Another Sunday at the Mansion!

July 09th, 2007  | Category: Ice Cream & Sorbet, Ralph & The Mansion

Yes, we never get bored of The Mansion. But you know that already.

How can you, with a sweet creature like this:

Ralph and kumquat

The highlight of the day was the peach ice-cream from David’s new book The Perfect Scoop. I bought the book almost a month ago and finally got around to trying recipes after weeks of salivating. Numerous blogs have praised it and I am not going to say anything different.

It is the most comprehensive ice-cream+sorbet+granita book ever. There are over 150 recipes. Some of them are the classic unforgettable tastes with David’s touch and some involve pairings that I never would have imagined together in an ice-cream. I am also enjoying the anecdotes David included at the beginning of almost every recipe.

Information about ingredients, techniques as well as equipment are very helpful. The recipes are very easy to follow. The only difficult part is which one to choose! Once I entered the supermarket, it was quite obvious for me tough. Season’s largest and ripest peaches were staring at me… On top of David’s recipe, I added a raspberry swirl. I guess now we can call it a Peach Melba ice-cream.

I also tried another recipe (gelato this time), ate nearly half of it before freezing and went to heaven. But more on that later…

Peach Ice Cream with Raspberry swirl

Ralph was very happy this weekend to see his cousin Bugsy. Even tough they know each other for almost 13 years, they still perform a meeting ritual every time they see each other. It involves standing next to each other in opposite directions and sniffing you know where for hours. Casual growls here and there… and then it’s back to normal.

Ralph and Bugsy

For afternoon tea, we had homemade sour cherry jam with a selection cheeses and my favorite Turkish baked good: Simit.

Simit is a savory roll with sesame seeds on top. The texture and taste is closest to a bagel. I’ve got to try baking it at home and share the recipe with you…

Sour Cherry Jam

It is often sold by street vendors who either have a simit trolley or a humongous tray full of simits on their head.

Simit and Sour Cherry Jam

Tea

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Comments

  1. Zeynep Seda on July 11th, 2007

    My favourite combination is simit & ayran :) Having read everything you said about the book tempts me to buy it, but I already have two ice cream books (Ben&Jerry’s and the ultimate ice cream book) and did not even get to try more than 4-5 different recipes…

  2. Shaun on July 11th, 2007

    Cenk - You have convinced me that I should (finally) try David’s “Perfect Scoop”, especially since I have changed climates and am in the midst of a lovely Californian summer. I would love to hear about your simit should you get around to making it. There is a thin, flaky Taiwanese green onion bread with sesame seeds served on top that I love, too, and I should see find out if it is easy enough to bake, though I know it is really easy and cheap to purchase. And sour cherry jam? You have been a busy man…

  3. Cenk on July 14th, 2007

    Zeynep Seda - I have those books as well. I must say I was particularly dissappointed with Ben and Jerry’s. The Perfect Scoop is much more comprehensiveö includes recipes I have never seen before, and plus you get to read David’s stories. Also let’s not forget: There is no such thing as too many cookbooks :)

    Shaun - I will try baking simit once I return from my vacation and post it with my comments. Though I have a strong feeling that it will not taste like the real thing… They are supposed to be baked in huge stone ovens. We shall see.

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