Some Inspiration

For my husband's birthday this past June, we started our summer with a weekend trip to NYC.  I was just getting over my first case of poison ivy (that's another story altogether) and a little on the miserable side.  Since I was uncomfortable in the heat but trying to be a good sport, we spent most of our time inside museums: the Expressionist print show at the MoMA on Saturday and the Cloisters on Sunday.  I loved the print show, since it reminded me of part of our honeymoon in Vienna, but the gorgeous pottery and tapestries at the Cloisters really spoke to me... sounds corny, I know, but the patterns, designs and intricate details on each piece made my jaw drop.  To think they were created centuries ago is amazing.  I think they might inspire some new pottery designs for me this winter.... take a look!

pottery pitcher and platter in the background

flower detail of a tapestry

more flower details

a meadow of flowers - my favorite

This is a horrible photo, but it shows the whole tapestry with all the detailed flowers.  Who doesn't like a fenced-in unicorn?

First Attempt: Frozen Yogurt

It's August.  How did that happen?  Where did July go?  Time seems to have flown by so quickly I never even wrote anything here.  I've got lots of catching up to do.

Since it's been real summer weather in Boston lately, I'm going to share with you my first attempt at making frozen yogurt.  It was a project my mother and I had planned to do together, since I had given her an ice cream maker for Mother's Day.  She and I are both huge fans of ice cream and frozen yogurt, a trait we inherited from her father.  We had agreed on trying frozen yogurt since that seemed healthier and less fattening.  I went to her house one night after work - after barely eating anything all day, due to my excitement about making our own frozen yogurt!  Having had day-dreams about opening my own "healthy" ice cream shop, I was so looking forward to actually giving this a go.  Could I even make palatable frozen yogurt?

We used a mango frozen yogurt recipe that came with the ice cream maker.  At the time, I was on a big white peach kick, so we substituted the mangoes with white peaches.  Unfortunately we hadn't taken into consideration the fact that mangoes are larger than peaches.  Next time we'll need to use more peaches.  We also used Greek yogurt instead of regular plain yogurt.  Because of Greek yogurt's extra tangy-ness, I'll add extra honey in my next attempt.  I think I'll also use some ground cinnamon - that could be yummy.

Here's a photo play-by-play of our fro yo adventure....

mixing the plain yogurt with sugar

measuring out one cup

adding 1 cup sweetened yogurt to 2 chopped peaches

the peach blended yogurt is mixed back into the bowl of sweetened yogurt. the ice cream maker parts are lined up in the foreground. 

all of the yogurt is slowly poured into the ice cream maker

after mixing in the ice cream maker for 30 minutes, we had a somewhat icy, a little on the soft side, peach frozen yogurt!  with the recipe tweaks our next batch will be even better when topped with delicious berries...mmmmm...

I could really go for some frozen yogurt right now.  I may need to make a trip to Berryline.