to extract anything). Yesterday afternoon, I picked the oranges from the backyard and put the still together very carefully while trying to avoid contact with any open flames (lest it summons the fire dept. to my house once again). The directions say for this to be stored away from sunlight, but in a warmer place for 9 weeks. Since it’s the middle of winter, I figure I’ll play it safe and go 10-12 weeks. In the time leading up to it, I’ll try to do periodic updates (maybe once a week or something); hopefully over the next 10 weeks or so we’ll know if DSM really works.

*sigh* the things I do in the name of scientific endeavors…

100 words | cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

When I was a kid, I was in love with cereal. It didn’t matter if it was lucky charms, kix, cheerios, even corn flakes (except grape nuts… that stuff is bleh). I even had a process: I’d pour half a bowl in some milk, let it sit for a while, then pour the rest of the bowl and mix. I guess I was fascinated with the fact that it could be both mushy and crunchy at the same time (yes... life was simpler back then). These days it’s just plain oatmeal that taste like cardboard… where has that magic gone??

100 words | post-thanksgiving turkeys…

Have you ever seen the Friends episode where Phoebe works at a Christmas tree lot and discovers that unwanted trees go into the chipper? She made a big deal about trees fulfilling their Christmas destiny (I imagine it’d be going to a home and getting decorated). Do thanksgivings turkeys have a similar destiny? I would imagine it would be similar since turkeys would have already been killed and frozen in anticipation for thanksgiving. So what now? Safeway is already having sales on turkeys (seriously… it’s cheaper than rice now…). So… if you feel inclined, go out and buy a turkey.

100 words | chicken soup

Since I’m a bit under the weather, now’s a good time to tell you about the chicken soup my mom used to make when I got sick. Most chicken soups I get from stores have veggies and pasta and taste more or less like campbells. This one’s different. My mom makes one with daikon, wintermelon, onion, and some asian veggies. It comes out a pretty thin and low in sodium that you can pretty much drink it all day long like water. I kinda wish I had some now… the soup was so lovingly prepared even the chicken gets well.

100 words | the perfect stuffing

Over the weekend, I experimented with a risotto stuffing. While it tasted good, it didn’t quite fit right, and seemed a bit out of place. This got me thinking, what would be the perfect stuffing? The juices from the turkey generally make for a pretty moist stuffing, but what exactly would that be? There are so many different kinds of stuffing. Some do the traditional bread based stuffing. For some, it’s rice based (like asian stuffing). I’ve even seen an all vegetable stuffing (quite good). But what kind would benefit most from turkey juice? I plan on experimenting this week.

100 words | Costco milk

Is anybody else besides me skeptical about the fact that you can get little cartons of milk that sit out at room temperature and doesn’t expire for another FOUR MONTHS?! If this really works, without preservatives, how come not all milk comes like this? With regular milk, heaven forbid you leave it out for more than three hours at a time, not even mentioning the fact that if it’s in the fridge for more than a few weeks it turns into cheese. Something’s amiss. As a matter of fact, the whole thing smells a bit fishy. It tastes good though.

100 words | fear factor potluck?

It’s simple. You bring food items that are weird, look funny, and sound a little questionable (but hopefully safe and edible), and the challenge is to get your friends or coworkers to eat the stuff that you bring. I would imagine someone will end up bringing something uber weird, such as duck tongue or pig butt or something (I think that’s a dish) and there’s the ever looming threat of projectile vomiting at some point during the potluck. If not, I suppose we can just declare that a victory in itself right? Sounds simple enough, anyone want to try this?

100 words | two star pub?!

Interesting probably wouldn’t begin to describe how a pub in London gets two Michelin stars. The NYT food blog gave it a full review, but I’m more interested in how a pub gets stars?! I think we can safely assume that most hold Michelin ratings in high regard, and to hear that it’s going to a pub… well that’s a little surprising, but then, not many English pubs serve slow roasted duck breast. Now I know… I’ve never tried the place so I can’t really say, but the food blog reviewer gave it a pretty awesome review so… who knows?

100 words | Saddam’s plates

Apparently in New York this month, diners eating at Park Avenue Autumn restaurant can experience a little bit of the Iraqi invasion at their plate. After the invasion in 2003 and the subsequent ousting of Saddam, his various palaces around the country were looted, with people seizing all kinds of stuff that the leader collected. Some put the loot on ebay, others held the stuff as keepsake. Thirteen plates from Saddam’s personal collection got to New York by way of ebay, and will be used to serve food at the restaurant throughout the month. Talk about a unique dining experience…

100 words | pumpkin muffin awesomeness

The first bite into this muffin yielded a firm yet creamy cheesecake-ish texture, followed by the fluffy foundation of a well made cake. The pumpkin taste was just right, and the cream cheese complemented that pumpkin goodness. As I drove in to work this morning, I could smell the two boxes of pumpkin muffins that sat next to me, the cargo so precious that I buckled the boxes into the seat (no joke). Seventeen muffins, two quarts of orange juice, Friday’s group breakfast taken care of; yes… today is going to be a good day. Thanks for baking them Jenn!

100 words | apparently I’ve been wimpy with my eggs

Today’s yahoo news brings “Five Mistakes You’re Making with Your Scrambles Eggs”. I think I’ve finally found what my life has been missing all these years. Mistake number one: “Don't be wimpy with your eggs. Whisk well and be vigorous about it--you want to add air and volume for fluffy eggs.” Yes, my life has been marred by underfluffed eggs, though I am a bit unrepentant in committing the apparent cardinal sin of using a fork to both whisk (wimpily, apparently) and cook my eggs. Apparently I should use my chopsticks to get the perfect curd. Wow… mind blown.

100 words | my plan to bring ice cream back from DC had mixed results…

The plan was very simple: bring back four packs of ice cream and a pack of strawberries from the air and space museum in DC. I even put it in my backpack as a carry on so it wouldn’t get smushed. Well, the plan was very sound in theory, but actually getting it to California was a different story. So last night, I finally opened my backpack to have a look. Apparently, two of the ice cream packs were broken in half (the ice cream inside, not the packaging). The strawberries were fine. Meh… should’ve just bought them in California.

100 words | life changing discovery in aisle 7 (almost)

Ok so not quite life altering, but it comes pretty close. So… here goes. You know that pub mix that Costco sells? It’s kind of like a cross between the Japanese cracker mix and peanuts. Well the only good item in that cracker mix is the sesame seed cracker (it’s like a sesame and flour stick). Soooo, guess what?! As I was wandering down the miscellaneous items aisle (the one where you can buy stuff by the pound) I saw it! They sell the sesame stick all by itself!! Yes… life’s little victories comes a little bit at a time.