spice your ice cream

Our latest ice cream was 'something chocolate.' David Lebovitz's online recipes called either for banana (the devil!) or fancy peppercorns (expensive), so I looked elsewhere and came up with Mexican Chocolate, from Simply Recipes. It is delicious! Chocolatey chocolate (cocoa and melted chocolate, just as it should be) with a heap of cinnamon an pinch of cayenne. I said it gave it a deep, warm flavor along with the creamy chocolateness, and Joel laughed that ice cream could taste warm, but we agreed.

So this morning when I really felt like having ice cream for breakfast (but didn't), I was remembering the end of our trip to India almost three years ago now. On the second to last day we took a partner from our group and were allowed to wander around Commercial street in Bangalore to shop for gifts and souvenirs, with an allowance for dinner, to meet back at a specific time. I was with Sonja, my dear Finnish friend and roommate for the week. Of course, by the time we were done bargaining, the only place to eat without a long wait was McDonald's. We stood for a few seconds before Sonja announced, "Oh wait, I can't have cow here! We're leaving!" Sure enough, they don't serve holy beef in Bangalore.

Scurrying to find something before the cramped, dusty, and song-filled drive, we came upon a western-style cafe, and happily indulged our sweet-and-chocolate-deprived faces. We had cake and iced mocha milkshakes for dinner. After a week of spice for breakfast, spice for lunch, and spicy rice for dinner, it was a welcome delight to eat cake, with spoons.
(I loved India. But I have a very hard time eating with my hands.)

(Sonja and I on our last day)

love,
Cait
P.S. I may not be around for about a week, but I'll see you soon :)