I scream, you scream…

We all scream for ICE CREAM!

One of the ultimate joys of summer: hot weather and drippy ice cream. But lets be honest, ice cream is a year round love affair. Just this February, I drove in pouring rain, patches of snow and ice still clinging to the ground, to a nearby ice cream store  in order to satisfy my craving for a scoop.

I love ice cream! In fact, if I were stranded on a desert island with only two things I would hope those two things were a cow and an ice cream maker. And a solar-powered generator. And a freezer. And a tube of mascara.

Okay, so I would DIE if I were stranded on a desert island. Thankfully, I live in Columbus, Ohio, home to the best ice cream ever. If you live in Columbus, Ohio, watch the Food Network, or are described as a foodie, you’ve heard of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. If you haven’t heard of it, you are missing the creamiest, most original flavored ice cream in the world. It is the store I drove to in the middle of winter to get my fix (and to meet some friends, but that was just the cherry on top of a Jeni’s sundae, which I’ve never had, but I bet would be amazing).

Dark Chocolate. Salty Caramel. Bangkok Peanut. Gravel Road. Savannah Buttermint. Somebody stop me! (That’s not a flavor, really I need to stop!)

When I was informed (by my Jeni’s insider, Lora) that Jeni was coming out with a cookbook  I resolved in my mind to buy an ice cream maker. Two weeks later I purchased a green one (because everything is better in green) from Sur la Table. I had also put a copy of the book on reserve at the library (I am number 39 on the reserve list). Then I found a sneak peek of her book on Amazon.com with the recipe for Savannah Buttermint.

I decided I would make the ice cream and take it to work. I did. It was amazing. And a terrible, wonderful, genius plan was born (a Julie-and-Julia-inspired plan).

First, I knew there was no way I could just have the book for thirty days and then return it too the library. This book had to be mine. Second, (as I told my fellow teacher Brooke) I wanted to make every ice cream in that thing. All 100 flavors.

The problem I foresaw was that this would not be healthy. If I made all these ice creams, I would EAT all these ice creams and by the end of summer would need to be cut from my house and lifted out with a crane—not an option. When Brooke joked that she would not need to eat breakfast this summer because she would just eat the ice cream I brought in the terrible, wonderful, genius plan was born.

As we talked during nap time, while the children began to bounce on their cots because they heard the words ice cream so many times, the plan grew along with my excitement.  I would make the ice cream and bring it to work. Blog about it. Have the girls at work tell me what they thought, post their opinions with their picture. I decided I would make one ice cream every day we have school, for 30 school days, and just so all of our shorts still fit by the end of summer we would only eat one, maybe two, spoonful's (if at all possible).

And so, beginning Monday, June 13, 2011, two days before the release of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams At Home I will make and blog about the ice cream flavor of the day, and add my co-workers comments. Stop by often to see what flavor is next, tell me your successes with ice cream-making, or follow along with the same flavor and let me know your thoughts—scrumptious or scary. We will start with Jeni’s Spring flavor Savannah Buttermint, and I can already tell you, you’ll want to buy the book for yourself!