Overabundance of tomatoes this year.

Little macaron cookies make the perfect sandwich with ice cream because even when they are frozen they are still soft and chewy.   I used two David Leibovitz recipes for these.  His Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream (which makes a ton!) and his Macaron cookies.

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream Sandwiches
ice cream adapted from David Leibovitz’s The Perfect Scoop and macarons adapted from David Leibovitz’s The Sweet Life in Paris

Ice Cream

1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Slice the strawberries. Put them in a bowl with sugar.

2. Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve and all of the strawberries are coated. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2. Blend the strawberries and their liquid with the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until almost smooth, but still slightly chunky.

3. Refrigerate mixture for at least one hour. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

4. The ice cream recipe makes way more than you need for one batch of these, so pour as much of the ice cream that fits on a smallish cookie sheet with sides and freeze.  Pour the rest in a plastic tub to eat on it’s own, because its really good.

If you dont have an ice cream maker, or some free time, you can also just buy some good ice cream, let it get soft and spread it out on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Macaron cookies

1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

1. While your ice cream is freezing, line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.

2. In a food processor, grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder so there are no lumps

3. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.

4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag.

5. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 2-inch circles, evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart. These are a little bit larger than regular macarons.

6. Tap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten them, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.  Place in a plastic bag or tupperware and freeze them.

When everything is all good and frozen, use a biscuit cutter to cut out little rings of ice cream from your cookie sheet and make little sandwiches. Place them flat on another cookie sheet and put back in the freezer as soon as  you can.

John and I went on a little Pacific Northwest vacation recently.  We spent a few days in Portland, a few up in Mt Hood, then back to Portland again for the end of the trip.  It’s a great city; small, bike friendly, full of great food.  Mt Hood was crazy big and beautiful. There was so much snow!

Anyways, Here are a few photos of places we went and snacks we ate.

Food pictured is from Pine State Biscuits, Stumptown Coffee, and Voodoo Donuts.

I am in a Tyler Alumni group show at the Crane Arts Center this month.  The show was curated by Robert Storr, who is a pretty big deal.  Dean at Yale, curator at MoMa, etc etc.  I’m really excited to have been included. AND there is a cute little catalog of the show.

We will be at the Crane for the Second Thursday events this coming Thursday (the 14th 6-9pm).  So if you are in the neighborhood, you should stop by!  Or you can check out any of the other events listed below.

Here is the link to the web version: http://www.philly.com/philly/restaurants/20110303_Close_at_hand_and_delicious.html

My good friend Natalie is getting married this summer and instead of photographing the wedding, I am going to make her cupcakes!

So, I’ve been baking cupcakes for most events that require snacks to practice and try out recipes.  We had a big clothing swap at the studio the other day and I made these.

I love Martha Stewart cupcakes recipes, they always turn out perfect.

Here’s the recipes for Martha’s Red Velvet Cupcakes and One Bowl Chocolate cupcakes

your neighbor gives you a rack of ten heritage breed pork chops, just cause……