Bought apricots, plums, nectarines, snap peas, and two pepper plants yesterday at the SS market. Went to the Takoma market this morning, and got 2 dozen eggs (smalls and extra-larges), bread, raspberries, blueberries, chicken feet (stock!), quark (plain, but I can add herbs), a small sweet pepper, and a quart of whole milk. Fruit at the Takoma market is 50¢ to $1 cheaper per pound, so if I buy enough to eat for a week and to make ice cream, it makes sense to pay the $3.20 round trip to get there by bus.

I also picked up a pot and saucer and two tomato plants at the Ace Hardware. When I got home, I planted the tomatoes in the ground and transplanted the Labrador violet into the pot and brought it inside. The violet was looking fried, so I'm thinking it might do better inside. Hopefully I ripped up enough mint that the one tomato plant will be okay; one of my neighbors planted spearmint in the flower bed, and now it's taken over a 2' by 4' block. It'll be a pain to eradicate, but that's my plan for this fall and (probably) next spring. You can't let mint go in the ground, since mints are allopathic and will kill everything in their path.

I'm going to make raspberry ice cream this afternoon, because the raspberries got smushed. I need to make something with the Montmorecy cherries from last week -- maybe I'll pit them and save them in batches, because it looks like cherries are done for the season (which is ridiculously early, but we had because in mid-June, instead of mid-August). I also have gooseberries from last week, that I could make into pie or crumble or fool -- fool would be the easiest, but least likely to travel well to a 4th of July party.

From my Independence Day Cook-In (all recipes from Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume)

( Strawberry and Hibiscus Ice Cream )

Notes: I might modify this for three yolks but no whites, if I do this again. And I'd definitely chop the strawberries finer -- they need to be all but mush or they freeze into rather large chunks.

So, the pink peppercorn meringues are finished -- they came out unexpectedly huge, and I will probably give many of them away.

The orange vanilla caramel cremes are finished, but I think I went past caramel into 'butterscotch hard candy', so the bottoms have a crust like a creme brulee. Ooops.

The strawberry-hibiscius ice cream is in the freezer setting up, and it tastedfabulous.

The white bean dip is half done -- the spices, oil and lemon juice are the only thing that needs to be added. The chard for the falefel is cooling now, after being blanched.

The meat is thawed, so after the parade, I'll get that started.

It's like summer in a bowl. I used this recipe, though I used only 5 yolks, not six, and added the sugar after the milk/cream/lemon verbeena had steeped.

I am very curious about the candied bacon ice cream recipe. I think i could even eliminate the whiskey without effecting the taste.

I'm also keeping an eye on the Ice Cream Social Challenge for interesting recipes. I don't have time to do it myself this year, but I think I've got a handle on the basic French custard now, so I should be able to experiment with flavors. Honey-Mint ice cream, maybe?

besides temperatures where I don't ache all the time, is the way there is such an amazing seasonal variety at the farmer's market.

For example, ( black raspberries )

They are now pureed and added to an ice cream base. After chilling overnight, I'll make it tomorrow and it will be *spendid*.

I also have strawberries, yellow cherries, apricots, and nectarines.

Made the custard for mint-chocolate chip ice cream tonight. And, since the recipe didn't specify and my mint plants are rather young, I used leaves from all of them and some mint I had frozen in the freezers.

I know that I have spearmint and peppermint, but the third mint is the one that sprouted on its own -- and it's either Kentucky Colonel mint or it's *catmint*, but I'm not sure which. I suppose the thing to do is to feed the finished ice cream to sanj or ellen_fremedon and find out if they're mobbed by their cats afterwards...