A fever for ice cream

Since I’m not in the Bahamas right now, I am thinking about eating ice cream, a delectable sensory experience at any temperature. Yesterday, driving by Hot Licks, I thought of their blueberry ice cream and began to salivate, realizing that spring is just a wink away. Until they open in April, here are ten ice cream-related activities to fend off a fever or inspire a feast.

1. Consider having ice cream as your main dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Eat it with a regular spoon, straight out of the container.
2. Visit the Ben and Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard. Pay tribute to rain forest crunch, while listening for an eerie, extremely unappetizing audio accompaniment. Then visit their Top Ten Flavors List. Luckily, chunky monkey and chocolate fudge brownie are currently number three and four on the list, surely spared from the cemetery.
3. Take a few minutes to learn more about ice cream and its consumption. Did you know that in 2006 the United States exported nearly $24 million worth of frozen desserts to Mexico?
4. Be a sweetheart when you make an ice cream cupcake for a friend, or an easy banana milkshake for your sweetie.
5. Hit reverse and consider ice cream fixes from your past. From my List of Favorite Parlors from Each Town I’ve Ever Lived Longer than Three Months, here are my three most memorable:
   Fairbanks, Alaska – Diary Queen, circa 1982 This was located where currently the Oasis sits on University Avenue. I used to ride my bike there after softball practice and order a peanut buster parfait for less than a dollar.
   Honolulu, Hawaii – Bubbie’s Homeade Ice Cream & Desserts I worked here during high school and the main perk was that I could eat as much ice cream as I wanted, as long as it was with a sample spoon, only from a small Dixie cup, and completely hidden from the view of any customers. This was definitely better than any matching 401(k) plan. The coconut macadamia nut and strawberry cheesecake were amazing.
   Portland, Oregon – Coffee People During the nineties known around the Rose City primarily for their coffee, the top secret was that they also sold excellent ice cream (purchased from Prince Puckler’s in Eugene and also on my Past List) and made THE BEST banana milkshakes ever.
6. Buy a flavor that you’ve never tried, and then another just because you like the name.
7. Wake up, after trying this luscious ice cream beverage, originally created by Zefiro and found today in The New Alaska Cookbook.

   Einstein’s Espresso
   2 scoops high quality vanilla or chocolate ice cream
   2 shots freshly brewed espresso
   2 tablespoons whipped cream
   1 chocolate-covered espresso bean

   Place ice cream in a tall ice cream soda glass. Pour the espresso over the ice cream. Top with whipped cream and bean. Serve with long spoon and straw.

8. Read a few ice cream blogs including Scoopalicious, A Daily Scoop, A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise, Japanese Ice Cream, or A Blog of Ice Cream.
9. Grab some friends, some ice cream and sing a few songs while feasting on your favorite flavor. Consider Ice Cream, Ice Cream You Scream or Ice Cream and Cake.
10. Take note this season, courtesy of Thornton Wilder: “My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy the ice cream while it’s on your plate.”

Sweet potatoes for Apollo Bonobo

So the next time you find yourself invited to a Zen baby blessing potluck, or any kind potluck for that matter, you may want to visit epicurious.com for some inspiration. For this Buddhist feast, I think the recipe needs to meet some important prerequisites, including being vegetarian and nut-free, while also embodying the taste of royalty.

The curious cook can use epicurious’ advanced recipe search to easily make sure that certain gastronomic specifications are covered. Using this tool I can ask that the main recipe ingredient be a vegetable, that nuts be excluded from the recipes, and after a vast list appears, I can then ask to view the recipes in fork order. Recipes showing four forks are the highest cook rating and from my experience typically meet my definition of “embodying the taste of royalty”.

After an exhaustive search, that took less than one minute I might add, I have decided to try a simple, yet seemingly delectable dish called grilled sweet potato salad. I think I had something very similar to this at a potluck last month, and if it’s the same one, it was delicious.

And after reading the front of the Zen baby blessing ceremony invitation again, somehow I know that whether my bowl of sweet potatoes is a hit or I bring home most of them, either way there is nothing to worry about because as Lao Tzu reminds us, “We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.”