Musings

How Cool is This?

Chocolate Cupcake I had an excellent surprise – in the middle of a day of proofing the latest version of the manuscript in the office and constantly running downstairs to scoop ice cream during this busy Easter week, I received a present of cupcakes.

It was Laura from Eat Drink Live, who was visiting Dingle from Limerick with her wonderful little daughter. And yes! Her baking tastes as good as it looks o her wonderful blog. The customers who can buy her muffins regularly at Ivan’s are lucky indeed!

Thanks, Laura!

Ice Cream Politics, Etc.

Obama Ice CreamObama Ice CreamThis is not a real tub! It’s those folks over at Slate, who are running a campaign to name a flavour for Barack Obama after Ben Cohen of the Vermont ice cream company endorsed Obama (and the senator won in Vermont – that’s the power of ice cream!) Should Hillary get a flavour as well? How about Mr. McCain? I reserve the right to “borrow” this excellent idea the next time Ireland heads into a general election…

On a different note, I gave a recipe for Green Tea and Ginger ice cream recently, and if you want to see another take on green tea ice cream, head over to Tartelette, for a mouth-watering post about white chocolate and matcha ice cream taken from Kuidaore.

Finally, here are a couple of ice cream blogs to check out: Vegan Ice Cream Paradise (where you can find a vegan version of Guinness ice cream among other things) and Ice Cream Fellow who brings his scientific approach to the ice cream process…

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Dress Code

Sean Kieran Chefs Jackets I’m half thinking, for the craic, of going to the blog awards dressed in full ice cream man regalia, including white wellie boots, which I have always wanted to wear in Dublin, and a big floppy Gelato chefs hat. Of course, it would be easier to pull off such a thing with my brother Sean (photo, right), who is fearless but sadly unable to attend. Still, it is tempting. What do you think?

{democracy:6}

Taste of Spring

Crocus I’m in such a good mood! The sun is shining here in Dingle, this morning I found the most beautiful crocus (photo above) in my garden, there are daffodils popping up everywhere, and it well and truly feels like Spring!

I’m happy that my friend Cynthia won an Oscar for her documentary Freeheld, and I was delighted for Glen Hansard as well, who we’ve been lucky enough to hear in Dingle on numerous occasions.

And, best of all, after almost a month of grinding through yearly accounts, paperwork, and pre-season planning, I’m finally going back into the ice cream kitchen this afternoon to play (developing caramelised coffee sauce and better chocolate chunks). Things are looking up!

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What Keeps Me Blogging

A journalist asked me a couple of days ago whether I’d keep blogging if I didn’t get any comments or feedback. Although I enjoy writing about the sweet things I love, there is little doubt in my mind that some of your excellent comments as well as feedback like this keeps me at it. So… I’m adding “Recent Comments” to my sidebar as a little way of saying “Thanks!”

Ice Cream News Update

Scooping Times

I’m sure you all know about Google News, but I’ve just discovered it. What fun! I looked up “ice cream,” and here’s what I learned after reviewing the news in the world of ice cream:

The Top Ten Current Ice Cream Stories

1. Ice cream is just as prone as anything else when it comes to changing tastes.

  • The Electric New Paper reports that in Singapore, a tree with a miraculous image of a monkey god on it is no longer the huge religious draw it used to be, forcing an ice cream vendor to close down his business.

2. The ice cream trade is far more violent than I had ever expected, living and working in the safety of Co. Kerry. A few examples:

  • The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a 19-year-old Richmond man was convicted today on charges that he shot and gravely wounded a Blue Bunny ice-cream vendor on a school playground parking lot in October.
  • The Scotsman has a story that an ice-cream man who was gunned down as he served children from his van has complained of still being haunted by the attack.
  • The Nevada Appeal: Henderson police say officers trying to issue a speeding ticket shot and killed a 42-year-old woman who they say took a knife from her ice cream truck and made threatening moves.
  • The Telegraph has a story that an ice cream director was held hostage in France and only freed when the police stormed the building.

3. Ice cream could be a potential decider in USA politics.

4. Gravity applies to chocolate sauce.

  • The Telegraph reports that an upmarket ice cream parlour is refusing to pour chocolate sauce over its cones because of health and safety fears (they are worried that customers might slip on spilled sauce).Â

5. Never underestimate the effect of sweetening up your customers!

  • The Boston Herald reports that Toscaninis, a venerable ice cream firm in Cambridge, MA, had its assets frozen by the Internal Revenue Service and was on the verge of bankruptcy before it was saved by customer donations.

6. A certain natural sweetener is potentially endangered.

7. Ice cream theft (as tempting as it might be) is still theft.

  • The Maui News declares that the students arrested in the theft of ice cream from their school will be charged with second degree burglary.

8. You can make ice cream out of snow, but avoid yellow patches!

  • The Leader talks about the traditions and potential hazards of making ice cream from snow.

9. You don’t need racing cars for a Grand Prix.

  • The Sanremo News announces the Grand Prix del Gelato Artigianale in May, so if you’re in Italy, you can taste lots of ice cream and find out who will be this year’s champion gelato maker.

10. If you’re in the ice cream business, pray for a heat-wave.

Ah, that has me dreaming here in the cold of February. Heat-wave? That’s not likely to happen any time soon. I bet that statistically there’s a better chance of a monkey god appearing in a nearby tree… And, by the way, any US Presidential candidates are welcome to come to Dingle or Killarney for an ice cream if they are looking for an endorsement!

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Ice Cream Ireland Turns Two

Two Candles Today is the second birthday of Ice Cream Ireland. I can’t quite believe it, but this blog is about to enter the terrible twos and its third year in existence.

The last year has been quite amazing and there have been so many high points including the Blog Awards, the book, the Irish Times column, the pre-election “Caught with Ice Cream” series, launching ice cream into space, reaching 80,000 blog visitors (astonishing to me), seeing so many new and interesting Irish bloggers, and all the fantastic comments, support, suggestions, and links from so many of you.

Thanks so much to all my readers.

Now, it’s time to blow out the candles and eat the ice cream!

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Granny’s Cooking

Kitty in Cork Eoin from Mercier Press has been working through ideas and issues of new media and the publishing industry on his blog for some time now. That’s fine, you might say, but why would an ice cream man be interested? Well, Eoin has come up with a brilliant idea, and it relates to Irish food.

Here it is: he has launched a website, Our Grannies’ Recipes, where he will collect and showcase recipes of good, old-fashioned Irish cooking – the kind our grandmothers might have made.

The best recipes will then make it into a book to be published by Mercier in October. The royalties will go to Age Action Ireland.

I have to say this really gets me excited – new media meets old media with a lot of munching involved. So all you Irish (and Irish American, etc.) food bloggers out there who want to get published in print – it’s time to pay homage to Granny (or Granddad)!

Now… which recipe??? My own dear departed Cork grandmother Kitty (photo above)Â will be keeping a close eye on me from above, and she’s certainly able for lots of inspiration…

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