I know what you're thinking - 'Where's that chick pea salad that Wanda keeps promising on and not delivering'  See I knew that I knew what you were thinking because we're all so into salad with chickpeas and feta and parsley that we can't get enough.  Don't worry, I made it and it's coming down the pipe.  I've been eating it for lunch and literally feeling years peel off of me and my entire system simultaneously undergo a cleanse.  Not really.
I made ice cream.  Again.  It's weird stuff... even for me.  D HATES it... absolutely, utterly, profoundly.  HATE.  Kid #1 likes it.  Not absolutely, utterly or profoundly but she likes it.  I am in like with it.  Not love - I don't love easily... anyone or anything.  I can tell you that I used a cream cheese that was almost homemade and therefor a little lumpy.  I think that regular 'cream' cheese would do the trick for me.  The rhubarb crap is essential.

Notice the lumpy looking cream cheese in the top right corner.

So with that taken care of...  I'm thinking about high maintenance lately.  Like how in the summer my yard and garden are high maintenance and how I'm not dealing well with it because I still haven't planted a lot of the crap that I should have by now and I've only cut my grass twice so far.  (Yeah, I do know that's a run on sentence) Also, I think that I get fussy and high maintenance mixed up.  What's the diff between fussing with my hair and being high maintenance about my hair (this issue doesn't really apply to me personally in any way)  Or think about eating.  If I'm a fussy eater then I'm probably pretty high maintenance with food.  I think that maybe the two words are synonym's.  I've always thought of both words having a negative connotation but maybe they don't.  Maybe not being high maintenance is just another way of saying boring.
Kids are high maintenance and sometimes fussy too but then they grow out of that, right?  Kids who aren't a little fussy can be way too passive.  I'm guessing that a high maintenance friend would be super demanding about stuff that I probably wouldn't care about but maybe that's just what I need.  Mightn't I get bored if my friends just went along compliantly with whatever I suggested or offered.  My friends have come to terms with my high maintenance idiosyncrasies.  Things like my crippling inability to come up with a decent gift... unless you spell it out for me i.e. 'my favourite thing in the world is grey socks' or my utter indifference around make-up (a colleague is working endlessly to get me to straighten my hair.... why?), my embarrassing biking clothes, the difficulty I have listening to music whilst having a conversation and my obsession to get my friends moving more.  Damn - maybe that makes me high maintenance.


I feel very uncomfortable right now so I'm going to head back to the subject of food.  This recipe is a little high maintenance.  Custard - finicky/fussy, contains egg yolks that will curdle if handled carelessly.  Custard has to cool for a good long time.  Rhubarb sauce - needs to simmer gently down for almost an hour then it has to cool.  You have to stir it to keep it from sticking, i.e. constant attention.  Then the custard has to turn into ice cream and then you add the cream cheese and then you layer everything and then you freeze it some more and then you thaw it a little and then you eat it.  Definitely high maintenance from beginning to end but on the flip side it's not hard and it's definitely worth it.  It might be just what you need.



Strawberry, Rhubarb Cheesecake Ice Cream adapted from kokocooks
makes about 1 litre

Ice Cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 scant cup sugar
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla
4 egg yolks, lightly whisked

1 cup  cream cheese (not light or whipped cream cheese)

Rhubarb/Strawberry Sauce:
3 cups rhubarb, coarsely chopped
1 cup strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean (insides scooped out)
1 tsp lemon juice

For the custard:
Heat a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium/low heat.
Add the sugar, cream and milk and whisk together until the sugar dissolves.
Cut the vanilla bean down the side and split it open using the blunt side of a knife.  Run the knife through the inside of the bean to extract all of the little bean thingies (! - I don't know what they're called really).  Throw everything in with the cream mixture.  Turn the heat up just a little.
Have the egg yolks ready.
Once the mixture is almost to a simmer turn down the heat to low.
Using a ladle, slowly add a little of the cream mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly.  Once you've added about 2 ladles worth to the yolks then pour the yolks back in to the cream mixture.  Continue whisking and turn the heat up just a little.
Once the mixture coats a wooden spoon such that if you run your finger through the back of the spoon the finger line doesn't run together then you can remove the mixture from the heat.
Pour the mixture through a sieve and into a bowl.  Cover with cling film, placing the cling film right onto the custard mixture so that no custard is touching air.
Refrigerate for at least 4 - 5 hrs and preferably overnight.

For the Sauce:
Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, scooped out part of the vanilla and lemon juice in a heavy bottomed saucepan.
Heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a simmer and turn the heat down to low.  Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.  Simmer for about 45 - 55 min at low heat or until the mixture begins to thicken.
Cool completely.

To combine:
Churn the custard into an ice cream maker according the the machine directions.  Once the custard has almost set but is still soft, add in the cream cheese a tbsp at a time - continue churning.
In a large container spoon a thin layer (1/2 inch or so) of the rhubarb mixture on the bottom, cover with about 3 inches of ice cream and continue to alternate the layers, ending with rhubarb.
Freeze for a few hours.
Thaw for a few minutes to soften before serving.