Rudders at Home

…who got married today.

I hope you had a wonderful day, and I can’t wait to see some pictures! I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see it happen, but we’ll catch up in September!

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As you all know by now, I had a couple girlfriends in this past Saturday night. The plan was to have some food, have some drinks, and well, have some ice cream. I think we succeeded on all parts there, and when my camera came out, it didn’t stay in my hands for very long. So, let me share some pictures from our girls night in.

I’m not sure what this picture on the left is all about. I think I look a bit more like Vanna White. “I’d like to buy a vowel, Pat.” Or maybe I’m saying,  “Welcome to my kitchen, let me feed you some ice cream.” but, really, I think I’m supposed to be showing off the couple boxes of ice cream that I prepared in advance of my friends’ arrival. It’s a good thing I did, too, as the one kind I did try to freeze while they were there didn’t freeze very well and turned into something more like soup.

On to the ice cream. First we have Margarita ice cream, then Cheesecake ice cream, and the last is Vietnamese Coffee ice cream churning away in my ice cream maker.

They all seemed to be a pretty big hit, judging by the reaction of the crowd. The recipe for the margarita ice cream came from Nigella, and the recipe can be found here on the BBC website. I thought it was pretty good, and extremely easy to make. You don’t need an ice cream maker at all. Just throw everything together in a container and stick in the freezer. I did it the night before and it was perfect on Saturday. I had to let it soften a bit before scooping it out but it all worked fine.

The next two kinds I made, I got the recipes from David Leibovitz’s The Perfect Scoop ice cream cookbook. The cheesecake ice cream was absolutely gorgeous, and was so easy to make. I mixed it up that morning before the girls came over. Once it was churned I added in some crushed gingersnap cookies, which was a brilliant thing. They added that graham cracker crust taste to it and the cookies absorbed some of the cream, so were soft when you bit into them and not hard little bullets in the ice cream, like I was afraid they might end up being.

We were running late in the night which is why the last one came out a bit soupy. I think we might have gotten caught up in drinks and other things and so the ice cream came at the end of the evening. Still, the Vietnamese coffee ice cream was pretty tasty. Basically, it’s just a combination of strong coffee and condensed milk with some cream and then churned in the ice cream maker. It wasn’t as rich as the other ice creams I made at the weekend, but it was still nice and I could see it being very refreshing on a hot day.

The evening started off with drinks, margaritas to be exact, and once both, Rochelle and Anneli had arrived we broke into nachos and then dinner. Dinner was my vegetarian chilli which turned out really well this time, with Anneli’s nachos grande, and Rochelle’s homemade guacamole.

Then, right as we started to dish out ice cream, the girls cottoned on to the fact that we have a Wii. And I promptly displayed the fact that I don’t know how to run it. I broke out the only game I really know how to play and the only game I really enjoy, and that’s Rayman’s Raving Rabbids, so we proceeded to play that and eat ice cream until it was time for the girls to catch their trains.

As I said before, my camera wasn’t in my hands for long. At some point in the evening, someone took some rogue videos of us playing on the Wii. There were also a number of “artistic” shots, which included this cracking photo of the miniature American flag I have by the front door. 🙂

A few more pictures of our evening are available in the gallery.

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Sometimes it’s about killing rabbids.

I hosted a girl’s night in this weekend, with Mexican food and loads of home made ice cream. I think we all had a bit of a blast, but the surprise highlight of the evening was playing on the Wii.

This is what happens when your camera finds it’s way into someone else’s hands. Personally, the laughter in the background by the person filming is really the best part. Apart from the fact that it’s obvious we don’t know what we’re doing!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hUQAPuR3hg

Sorry things are a bit sideways – I found this video of us playing Rayman’s Raving Rabbids on my camera the next day. I couldn’t delete it, just immediately put it on YouTube to share with everyone! I’ll share more pictures from the evening later on!

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The other day I was in the grocery store, moaning about the fact that I couldn’t get Karo Syrup in this country. Well, not moaning, really, but I did say aloud (quite loudly) to Paul, “You just don’t get it here. It’s something I’ve just come to accept,” and I picked up a tin of Golden Syrup.

I said it a little too loudly. As soon as it came out of my mouth, I caught the eye of an older gentleman who was walking down the aisle behind me, and he asks me, “What? What’s wrong with our country?” I must add here that he did have a mischievous smile on his face, but I was suitably chastened. I very quickly said, “Nothing at all!” He smiled again and then went on to seriously ask me what I was looking for. When I said I was looking for corn syrup, he simply said, oh, and then shrugged his shoulders a bit, smiled kindly and went about his business without another word. And left me there.

I’m not sure whether I should be embarrassed because I was speaking to loudly, or feel vindicated, because I did know what I was talking about. I think I’ll take vindicated, but next time I’ll remember to use my indoor voice at Sainsbury’s. Oh wait, I don’t have an indoor voice… Outdoor voice it is then!

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Even after my valiant attempt at compromise, Paul was still begging me for a rhubarb crumble. I decided I couldn’t take it any more, so I gave in and made him a rhubarb crumble. I have to say I think he enjoyed it. Although, apparently it wasn’t quite good enough. He tells me that it lacked crumble.

However, I’m not sure how he could tell with all that cream.

I’m not sure he’ll be getting another one.

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