Red Hot

I managed to stop myself eating all these delicious Gaviota strawberries from Harry’s Berries (Santa Monica Farmer’s Market) and saved some for the ice cream recipe below. Gaviota are slightly more expensive, but well worth it. I have been spoiling myself while Colin is away visiting his family in New Zealand. He hadn’t seen them since they came over for our wedding four years ago in September. At the time, I recall thanking Colin’s and my parents for living long enough to see us get married. They’re still going pretty strong.

A friend told me this story of a colleague who invited his then recently widowed mother, aged 61, to come and live with him, his wife and young daughters, thinking she would be a most convenient babysitter and probably only last another 10 years. She lived to be 101. This cautionary tale has held me back from suggesting our parents come and live with us.

Not that I don’t like senior citizens, especially Betty White. I spent a few days staying with my sister, Julia, and Tivo’d Hot In Cleveland, Betty’s new sitcom on TV Land. We watched it together and loved it.

Earlier, Julia had been scrolling down the list of recorded programs (looking for a Max and Ruby for Marley) when she came across the Hot In Cleveland and, not having prior knowledge of the show, was mortified, thinking her chap, Arthur, had recorded some porn. If she had known more about Cleveland, she might have realized that it doesn’t lend itself to being an exotic backdrop for erotic goings-on.

We also thoroughly enjoyed the World Cup now England has received their just deserts. I’m rooting for Spain in the final. Talking of just desserts (kind of), here’s a simple but delicious recipe for strawberry ice cream from one of my favorite cooks, Nigel Slater.

Ingredients

1 lb strawberries (Gaviota are the best)

3.5 ozs baker’s sugar

10 fl ozs whipping cream


Recipe

1. Rinse the strawberries, remove the leaves and slice the fruit.

2. Cover them in the sugar and leave for an hour.

3. Whip up the cream until it’s thick enough to lie in folds rather than stand in peaks.

4. Zap the strawberries in a blender.

5. Fold the strawberry puree into the whipped cream, leaving a bit of a ripple.

6. Cover and freeze, checking and stirring the mixture as it freezes, bringing the outside edges into the middle.