I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Blog

Strawberry Mint Ice Cream

I have to admit that I used to hate Strawberry Ice Cream. I think it always tasted so fake to me so I avoid it. I would eat it in a Napoleon ice cream bar or something but it was only because it was only 1/3 of it.

 

Since I had a massive load of strawberries I decided I should try making strawberry ice cream and see if I like it better when I control the quality of the ingredients. Since I also had a huge bunch of mint I decided I would add that to the ice cream as well. Why not? I can do whatever I want. (I also made mint chocolate chip ice cream which was a total failure, but that’s another story)

 

The ice cream is sweet, creamy, and flavorful with the strawberries and the mint. I really enjoyed this ice cream since i love the fresh flavors in sorbet so the addition of cream didn’t seem that different to me. The mint adds a nice touch to the strawberries. If you don’t like mint that much than you could cut back and use less. Or pull some out before blending. I just love the flavor of mint and strawberry and I loved the specks of green in it so I kept it in there prior to blending.

 

Strawberry Mint Ice Cream

1 lb of strawberries
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup mint leaves
1 vanilla pod, split for the beans
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk

Wash, destem, and slice strawberries.

In a medium pot, combine the strawberries, sugar, whole milk, mint, and vanilla beans. Simmer for 5 minutes. Blend mixture in blender until completely smooth. Strain blended mixture.

Chill blended mixture until completely cold, at least 2 hours, but preferably over night.

Measure 2 1/2 cups of the blended mixture*, add the heavy cream and remaining whole milk to mixture.

Prepare ice cream according to manufacture’s instructions. For a soft serve consistency, serve immediately or freeze for a harder consistency.

*Instead of discarding the extra strawberry mixtures, you could add a bit of it to milk for flavored milk.

Nesting

Price and I were back in his hometown over the weekend to celebrate his Mom’s birthday. His family came over on Saturday to have a BBQ. We first set up the in the front of the house, which allowed the kids to play on the lawn and ride their bikes. Typically we would head out on the back porch to eat but we stayed inside to give this little lady some peace and quite.

This dove has set up her nest in a tree right off the back porch. Elaine has some beautifully weathered window panes hanging off the porch roof, which creates a barrier between the tree and the porch. So she didn’t mind me taking a few photos of her but I was quite and zoomed in a much as I could to keep my distance.

 

Hopefully she is enjoying the warm weather and appreciated that we respected her needs and let her and her eggs be.

Eeeeeek Teeny Tiny Bunny

I have jsut started the tweets for House Rabbit Network (@rabbitnetwork). I’m really excited about volunteering with HRN this way since I could not longer manage the duties invovled with the hotline. This allows my schedule to be flexible, so I can schedule posts when i’m at my computer no matter if it’s 11pm or 6am… can’t really call people at that time!

Well long story short… I saw a tweet about this video come through from House Rabbit Society. I actually squeaked when I saw it. Price heard me and knew I was looking at/watching ‘something cute’. I watched it twice last night. It had about 11,000ish views before going to bed, as I post the link this morning it has over 96,000. People just love cute things!

Mystery Meet #10: Tres Gatos

I have no idea how I did not guess this location for Mystery Meet sooner. The 5 clues were dead on. I didn’t get it until I had talked to Meesh and Jackie of Just Add Cheese, organizers for MM#10 , and worked on the clues with 2 other people. I admit I can be dumb sometimes.

But low and behold we guessed correctly with Tres Gatos in Jamaica Plain.

Tres Gatos is a new Tapas restaurant in a book and record store. This is a 3 trick pony! The bar is set up under 4 old doors- I totally loved the look. Winding yourself past the bar and small seating area you arrive at the small kitchen, which is open to some high tables. Just past the kitchen is the store section. I didn’t wander around the store much since I was interested in meeting other bloggers and enjoying a glass of rosé.

So two weeks ago, Price and I got settled at another table with another couple, who had come up from Rhode Island. I think they win the prize for the people who traveled the furthest. Ilesha makes elaborate costume head dresses, but also sells handmade evil sock monkeys in her etsy store. I love going to these events to be able to have great good food, drinks, and meet new people.

-Tapas-

Salsa Negro, Piparras, and Manchego– This was a small bite that you definetly smelled before tasting. The cheese was pungent, but is a nice way.

Breakfast Radish, Moses Sleeper Cheese and Chervil– Keep is simple stupid. Really the chef kept this simple and is was amazing. The salty cheese helped bring out the subtle crisp flavors of the spring radish.

Pork Stuffed Cerignolas and Boquerones– I skipped this entirely because I don’t like olives

-Gambas A La Plancha-

Grilled Prawns with Spicy Garlic and Cilantro Coulis– 2 prawns were not enough! I could have eaten a bucket of these. The prawns were garlicky and grilled perfectly. The sauce was flavorful. I wish that we ere served more prawns and a slice a bread to sop up all that amazing sauce.

– Fideos-

Chorizo, Chicken Liver, P.E.I. Mussels and Piquillo Pepper-

While I spoke to the chef about a gluten free option for this plate, I decided to have it normally since he explained the quanity of pasta given. I figured that I would be fine with that amount, and I was, but it was nice that he said he would substitute a rice/risotto for me. I really enjoyed the flavors of this dish. I’m not a fan of chicken livers because of their texture but I had some anyway, further cementing my opinion of them. I loved the PEI mussels in the sauce. Unfortunately, I did not get any chorizo on my plate.

-Queso-

Torta De La Serne, Sheep’s Milk, Spain

Chevrin Goat’s Milk, Belgium

Machego Curado, Sheep’s Milk, Spain

As much as I enjoy cheese, I really wished that we has something sweet to end the meal, especially since we already had 2 bites of cheese with the Tapas plate. That being said I liked the cheese plate with the accompaniments, which were quince paste, fig, and honey. The Chevrin was my least favorite cheese since it had an after taste, and as our table mate said, was ‘borderline offensive’.

I certainly enjoyed the meal at Tres Gatos because I loved the whole experience. I think that the food was fantastic because it was well planned, balanced, and well executed. That being said, I was disappointed with the portions of meal for the price that we paid. Each of our meals were $40, including tax and tip. Price bought drinks in addition to this. Sure, argue that quality costs, but I have had plenty of really nice meals for that amount of money with much  larger portions. I am interested in going back to see how their regular menu prices and portions compare to the dinner we had, as well as comparing it to Tasca, another Tapas places I’ve been to in Boston.

Tres Gatos
470 Centre Street 
Jamacia Plain, MA 02130
Tapas Bar: 617-477-4851
Book & Record Store: 617-477-9209

Birthday Sweets LO- Sketchbook 3 Day 2 Sketch

CKC Manchester 2011 is coming up this Friday. I’m really, really excited about taking the day off and going!! I went last year and had a great time. Three of us went had a great time taking classes and shopping. One of the things I picked up shopping were these vintage looking stickers from Melody Ross. I fell in love with them, althought i had NO idea what i would scrap with them. Well, once this paper arrived at my door step from my Studio Calico kit, I knew I would be using these stickers soon. I loved the paper the minute I saw it, even though it is not something I typically gravitate to.

 

Such ‘girlie’ looking pages are not something I create often. But I pulled out all stops for this one using a floral paper, pink glittery thickers, butterflies, pale colors, a papery ribbon. Boy oh boy, who knew I had so much of this ‘girlie’ stuff!

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Happy Easter!

So I had a whole blog post written up about Easter, what it means to me, it’s origins, how I was happy I was not bribed to go to church, how I spent the day, rabbits, how i think someone is a jerk for posting about ‘celebrating’ Easter by eating rabbit, and much more. I got to the end, proof read it, and then deleted the whole damn thing. I was just not in the mood to get preachy about religion, why giving rabbits as gifts is a bad idea, and eating rabbit. I’m too tired to go there.

Instead I will leave you with this:

Hope you had a great Easter!

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Easter Brownies- Mini Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies

These brownies make for a fantastic Easter treat. The brownie is individually sized so it makes for a great to go treat. The kind of goodie that is easily wrapped and slipped into an Easter basket. Or if you are ‘too old’ for a basket, you can just enjoy them because you are an adult and should have nice things.

 

I really truly love Cadbury Creme Eggs. I love that they are around for such a short period of time. It makes them even more desirable. I stick to the classic creme eggs, just can’t get me to touch their caramel egg. I don’t get the point. It’s like a caramel milky way… oh don’t you mean a caramel filled chocolate bar that is no way similar to a milky way?!? I think that classics should stay classics. So that is why I indulge myself with the creme eggs for this short period of time.

 

The brownies are best eaten right away because it will allow you to bite into the ooey gooey creme egg. The brownie is rich and dense, so the egg will not sink to the bottom. The egg remains intact and is perfect to cut in half. It just looks so sweet.

 

Typically, you test the readiness of a baked good by inserting a tooth pick and if it’s clean upon removal the cake it done. However, you can’t insert a tooth pick into the center of this treat because it would provide an inaccurate picture of it’s doneness because you would be testing the melty egg, and not the brownie. The brownies are so small that gently touching the top will be a good enough indicator.

 

Mini Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies

*makes 6 brownies*

Ingredients

  • 4oz bittersweet chocolate
  • 6oz butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup self-rising flour
  • 6 mini Cadbury creme eggs

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 6 muffin cups.
  2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler, or over very low heat. Cool.
  3. In a medium size bowl, combine the sugar and egg
  4. Slowly add the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
  5. Add in the flour and gently combine.
  6. Divide the batter evenly into the 6 liners. Put 1 egg inside each brownie, slightly less than half should remain exposed.
  7. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Top should appear done while egg is soft looking.

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Hello Buffalo LO- 10.3 Studio Calico Sunday Sketch

Sketch1

I’ll admit that I was a bit intimidated with this Studio Calico Sunday Sketch. This is not the kinda of thing I gravitate to. umm hello? Flags? I thought it was all a bit kitschy but I dove on it and instead of nixing the flags I worked with it. I put the title on the flags so they seemed a bit more significant than just embellishment flags. I think that they work on the page but I wish they would made them a bit smaller. Live and learn

 

One of my new favorite things when it comes to scrapbooking is getting Price involved. Whenever my Studio Calico kits arrive I go through the papers, I just love paper. After I have made my pass through them I hold each one up and flip from A side to B side and ask which he likes more. Typically, we like the same. I just find that interesting and pretty cute.

In the case of this layout, I had a few different papers in mind but I was unsure of which one. So I laid out a couple different options and reviewed them with Price and he helped out. Besides that it’s nice that he is ever so slightly involved in my hobby, it’s nice that he helped out on a layout that was focused on a day that he planned for us.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

6 Years LO- Studio Calico 1/2 Sunday Sketch

Emily_sketch

Sometimes I can slack off at blogging, as in the case of this layout which has been sitting in my draft box for weeks. So I’m cracking the whip on myself and posting.

I decided to use this Sunday Sketch because it was issued on our anniversary. So, I thought it would be fitting to use the 1/2 sketch for a photo taken on 1/2. I originally planned this layout to use quote bubbles saying the title, but when it really came down to it I didn’t feel like cutting out bubbles. Lazy much? So I used to stickers to layer the title on. I think it works just as well.

 

I loved using the Studio Calico hexagon stamp. Obviously I love it since it reminds me of honeycomb (hello, honey bee!), but i loved how well it went with the paper I wanted to use. I hate to be so matchy matchy but I could not resist.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.