Official Summer Ice Cream Survey Part I: New Jersey

Maeve recently spent a week with us in New Jersey to attend art camp with Nora at the Visual Arts Center. The girls share many things in addition to the special relationship that only cousins have. One of those things is a deep love of ice cream. I proposed that they taste-test ice cream at various locations in the area during the week and I would publish the results on my new blog. Though pre-adolescent, they found nothing to object to in this plan!

Ice cream was evaluated for creaminess, cone, texture, sweetness and toppings and rated based on the following scale:

1=marvelous

2=great

3=good

4=okay

5=poor

Our first stop was the new Home Plate Dairy on Route 57 in Stewartsville (former home of Custard's Last Stand, an entrepreneurial ice cream establishment that switched to deer processing in the winter months). Home Plate came highly recommended by Rachel and Gardner but could it pass muster with true experts in the field? Nora had a chocolate and vanilla twist in a wafer cone and Maeve had a twist in a waffle cone with chocolate crunch sprinkles. It became immediately clear that these were some tough critics. The overall score for Home Plate was only a 2.8/good with the highest marks a pair of twos for texture and sweetness.

The next stop was Ricky's on Springfield Avenue in Summit where Nora sampled Cake Batter ice cream in a cup with M&Ms, whipped cream and chocolate syrup and Maeve went for Rocky Road with whipped cream in a waffle cone. Ricky's has a free toppings bar and clearly they have cornered that market earning them a top score of 1/marvelous for both toppings and sweetness. "Okay" marks for the cone brought the total score to 2.2/great, sadly shy of the coveted "marvelous" ranking.

The last stop in Part 1 of this exhaustive survey was the one and only MF or Magic Fountain, also in Summit on Morris Avenue. Here Nora and Maeve both ordered Cookie Dough with Nora opting for a wafer cone and Maeve for a sugar cone. Our critics gave MF respectable marks of 2/great for creaminess, texture and sweetness but it did not excel in any areas and suffered from the same inferior cones as Home Plate and Ricky's. The overall score? A 2.5 bringing MF in squarely in between Ricky's and Home Plate.

The results:

1st place- Ricky's for its marvelous toppings and unparalleled sweetness

2nd place- Magic Fountain which is just plain great if you ignore the cones

3rd place- Home Plate Dairy just couldn't compete

Stay tuned as the girls continue their efforts and strive to maintain this rigorous schedule of tastings in the Official Ice Cream Survey Part II: Maine and the Official Ice Cream Survey Part III: The Hamptons!

http://www.candyconesandchaos.com/

Another whirlwind weekend northward

We set out for Vermont around 9 a.m. last Friday, stopping at Melick's in Oldwick on our way to pick up peaches as an offering to Will and Martha who we would be staying with for the weekend. We ended up with both yellow and white varieties as well as yellow sugar plums and a cantaloupe that Sylvain insisted on. This is our fifth July trip to Vermont and it has become a tradition to arrive bearing peaches. This time I started wondering why. Surely they have decent peaches in Vermont! Did this all begin with a misunderstanding? What if they don't even want peaches? Is it time to stop the insanity?!

By late morning we arrived at Jamie's in High Falls for a planned pit stop of a swim and lunch. It was another humid day in the 90s and we headed to the falls and enjoyed a long swim in the beautiful, deep river. After a quick change into dry clothes it was off to the Egg's Nest, a quirky-artsy-roadside-New York State kind of place and Huston's favorite eatery. The inside was quite something - no surface or space had escaped the artist's hand!

I thoroughly enjoyed a pesto and sun-dried tomato quesadilla that really hit the spot, and Jamie had the fish and chips accompanied by cole slaw and, with a nod to lingering hippies, a huge slab of banana bread. Nora had chicken fingers (no comment) and chips ("These are French fries???? What a rip off!") and Sylvain had the Greek Praeseux (pronounced "Pray Sue"), a baked tortilla topped with spinach, mushrooms, mozzarella, ricotta and feta. Sylvain, always a sucker for even the most half-hearted attempt at marketing, ordered a "Batman" to accompany his meal - seltzer with grenadine and orange juice.

After lunch we dropped off Jamie and continued north with a quick drop off of the fruit before continuing on to Keewaydin to pick up Thibault for dinner at the highly-recommended American Flatbread in Middlebury. During the week this is essentially a wholesale bakery that cranks out organic flatbread in a big wood-fired oven. On Friday and Saturday nights they open for dinner and serve a choice of salads, pizzas and desserts. We had been warned about the wait. There are several areas designed for waiting, indoors and out, plus a bar and a good supply of board games. This is not New Jersey. People deal with it. So did we and eventually we had a great, simple meal of a couple of house salads with greens, wakame and sesame seeds and a couple of pizzas - one tomato and cheese and the other maple sausage and herb.

We devoured everything in sight and agreed that next time we need to dine without a curfew - Thibault was due back at camp no later than 9 p.m. leaving no time for any of the nice-looking desserts we saw passing by. We delivered him just in the nick of time.

Will and Martha are the ultimate hosts and always feed us well when we visit but we especially enjoy the big farm breakfasts! Saturday morning was Martha's tasty, strong coffee, thick slab bacon with eggs and English muffins. I truly had the best poached egg ever, which Will modestly attributed to the quality of the eggs. They were incredible - local multi-hued eggs from (if I heard correctly) Korean hens.

The next morning I accompanied him down the road to a neighboring dairy farm to purchase fresh raw organic whole milk. The cows were being milked when we arrived and the milk was fed from their teats into pipes that in turn led into what looked like a huge ice chest. The cute farmer had a gold cow earring in one ear. His wife scooped out milk from the chest in a big plastic pitcher for us and poured it into our quart jars. Back at the house, Will cooked up a batch of corn flap jacks and we were ready to hit the road again for home. Wow.



http://www.melickstownfarm.com/

http://www.theeggsnest.com/
http://www.americanflatbread.com/

http://www.organicvalley.coop/

Friends Who Feed Me

Friends who feed me are in a special category. For years after we had the Cafe, it seemed that no one invited us over to eat and if they did, each dish was accompanied by a disclaimer about the food. I recognize that it is intimidating to cook for a chef, even one who specializes in home-style "cuisine de femme," but I think that because I do cook, I appreciate their efforts even more.

Melissa and Hafnaoui

In late June we were the happy guests at an Algerian mechoui at the home of friends Melissa and Hafnaoui. A mechoui features lamb slow-cooked on a spit over an open fire. The lamb went on at 11 a.m. that morning and was still turning and being basted with an olive oil and rosemary marinade when we arrived around 4 p.m. Now if this were France the men tending the beast would have started drinking promptly at 11. Even though the cooks did not imbibe in alcohol, things did get a little boisterous later on as some of the key players in the production jostled each other for the most desirable pieces of meat.

As a veritable mechoui veteran by now, I should be used to and flattered when a stranger rips off a good morsel with his bare hands and then hands it to me to be eaten. That's what I get for hanging around admiring the beast! And it was so good.

Dinner consisted of the lamb (of course), grilled chicken, halal turkey hot dogs, Hafnaoui's amazing hummus and tabouli, various other salads and an assortment of incredible, home-made sweet nut and honey phyllo pastries plus everything provided by the many guests. We partook to capacity and enjoyed every bit of it - what a treat!

Alyson

More recently I spent a wonderful, relaxed evening with Melissa and Alyson down the road. The occasion was the proper celebration of Melissa's birthday that had passed unnoticed amid the chaos following the removal of Caroline's tonsils (her youngest). We sat on the deck as night fell and the fire flies came out. It was a really thick and dark New Jersey summer night but with little of the traditional humidity.

Alyson cooked up one of her amazing rich desserts, this time a berry shortcake with obscene mounds of whipped cream. Melissa brought chocolate-dipped strawberries. I got off easily with a bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge that has been waiting in the fridge for many months for just such an opportunity! We talked and laughed and told stories by candlelight - I feel so lucky to have found these ladies.

Liz and John
The same weekend we had dinner with Liz and John in their great new place in Brookside - a beautiful old home on Main Street next to the post office and across from the Community Club. It is always a pleasure to hang out with these two and this was a rare evening in that we were without children. We sat on the back patio in the garden and enjoyed chilled prosecco. Through the backyard I could see the old house where I grew up down the road. I forget how close everything is in Brookside. It felt good to be back.

Dinner was simple and so good - my favorite kind of meal. Big pieces of chicken marinated in yoghurt, lemon and herbs, skewered with chunks of red peppers and red onions and grilled over charcoal. This was served with a really garlicky cucumber sauce, white rice and a salad of mixed greens tossed with Liz's vinaigrette. I love that vinaigrette. Dessert was coconut and raspberry sorbets.

In this crazy world, cooking and sharing food with family and friends has become a lost art along with letter writing and telling time. When I break bread with friends it is almost like stepping out of time and into an altogether different and welcome zone. Thank you!

Communing with nature at the Tewks

Tonight after work I met Mom and Dad and the girls at the Tewksbury Inn for an early supper on the terrace. Sylvain had his Thursday night soccer match. On the downside ( I like to get that out of the way), we were seated at the back of the terrace at a sunny table and though the day felt cool in comparison to yesterday, it was hot sitting there! Flies were drawn our way whenever food was on the table. When Mom mentioned the sun and the flies to our server, she informed us that they had just ordered an electric fly swatter that very day! An electric fly swatter? Did I get that right? Hmm.


At any rate, we started off with glasses of wine and Shirley Temples for Maeve and Nora. So civilized and festive! Dad and I had the mussels and shared with those who were interested. The girls filled up on bread swiped in olive oil. The mussels were fine but I wasn't blown away (mussels can really do that at times). We did much better with dinner.

Dad and I both selected the delicious Canadian Turbot special- delicate fillets gently pan fried and served atop a mashed potato island in a shallow pool of lemon butter with scattered haricot verts. Perched on the fish was an "herb salad," maybe my favorite part. Mom enjoyed the Chatham Cod with roesti potato, English pea puree, and bacon and Vidalia onion. The girls both had the Bistro Chicken (with "wilted spinach, olive oil whipped potatoes and natural thyme jus"), clearly the favorite dish at the Tewks and one dish that doesn't change and never comes off the menu even as the chefs come and go. I think it is safe to say that we all were pleased with our selections.

Nora, Maeve and Dad all rallied for dessert. Not surprisingly, the girls were immediately drawn to the milk chocolate mousse cake with whipped cream and fresh raspberries. Dad had three scoops of sorbet - lemon, mango and raspberry. Tasty but again, not mind-blowing. I also tasted the "cake" and it wasn't my favorite. It was neither mousse nor cake, it was too sweet and too rich and the taste of orange zest was overpowering to me. The girls loved it and were given permission by their grandmother to use their fingers to finish the drizzles of chocolate sauce. I was seated in between them. It was gross.

http://www.thetewksburyinn.com/

Down On The Corner...

It is always such an effort to extract myself from my crazy life but when I do it I remember that it is almost always worth the effort (then I forget until the next time). This weekend we drove out early to Bridgehampton for our annual 4th of July weekend with Rachel and Gardner and the kids. The holiday falling on a Friday made for a shorter than usual long weekend but once we arrived time slowed and stretched. How does that work?

After a second day of biking, a cold swim at the beach and many rounds of dominoes, last night we headed to Sag Harbor in the rain for a bite to eat hoping to then take the ferry to Shelter Island for the fireworks. Destiny smiled and we managed to find two adjacent parking spaces and room for seven at the Corner Bar.

The Corner is so reassuring to someone who grew up going out to "The Hamptons." Someone who says Long Island before Bridgehampton and never exhales the dreaded H word. It is reassuringly unchanging and consistently unappealing to those who roam the streets in deep-cut, full-length patterned gowns and strappy metallic high-heeled sandals. Did I mention that the food is good too?

To start with, Rachel and I shared a dozen clams on the half shell and the boys had his and his Manhattan and New England clam chowders. Not much makes me happier than fresh raw clams with a cold draft (a pint of Bass Ale in my case) beer on a rainy summer night in a cozy bar with friends. Okay, the burger made me happier. The Corner Deluxe. I said I wanted it without fries which was stupid and just plain confusing to our server. I had to keep repeating the request. It arrived with potato chips instead of the fries and a side dish of the sauteed mushrooms and onions that are normally piled high on top. No harm done - I put the mushrooms when they belonged right on top of the bleu cheese on the perfectly medium burger. So good and complete. I was a vegetarian for 20 years but this made me forget all about vegetables for a night.

After dinner we learned that the Sag Harbor fireworks were to take place shortly just down the street so we abandoned plans for further travel, retrieved our beach chairs and joined the crowd for rounds of "ooh!" "ahhhh!" and "that one is so cool!"

http://www.cornerbarsagharbor.com/