The Suppressed Potential of Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Wake up, ice cream flavorologists, you are failing me!  There is a world of potential just a lick beyond vanilla bases.  How torturous it is in a world where innovations like balsamic strawberry and maple bacon tease, while classic greats drip hopelessly through my sweetest dreams.  Until Cookie Dough Ice Cream design is an art of equal opportunity, I will resort to a DIY approach.  I keep a pack of pre-made dough in the freezer and chop a hunk into my base of choice: chocolate peanut butter, coffee, pistachio, and cookies-n-cream are a few that work very well.

A note of coffee appreciation…

In spite of my focus on beer research earlier this year in Hong Kong, I must say the coffee there left a lasting impression.  Their ‘cup-a-joe’ is a fashionable coffee-tea hybrid, the Yuen Yeung-- a quirky blend of tea, coffee, and sweetened condensed milk.  After days of coping with western-style coffee withdrawal, the local university students directed us to one of their favorite trendy European style cafes.   Designed to resemble a quaint, colonial schoolhouse, After School is tucked away upstairs among the many hip boutiques in the vertical shopping neighborhood of Causeway Bay.  The cappuccino was done well, and, to my pleasant surprise, the café had a decent beer menu relative to Hong Kong’s typical limited offerings.  Maybe next time I will forego a coffee drink for a Boddington, Hoegaarden, Asahi, Sapporo, Hitachino, or a Guinness.

_Beer Floats and Football

I began my celebration of the 2011 NFL championship games today by floating a scoop of Turkey Hill Bavarian Espresso Light Ice Cream in a pint glass half-filled with Trader Joe's 2010 Vintage Ale, bottle conditioned Belgian Dubbel by Unibroue.  Mmmmalty spice and creamy sweet coffee froth!  NY and PA blended so well together in the glass, but, not as harmonious on the field.  I will be mature and congratulate the Steelers.... I guess.

http://www.traderjoes.com/pdf/onthecounter-vintageale.pdf