I really really really want corn and tomatoes in my life... raw, roasted, grilled, sprinkled with some salt, some feta cheese added.  Whatever.  I really want it.  I've been craving corn and tomato soup with black beans.  It sounds wonderful, right.  I just can't bring myself to make soup in the summer.  It feels wrong.  I don't know, maybe I'm ok with wrong.  What I've distracted myself by doing instead is eating this ice cream.  I am currently on my third scoop - taken secretly, straight from the freezer when my kids aren't looking.  It's so not wrong.  Maple and Peach.  Maple because I had it and thought that it might be cool and I saw the combo somewhere else and it looked like it worked.  Peach because it's peach season - dude!  Where have you been.


The obligatory food box shot... I hope somebody cares because I feel kinda dumb posting this.  I thought briefly about taking shots of my fridge and freezer to show you all... why?  Why would anybody care about the organization of my freezer?  Why did the thought even occur to me?  It's a slippery slope.  Next thing you know, I'm taking shots of my sock drawer so that you can all see how well organized I am and how many colours are in there.  Slippery Slope.
I realize that summer vacation is about more than sitting in a park reading or seeing how much you can accomplish without leaving the couch.  Problem is that I'm enjoying those things so much that it's hard for me to find room to care about anything else.  If I could sit and read in the park with a drink - say a beer or glass of champagne - it's probable that I would never leave.  Unfortunately, one can't do such a thing in Ontario because we're all conservative like that apparently.  In this particular instance though it's a good thing.
I finished the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire.  I have the third and final book on my kindle.  I just can't decide if I want to go for it.  I waited a year in between reading the first two and, unlike The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, I feel like I don't need to wrap this all up and find out what happens.   Speaking of kindle - my little niece has written two books and published them on amazon for kindle.  They are both adorable... the books and my niece.
I cooked 'nuff' food yesterday.  Roasted Chicken with carrots and gravy.  Green Beans, Shitake Mushrooms and Sorrel with Soy Sauce glaze.  Roasted eggplant, fennel and zucchini Pasta sauce (recipe to come for this one).  I wanted to make crackers but then wondered what I would do with the crackers.  If I make crackers then I feel compelled to go out and get cheese to go with them.  If I go out then I should get some grapes too because those go nicely with crackers and cheese.  Once I'm out I should pick up some potatoes because we need... Ok, that's it - no crackers.  Still, felt good to fill up the empty fridge for the week.  Except that the whole time I really wanted Corn and Tomato, Black Bean Soup.


I thought you might be wondering if this ice cream is as good as it looks.  Yep.  It is.  I've eaten three more spoonfuls since starting this post... my kids still don't know.


Peach Maple Ice Cream adapted from Pies and Plots
makes about 1 litre

Custard:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup 10% cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
Peaches:
4 peaches, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

For the Peaches:
Place the peach slices in a bowl.  Add sugar and vanilla.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Over medium/low heat simmer the peaches in their juice until there is almost no juice left.  Peaches will be soft and mushy.  Set aside to cool.
Custard:
Combine the heavy cream, 10% cream and milk together.
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan combine the cream mixture and the sugar.  Heat over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Once the mixture has just about come to a simmer, turn the heat down to low.
Stir small amounts of the cream mixture into the egg yolks, stirring to combine.  Once about a third of the mixture has been stirred into the yolks then add the yolk mixture back into the cream mixture.  Turn the heat up just a little and heat until you feel the mixture thicken and use the wooden spoon test.
Remove the mixture from the heat and pour through a sieve into a bowl.
Add the maple syrup and vanilla.  Stir and then cover with plastic wrap (placing the wrap right on the custard so that it doesn't form a crust) cool to room temperature and then place in fridge for about 4 hrs or overnight.
Remove the custard to a ice cream maker and make according to manufacturers directions.
At the end of the churning cycle add about 1 cup of the cooled peach mixture and run for another 5 minutes.
Remove the ice cream to a freezable container and freeze until hard.
Soften briefly before serving.