culinary adventures

I've embarked on a new lifestyle, inspired by none other than Greg Griffith.

You see, Griffith's abilities in the field of frozen desserts are legendary. Rumor has it that SFiF, the name of the site he built, stood originally for "Sorbets: Fruity (if Frozen)," and calling the site "Stand Firm in Faith" instead was an afterthought.

Sure, he pretended it was all just friendly conversation, that casual allusion to the fabulous watermelon sorbet he'd whipped up that week merely a remark on the summer climate in Mississippi. But those brief allusions became mocking, tormenting, as they echoed through my mind for days afterward. I wanted to experience that frozen goodness.

I'd tried many times to build a healthy lifestyle including homemade frozen desserts. I've abstained almost entirely from cake for years; dry cake was just mocking the lack of decent ice cream in my culinary repertoire. I tried -- believe me, I tried -- with a Cuisinart ice cream maker that people said was perfectly good, but my sorbets in particular found no state in between "ice brick" and "fruit soup." Finally, I started thinking, "maybe I'm just not a dessert person."

And then I realized that perhaps I just hadn't met the right ice cream maker yet. I bought that KitchenAid Pro mixer I blogged about earlier. It's got a lovely, 475-watt motor. I bought the ice cream maker attachment. And I made my first batch of ice cream -- sugar-free coffee ice cream made with cold-brewed Toddy coffee concentrate, and with fair trade 70% dark chocolate-coated cacao nibs from Sweetriot in it just for added decadence. I made it less sweet than coffee ice cream usually is, with a little less fat and with rather more intense coffee flavor. And it was very, very good.

So once more I have SFiF (we know what those letters really stand for) to thank for a valuable service to the community. I've discovered a part of myself that I thought was gone, but was merely dormant:

I am a dessert person! Next week, I think I'll try making mango-mint sorbet.