A group of good friends, connected by a love of politics and good food, always used to get together every August in Santa Barbara. Life slowed down; we’d cook together using all local produce – sweet corn, plum tomatoes, Armenian cucumbers, peppers, tomatillos, Blenheim apricots, avocadoes, Santa Rosa plums – and then feast as the sun went down behind rolling hills planted with avocadoes and lemons.
So you can imagine our excitement when we heard that Johnny Apple – the legendary political columnist and food writer at the New York Times – was coming to town with his wife Betsey. Johnny was (as many have noted) a force of nature. I first met Johnny when he came to LA to do a feature on Asian Pacific food. We hit three restaurants in four hours one evening, going from Vietnamese to Chinese dim sum to a Chinese restaurant famous for its “pork pump”. I was so exhausted I begged off the next three days of eating. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone enjoy food and wine more (even that third dinner you have to eat when you’re a critic.)
Ice Cream
Ice Cream
We All Scream for Crunchy Ice Cream Sandwiches
Start with oatmeal cookies (the homemade variety, of course), add ice cream, make sandwiches, then sit back and watch the enjoyment as happy people eat them.
Kids love ice cream sandwiches, and adults feel like kids as they eat them.
Raisins are always a great addition to oatmeal cookies, but when they are frozen, they can get hard and difficult to chew. It seems the perfect way to get their sweet flavor in an ice cream sandwich is to puree them before incorporating them into the dough.
I discovered, too, that giving raisins the puree treatment fools those who dont' care for those little dried grapes. My husband is a good example. He won't eat anything that involves raisins. I offered him one of these cookies, still warm from the oven. After he ate about three of them, he asked, "What is that flavor that I can't quite pinpoint? Dates?" (He likes dates – hates raisins). I thought it safe to share the secret with him. How could he say he didn't like them after already wolfing down three with great gusto? He gave me a sheepish little grin and grabbed another cookie.
Food for Thought
Summer brings long days, hot weather, and a symphony of seasonal sound.
Crickets. Baseball ball games. Steaks sizzling on the grill. Children
playing. And the unmistakable music of ice cream trucks. With
tinkling melodies pouring forth these motorized Pied Pipers roll
through the streets, and children come running from all directions.
Clutching fistfuls of coins, they surround the truck like honeybees
around a flower, then straggle away blissfully licking their favorite
ice cream treats.
Frozen confections come in many forms. Cones piled high with teetering
scoops. Soft slurpy swirls. Popsicles. Cookie sandwiches. Sodas and
shakes. Fruit juice bars. Gelatos and granitas. Sherbets and
sorbets. Luscious sundaes swimming in sweet sauces, dusted with
toppings and crowned in whipped cream. We can thank modern
refrigeration techniques for the myriad of choices available, but the
desire to cool off with a refreshing cold treat on a hot sweltering day
has been around since antiquity.
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