Summer Special Offer ~ "Lush Ice Cream without a Machine"

I didn't make a big thing of this in my last post so I'd just like to mention it again.  As the weather was so good for a couple of days last week (and rumour has it the sun will be out next Friday - yippee!) I have reduced the price of my ebook "Lush Ice Cream without a Machine" to £1.98 which is about the same price as a carton of ice cream and much, much cheaper than an ice cream machine. You'd better see here and get a copy so you'll be ready next Friday!

This method makes rich creamy dairy ice cream quickly and easily, I promise you, and the reason I wrote the book is that it's so simple and foolproof that I felt it would be a shame not to pass it on. 

Here is easy peasy Clotted Cream Ice Cream, one of the first recipes in the book, as part of a twist on traditional Cornish Cream Tea. 

Incidentally and regardless of the above photo I hope everyone now realises that the Cornish have always been right - it is jam on first, topped with cream.  See here for the maths!  

Showing off a bit - sorry!

Look what I saw in Wadebridge.

I know for most people this is not very exciting but this is the first time I have seen my book in a real, live book shop and, not only that, in the window and, not only that, above Rick Stein!!!

Tomorrow I am giving a talk to a local craft group on getting published.  This is the first time I'll have done this too but presume that if I just chat along giving useful info I've picked up together with some jokes and anecdotes I should be OK and they have promised coffee and biscuits.

One of the things I am going to stress is how much work the publicity is, I feel I could sit here on my computer till the end of time pitching magazines, blogging, tweeting, commenting on Linkedin, posting on Facebook, emailing and so on and so forth. I don't mind at all, in fact I enjoy it but at the same time it is a) frustrating (magazines take ages to reply if at all) and b) there is so much to do I keep forgetting what I am doing.  Serves me right for being so old, I suppose.

And for visitors to Cornwall ... 

Ice Creamy.li

Today saw the first issue of my new paper.li newspaper appropriately called ... Today saw the first issue of my new Paper.li newspaper appropriately titled and subtitled ... 

I didn't mention it before as I wasn't sure if I had done it right! 

The way it works is I provide a list of sources (eg. The Huffington Post and Telegraph Food) together with some keywords and paper.li assemble an edition gathering together any articles by these sources which mention my keywords.

The great thing about it is that it is as interesting for me to read as it is for anyone else; for instance I am particularly pleased with the headline

"Cat Snores Into Glass Of Orange Juice For No Apparent Reason"!

My keywords are, of course, ice cream, gelato and sorbet but they seems to have been interpreted broadly and quite interestingly.

If you would like to have a look at this edition see here and if you would like to receive future editions just click on SUBSCRIBE at the top of the paper.li page and/or follow me on Twitter.

Speaking of ice cream here is a picture of Saffron Ice Cream - recipe in my book - with a handful of pistachios just to get you in the mood.

Nice reviews!

I find that the above page on my book Lush Ice Cream has been loading inordinately slowly so I have made a bit of a change.  Not so many photos but there are plenty on Pinterest and I'm gradually adding more, in fact here's one I've just uploaded.

Coconut Ice Ice (Baby)!

  

A layer of Coconut Ice Cream topped with a layer of Simple Strawberry Ice Cream and cut into squares - cunning or what?  Maybe just obvious!

There is a small discussion of my ice cream book on Linkedin - here's a sample ...

"Your book is by far the best fun recipe book I have! It's a really entertaining read even without going to the effort of breaking out condensed milk and cream. You have finally solved the mystery of how to make ice cream that doesn't require a pneumatic drill to serve it. The fact that alcohol and sugar is involved is an additional plus."

And another one ...

"Hmm! I think I've just made one NY resolution - it's to make more of Suzy Bowler's ice creams! I made the marmalade one for a NYE dinner party with a whole lot of scarily 'foody' people, and they loved it."

Nice eh?

To have a look at the book, download a sample or even buy a copy go here if you are in the UK and here if you are in the States.

Who knows what this is?

Here is a portrait of an inclusion in one of the easy peasy ice creams featured in my eBook - my cat and I used to be quite partial to this stuff but that's not much of a clue!  Any ideas?  See end of this post for the answer.

The recipe using this mystery ingredient is in the chapter headed Savoury, Interesting and Peculiar which also includes such delights as Cracked Black Pepper Ice Cream (lovely with strawberries), Werther’s Original Crunch and delicious Blue Cheese Ice Cream which I like to serve drizzled with honey - like this ...

I don't, however, normally serve it on a piece of wrapping paper as in this photo.  Having made the ice cream I was at a loose end for an appropriate dish for the picture and, as it happens, I am rather pleased with the result. Artistic or what!

If you would like to read more please go Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com and have a 

or download a sample.  I promise you that this is a really easy way to make excellent ice cream, if you are at all dubious try the Maple Syrup Ice Cream, the first recipe in the first chapter; Very, Very Easy Ice Creams.  I think you'll be impressed.  Here is some served with sugared walnuts.

Reviews

I am proud to have received the following two reviews on amazon.com ie. from the Americas.

Answer

Popping Candy aka Space Dust - I had an unusual cat!

A Spooky Stumble Upon Story!

As you may have noticed I have added some sharing buttons to my side bar, please feel free to use them.  Please!  When testing them out I remembered a strange, strange thing that happened to me on Stumble Upon a few years back

Spooky Story

My real man and I were sitting on opposite sides of the table and I was passing the time stumbling on Stumble Upon.  I used to do it so much before I thought of trying my hand at being a writer.  Well, (this is the personal bit) ...

... my darling leant across the table and looking me in the eye licked around the edge of the lid of my laptop in a suggestive manner!  At my age!  I pressed the stumble button again, you can see how addicted I was, and got this ...

Just that and nothing else in large letters on an otherwise blank screen.  I was so surprised I didn't even look at the address bar just stumbled again as quick as I could.  Since then I have tried and tried to find this again but the only references I can find to screen licking are on foodie sites and um, you know, "adult" sites.  However even if I did find this again on Stumble Upon it was still one hell of a coincidence.

Something worth licking...

Wild Berry Pavlova Ice Cream made using my basic recipe method and my fail proof meringues - picture taken in Tortola a few years ago.   

I apologise for this seemingly blatant advertising; this picture is already on the relevant page but I have just discovered that food porn sites won't accept two or more pics from the same URL,I have to put them in a post before submitted them and I'm quite pleased with this one! 

How to Make Ice Cream without Eggs

I can't believe what an eejit I am.  I've been making ice cream ("stringent testing" you understand) thinking about ice cream, eating ice cream and writing about it and yet it never occurred to me what a bonus it is that the recipe I propound in " Lush Ice Cream without a Machine" Doesn't Use Eggs.  A friend who was reading my book said, and I quote ...

"We are delighted because William can't have ice cream with eggs in it so

this gives us lots of options".

Brilliant, I wish I'd noticed that useful aspect of the easy, flexible recipe I am so pleased with before I published the book!    

Cream for Ice Cream

A few people have asked me how much they should whisk the cream when making ice cream so here is a picture of the ideal texture ...

A little too much whipping and the cream will be unworkably thick, a lot too much and it will turn to butter!  Useful but no good for ice cream.