The Domestic Curator

Monday, August 11

All Things Ice Cream ....for the Purist

Labor Day is just around the corner and summer is coming to a close — for some of us at least. It's still plenty warm in Texas, and will be for a while just yet. Any-hoo, it’s time to gear up for the holiday weekend with some tasty ice cream treats. Ice cream truly is Summer's dessert. For this reason, let the last taste of summer be the first taste of fall. Good ice cream is easy to come by, but great ice cream? That’s an entirely different beast. Whether you’re scooping a creamy batch you made yourself or diving into a packaged pint of the premium stuff, here are a few tools that will help you, your family and friends enjoy the ultimate ice cream-eating experience.

Whynter SNÖ Professional Ice Cream Maker

This self-refrigerating model makes continuous batches of creamy, dense, smooth ice cream, without the need to freeze a canister. The ice cream is firm enough to eat right away, and the second batch comes out faster and even smoother than the first. Simple and east-to-use, the timer can be set for up to 60 minutes for walk-away convenience. Canister and blade are removable for easy cleaning. $199.99.

Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker

This great ice cream maker rivaled the smooth texture that the Whynter SNÖ Professional Ice Cream Maker produced, but was $150.00 cheaper! Though a bit noisier, it is simple to use and one of the most compact models on the market. True, its canister must be frozen before each use — but given its modest price, you can hardly go wrong. $49.99.

Chef's Choice 838 Waffle Cone Express

This easy-to-use machine quickly makes perfect, evenly golden-brown waffle cones! A color-control knob lets you set your preferred browning level, nonstick plates release smoothly, and cleanup is simple, aided by an overflow channel that contains messes. It’s solidly built and gives the ice cream enthusiasts consistently good results. $49.99.

Maverick Cold-Chek Digital Refrigerator/Freezer Thermometer

Have you ever gone to the freezer and pulled out your favorite ice cream only to find it's either frozen too hard, or worse yet not enough? This product solves that problem for you! Its clear digital display and simultaneous freezer/refrigerator readings are worth the purchase. $19.99.

Zak! Designs Ice Cream Tubbie

The Ice Cream Tubbie neatly fits a 1-pint container of ice cream and keeps ice cream frozen for 90-plus minutes. Perfect for picnics or listening to summer concerts in the park. $9.99.

Rösle Ice Cream Scoop

This tool makes quick and easy work of scooping out ice cream. The thin edge makes for clean, round, perfect scoops of ice cream that look "camera-ready" — if you're into that kind of thing....... $19.99.

Retro Aluminum Ice Cream Bowls Set

These aluminum ice cream bowls are just plain cool. They’re admittedly retro, and remind me of something my grandmother used to have in her cupboard, along with the matching aluminum cups, of course. Fun and versatile, this set includes a rainbow of brightly colored footed bowls perfect for serving ice cream, sorbet and fruit. Made of sturdy, non-breakable anodized aluminum. $19.99.

Even though ice cream season never ends, make the most of what's left of summer and the Labor Day weekend. No matter how nostalgic and familiar ice cream can be in the summertime, there’s always a new way to make the old-time treat into a new sensation any time of year.

ice cream, purist, lover, bowls, spoons, scoops, makers, machines, waffle, cone,

Saturday, August 9

Walking In The Footsteps Of 'Midnight In Paris'

One night last Spring, before we visited Paris, I happened to stumble across Woody Allen's 'Midnight In Paris' on cable. Have you seen it? I love this movie! It's magical, peculiar, a bit funny and the dialogue is delightfully witty. I watched it twice and decided I wanted to visit a few of the locations where the film was shot. And we did. We spent an afternoon wandering the backstreets of the Latin and Saint Germain quarters of Paris. And you know what? It was just as magical as the movie itself. As the long shadows began to creep across the buildings on Rue Galande, I started to feel a little lost like Gil. It was wonderful! In case you haven't seen Midnight In Paris here's my brief summary of this quirky movie.

While on a trip to Paris with Inez, his fiancée, and her family, Gil, a nostalgic screenwriter, finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight. One evening, while on a solitary stroll, Gil becomes disoriented in the maze of streets in Paris’ Latin Quarter. He sits down on the steps of the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont to get his bearings. The clock strikes midnight, the magical hour. Soon a 1920’s Peugeot sedan pulls up and he is invited to join the occupants in their evening party crawl. In a twist, as Gil moves down from the steps of the church to accompany the group, he descends into a fantasy world, the Paris for which he has been searching. Along the way he meets his literary heroes: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein.

As Gil contemplates whether or not to move to Paris, and what to do with Inez, he lives in this daydream of sorts which actually helps him decide what he should do. Through a series of conversations about his novel, with his literary mentors, Gil comes to the happy conclusion to live life in the world that only exists in his imagination.

However after re-writing the first two chapters, Gil retrieves his novel from Stein. She praises his progress as a writer and tells him that Hemingway likes it as well. She questions why the main character has not realized that his fiancée is having an affair. Gil has a light bulb moment and returns to the present to confronts Inez. She admits to having been unfaithful, and Gil breaks up with her and decides to move to Paris.

Gil calmly leaves the hotel, and once again takes a walk. As he crosses the Seine at midnight, Gil meets a beautiful woman. As it starts to rain, he offers to walk her home and learns that she shares his love of a nostalgic Paris - in the rain. See, magical right? If you haven't seen 'Midnight In Paris' I encourage you to indulge and spend a raining afternoon watching!

Enjoy these photos of our wanderings. We started out on Quai de Bourbon, on the western tip of Ile St. Louis, where Gil parties in the 20s. After crossing the Seine we shopped the bookstalls lining the river, as well as Shakespeare & Company. We enjoyed strolling through the Latin Quarter before ending up at the Restaurant Cremerie-Polidor, where Hemingway and Hugo ate cheaply. The decor has not changed in over a hundred years. The boeuf bourguignon is out of this world and the perfect ending to our afternoon and evening 'Midnight In Paris' jaunt.

Our late night dinner was superb and now to the Metro for the short ride back to our hotel.

Paris, midnight, in, movie, Woody Allen, Owen Wilson, film locations, wanderings, dinner, rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, Church of St Etienne du Mont, Polidor,

Thursday, August 7

Fun & Easy DIY Lighting Solutions For Dorm Rooms

It's about that time. College students all over America are packing up and getting ready to return to school. Whether you are a first year student or a seasoned upperclassman, you have definite ideas on how you want your dorm room or apartment to look.

One of the biggest key elements in design of any kind is lighting. But I say more so for the college student. You will want your dorm room lighting to support not only your study tasks, but your casual entertaining hours as well. While bright directed light is best for studying, when you put the books away and invite friends over, you will want something softer and more ambient.

To add an alternative level of low lights, string up mini or Christmas lights around the upper corners of the room for instant ambiance. There are also rope lights that can be strung just about anywhere very easily. They just add that something special touch to your room. And I say, "Give a college student a string of Christmas lights and the possibilities are endless!" Below are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing, enjoy!

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This is what my college student came up with the other day. A box of Ping Pong balls, a string of Christmas lights, an x-acto knife, thirty minutes of her time and voila - she's got a quirky and fun string of lights ready to add to her dorm room decor. There is still time for you to make a bit of lighting as well. Try something that will showcase your personality. Who knows, it just might be the conversation starter needed to make new friends that are crafty as well! Good Luck to you all in the upcoming 2014-2015 school year, and remember STUDY ON!