red velvet beet cookie and cream cheese ice cream sandwiches

I don't really like beets all that much, which you may have picked up on, considering that every time my food co-op forces them upon me, I reluctantly come up with some sort of way to cook them for which I can muster only minimal enthusiasm. Yeah that's usually how it goes. Not a total clunker in the bunch, but nothing that made me jump up and say "YES! This is the beet I have been waiting for and now we are in LOVE," and I'm beginning to think it's just never gonna happen.




So basically, this is me giving up on making a "beet dish" that I would really enjoy and just hiding them in a big fat chocolatey cookie. Of course, you occasionally hear about people making "all natural" red velvet cake with beets instead of red food coloring (which is actually more traditional, believe it or not). I could have gone that route, with a delicious cream cheese frosting, but I really wanted to whip up David Lebowitz's cream cheese ice cream, which made me think of ice cream sandwiches, which led me to these red velvet beet cookies.

marathon brunch 2: butternut squash baked eggs/french toast with roasted banana ice cream and toasted pumpkin seeds/bagel and lox

If you've been reading along, you'll recall that least year, Laura and hosted a brunch to celebrate the New York City marathon, which conveniently passes right by our apartment. If you've never experienced the marathon, it is hard to imagine how much fun it is to stand out there on the street, cheering and high fiving the runners as they run a seemingly super-human distance. It is also particularly great to be able to pause and reflect on their amazing accomplishments by eating ridiculous amounts of french toast and eggs.

In other words, let me tell you what I made for our second annual marathon brunch.




That's boozy french toast (as discussed in my second blog post ever), with amaretto, eggs, milk (or cream? doesn't matter really), a little sugar and some cinnamon. I let it soak in the egg mixture and then baked it in the oven. I served it with fresh whipped cream, candied pumpkin seeds and roasted banana ice cream. Oh, and a little maple syrup. Just in case there wasn't enough deliciousness piled up on there. The roasted bananas get really lovely and caramelized, and because the fruit is so naturally sweet, you barely need to add any sugar. (My only thought is that this might be even better if there was an egg custard base, because it wasn't quite as creamy as it could have been. But I am afraid of egg custards because the only time I tried to make one it broke so I'll take a slightly crystallized ice cream over prolonged stove-top trauma.)

rosemary lemon garlic lamb chops grilled with tomatoes and onions/horseradish potato salad/grilled pineapple with vanilla ice cream

This past weekend Nathan's mom and stepmom came to New York to visit, and we spent Saturday battling the storm, only to eventually retreat back to Nathan's grandma's house to prepare an easy, rib sticking dinner to help us warm up from the sleet and snow.

This is not that meal. Instead, I am going to turn back the clock to the dinner that I prepared with Nathan's help the last time I saw Tenli and Marie, back in sunny California this summer. Just as I did when I stayed with Aunt Elise and Uncle Ed at their home, I wanted to prepare a nice meal as a thank you for their hospitality.

cheesecake ice cream

So pretty much all my ice cream recipes come David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, which I received pretty much exactly a year ago from Tenli and Marie. I can't believe that this time last year I was still days away from getting my jaw unwired after five weeks of total misery. Compared to that, this summer was an absolute dream. A brand new job, plenty of sailing, a two week vacation in California and general good times in the city. I feel very blessed.




I made this ice cream as a housewarming gift for Jess and Kristen, who I have basically known my whole life, and their new roommate Janet, who is totally fun and awesome. Sadly, Kristen just moved out this past weekend, but revisiting this ice cream brings back plenty of good memories. I wish I had taken photos of the spectacular pizzas that Kristen made us with all these fancy Italian ingredients that Janet brought back from her job at a food importing company. A thing of beauty, and so delicious.

This ice cream wasn't QUITE as successful, but through no fault of the recipe. My container of kosher salt is mostly empty at this point, so I have to tip it pretty far over to get any out. Unfortunately, I tipped it a little too far and a little too fast, and wound up with MORE than a little too much salt. Whoops. I added some extra sugar to compensate, but it didn't really do the trick. I made Janet toss in some fresh cut strawberries to try and disguise the saltiness, and that actually helped a lot.

All the same, I'm going to have to have a do-over on this one. This ice cream is cinch to make, and it tastes incredibly rich and creamy, just like cheesecake. It deserves better than a salty slip of the hand.

Cheesecake Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style
(from David Lebovitz's One Perfect Scoop, published 2007)

8 ounces cream cheese
1 lemon
1 cup sour cream
½ cup half-and-half*
⅔ cup suar
pinch of salt

Cut the cream cheese into small pieces. Zest the lemon directly into a blender or food processor, then add the cream cheese, sour cream, half-and-half, sugar and salt, and purée until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator according to the manufacturer's instructions.

* I actually had some almond milk on hand, and that worked as a perfectly serviceable substitute. Of course, using a dairy free milk is almost laughable when the other primary ingredients in the dish are sour cream and cream cheese, but I suppose it would work in other ice cream recipes if you wanted to make them vegan.

brunch for the girls

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this, one of my finest culinary moments of the year to date. Of course, I can hardly claim all the credit, as this was totally a joint effort. Back around Valentine's Day, Laura and hosted a brunch for a bunch of our girlfriends with a bunch of pink, sweet, girly food. In honor of Ms Leslie Knope, who provided the inspiration, I called it Galentine's Day. Don't you just love a cheesy portmanteau?



Now isn't that a picture perfect table? Do you like how I stuffed vases with tissue paper that I've saved rather than buying myself roses? You do? Yeah I thought it was pretty clever too.

And what do you see on that festive little table? A plethora of delicious treats! You can see that I made some chocolate covered strawberries, the Glazer girls brought those festively attired ginger muffins with the heart toothpicks, and Hannah brought a crazy good pound cake seen on the left. I think it had honey in it. The plate in the back is of cookies that DiDomenico brought, and the little green and white bag was full of coconut macaroons from Effie. Laura and I always have such generous guests.



This dish was our main course, a hearty savory breakfast dish to balance out all the sugar and sweetness to come. Eggs baked with onions, bacon, eggs, goat cheese and shredded beets, this was intentionally similar to the baked egg casserole I made for our marathon brunch. I made it with beets instead of squash partially because we always get beets from the food co-op, and they are always the last thing that we end up cooking, but also partially because I thought the pink beets would be appropriately festive.



Aside from the eggs, Laura came up with and prepared most of our menu when she found a great article about hosting a tea in the New York Times. The author's suggestion was to have a nice refined tea party in lieu of partaking in the Super Bowl festivities. Now, I'm all for tea parties and girly things, (although I actually quite dislike tea, the accoutrements are great), but I love me some organized sports as well, so we watched the game and hosted brunch/tea the next weekend.



Laura made these delightful tea sandwiches with an herb caper lemon butter, cucumber and radishes. So elegant.



We teamed up to make whole wheat crumpets with blood orange and meyer lemon marmalade and clotted cream. I bough special heart shaped cookie cutters because I am super adorable.



The "clotted cream" was a delicious and super easy mix of mascarpone and heavy cream, whipped together. Very rich, and very tasty, as were the crumpets, but the sweet and tangy marmalade was easily the best part, in large part because it's one of those things where you're just like "Wow, I can make that myself?!"



Finishing out the meal were these champagne floats with homemade strawberry ice cream. And then we watched Sleepless in Seattle. Does it get any more delightfully girly than that?

cranberry ice cream (with wine poached pears)

OK, so I know that this photo really highlights those beautiful pears, blood red after being poached in red wine, but I have to admit, I didn't make them. My friend Marc did, and yes, they were delicious. But I brought some cranberry ice cream to go along with them, and if you take a look you can see a little scoop of that too, and that's what I want to talk about.

I actually had a fairly difficult time getting a recipe for cranberry ice cream that looked good. I wanted to use fresh cranberries, I wanted to leave out the eggs (I just can't get up the courage to try a custard-based ice cream again, and I also don't like that it wastes so many egg whites, although I guess I could just bake pavlovas or something), and I wanted to add some orange zest.

I did not find a single recipe that met those requirements, but I've discovered that it's pretty easy to bluff an ice cream recipe. If you've got some milk, cream, sugar and flavorings, you can probably just throw all of it in the ice cream maker and it'll do its thing.



In this instance, I cooked a bag of cranberries with a half a cup of sugar, some water and the zest of a small orange until the berries started to break down. After about ten minutes of cooking on medium high heat, I strained the berries out. I chilled the remaining liquid and mixed it with half a cup of orange juice, two cups of milk and a cup of cream. This went into the ice cream maker to churn for the standard half hour. Right at the end I mixed in the reserved cranberries, which added an extra shot of tart berry flavor, their bright red color studding the pale pink ice cream.

This was not a very sweet ice cream, but I really wanted to highlight the cranberry's natural tartness. I know that this isn't a real recipe, but if you want to keep things sweet I'd suggest adding a more substantial amount of sugar. Otherwise, you'll get a very refreshing ice cream with a nice citrus-y kick. This was definitely a very nice way to use cranberries, so keep it in mind next time they are back in stores.

plum compote with vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream

plum compote

I don't know about you, but one of the things I miss most about summer is stone fruit. There's nothing better than sinking your teeth into a ripe, juicy peach, plum or nectarine. Of course, that makes a mushy or flavorless specimen all the more disappointing. I love a good plum, but since they are often fairly tart, it's harder to find a really delicious one.

Back in September, we got a bunch of slightly tart but nice little plums. They weren't quite sweet enough on their own for my taste, so I baked some of them into a cake. After a couple of days, the remaining plums started to get a little overripe an squishy. I couldn't let them go to the waste so this is what I came up with: a compote.


boozy plum compote with fresh whipped cream over vanilla ice cream

I think this is a compote, anyway. Basically, I just chopped up the plums and added a little sugar, a dash of cinnamon and a glug of my vanilla bean rum. Then I let it bubble away for 15 or so minutes until it got all stewed and syrupy delicious.

I may have made it a tad too sweet, but it was still incredibly delicious hot from the pot, served over vanilla ice cream with fresh whipped cream. I have to admit I ate this compote all by myself, but I bet it would make a pretty impressive and totally easy dessert for company. I know it'll be a while before plums are in season again, so maybe that's not the most helpful suggestion. Perhaps you could try apples? Maybe I'll test it out. Based on my track record you should expect a blog post in about two months.

pumpkin ice cream

creamy, boozy, pumpkin ice cream

I would like to start by apologizing for this utterly unappetizing photo. There is, however, a story behind it.

When I invited Hannah and Lauren over for dinner, the plan was to end our evening with some freshly churned pumpkin ice cream. Hannah had been diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in August, and after a month of heavy treatment she was feeling well enough to make it into the city for the weekend. I'd told her about my shiny new ice cream machine and promised to make her whatever flavor she wanted. I was excited when she chose pumpkin. Of course, that meant I had to buy canned pumpkin, which, believe it or not, was simply no where to be found in my two neighborhood grocery stores!

Therefore, our dinner went on as scheduled, but we sadly postponed pumpkin ice cream. Luckily, Hannah didn't have to wait too long– it debuted to great acclaim the following evening, when Grace threw a small party in Hannah's honor. Ms Spangler set out a big taco bar with all the fixins and your choice of chicken, pork carnitas and ground beef. She made all that from scratch plus Mexican corn with lime, mayo, cheese and chili powder. I wish I had taken pictures because it was such a sight to see. It was quite a feast, and I only wish my jaw had been in better working order at the time so as to more fully enjoy everything.

When looking for a pumpkin ice cream recipe, I turned first to The Perfect Scoop, aka the ice cream bible. Disappointingly, I came up empty-handed. One "pumpkin ice cream," google search later and it quickly became apparent that I was not the only one mourning its exclusion. The very first hit was from the author David Lebovitz's blog, where he thoughtfully provided this recipe.

Once I procured the necessary pumpkin, I proceeded to follow the recipe almost exactly as written. Unlike Rick Bayless's corn ice cream, which used a double boiler to make the custard, Lebovitz's instructions call for whisking the eggs in a bowl and then slowly adding the heated milk/cream/sugar/spice mixture to it. Then you pour all of that back into the pot and stir over a low flame until the custard thickens.

I don't know if maybe I just don't really understand what a thickened egg custard should look like or what, but just as I did with the corn ice cream, I had problems. This time, not only was it not thickening, but it actually kept curdling, the egg separating from the cream and turning all grainy and gross. However, I took a tip from my friend Megan, and popped in my immersion blender whenever that happened. This brought everything back together just fine, but after the third cycle of abortive thickening, accidentally curdling and scrambling to blend it back together, I gave up and moved on.

I added brown sugar and transferred the custard to an ice bath, adding the pumpkin puree. At the point the recipe called for a half teaspoon of vanilla extract and two teaspoons of rum or brandy. Instead, I used my vanilla bean infused rum, adding quite a bit more than the recipe called for. I figured it would make it extra creamy and delicious, since it would keep the ice cream from freezing as hard. I was right, but in this particular case this did cause some issues.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, I pulled out my carefully transported pumpkin ice cream from the freezer for dessert. It was lucky that this event took place on September 11th, rather than August 11th. As you can see, it got kind of soft and melty, on its trip downtown. It probably never froze all the way to begin with, and having it out on the train didn't help matters at all. Even an hour or so to recover in Grace's freezer made no noticeable difference. I can only imagine how soupy it would have been if I had attempted to travel with it in the middle of New York's oppressively hot summer of 2010.

Of course, even slightly melted ice cream can be delicious, and this one was no exception. I was shocked I had made something so rich, creamy and wonderful! This was a very, very good batch of ice cream. It wasn't too aggressively pumpkiny, but it was smooth and decadently delicious with a hint of fall spices. Hannah, you picked a winner!

I haven't broken out the ice cream maker since, and this will certainly be a tough act to follow. Hopefully, next time around I can conquer the custard!

corn ice cream with sugared strawberries and balsamic vinegar

long over due corn ice cream

Oh man. I probably killed whatever minuscule readership I had by taking a little hiatus there. Whoops. Anyway, I am back. With more ice cream!

Back during the summer Laura and I were getting 6 ears of beautiful fresh summer corn a week. It was always incredibly delicious, but it was also a lot for two girls to handle. We made soups and salad, and ate it off the cob when my face wasn't sealed shut. These were definitely good, but it was all pretty standard savory fare and I wanted to try my hand at a corn dessert that would take let the corn's natural sweetness take center stage. I thought about making a corn budino pudding, but I didn't really know how to go about it. Then I remembered the corn custard they served last summer at the Shake Shack, which, despite my initial skepticism, I thought was pretty awesome. As you can probably imagine, I quickly decided it was time for my second batch of homemade ice cream!

Some quick googling for corn ice cream turned up a Rick Bayless recipe. Based on his Top Chef appearances, I think Rick is incredibly awesome, and while I haven't had the opportunity to eat at either of his restaurants, his picadillo recipe yields a rich melting pot of sweet and savory flavors that I could eat any night of the week. So, I was excited to try my hand at another one of his dishes.


corn ice cream over zesty strawberries with aged balsamic

I followed the recipe as written, save for swapping out the orange liqueur with some dark rum. It seemed like it would be fairly easy, for the most part. Of course, I anticipated difficulty with cooking the egg custard, and it did not disappoint. I stirred the egg, cream and corn mixture over a double boiler for like, fifty minutes and it never thickened! This was during the summer, so it was oppressively hot and even more so over the stove. Eventually I just gave up. I think my ice cream was thinner and less creamy as a result, but then again my vanilla ice cream was plenty creamy, and it wasn't thickened with a custard base. Perhaps I just need to get more comfortable in general with the ice cream making process.

Other than getting my custard to thicken, there's not much I would do differently. Of course, I made this just a week or so after I had my wires opened, so I was sick of straining all the little pieces out of my food. I knew I should, but I couldn't bare the thought of anymore of that time consuming nonsense, so I left in the smashed corn kernels. It tasted ok, but didn't do much for the ice cream's texture. If I made this again, I'd definitely go through the trouble of straining it all.


strawberries and ice cream in a fancy presentation by my standards

So I was pretty certain that the corn ice cream would be delicious by itself, but I was making a big vegetarian dinner for my boy, and I wanted a slightly more impressive presentation. Laura had bought a big carton of strawberries in China Town, and Nathan had brought back a tiny bottle of aged balsamic vinegar from Florence. I found a nice recipe for strawberries in a zesty balsamic syrup, so I decided that I would serve my ice cream atop that.

I quickly boiled sugar, water and lemon peel, and then let that sit in the fridge while Nathan and I ate dinner. To serve, I filled a ramekin with strawberries, added a scoop of the corn ice cream, and then drizzled on a few drops of the expensive balsamic. Even Nathan was impressed with how elegant and delicious it was! The corn ice cream was sweet and custardy, with a subtle corn flavor, and the strawberries were bright and delicious with a hint of citrus. I liked the what I could taste of the balsamic, but wish I had added it with a more generous hand. I think I was just afraid of wasting such an expensive ingredient, but using a little more really would have made the strawberries sing.

It was a great dessert to end a great meal. Man, I definitely need to get that ice cream machine churning again!

ice cream!

So I got the most awesome get well soon present after I broke my jaw. It was an ice cream machine, thoughtfully sent to me by Nathan's family. They knew that I was incredibly impressed by Tenli's homemade blackberry swirl ice cream, and they knew my post injury diet consisted of almost entirely milk shakes. Basically, this gift was the perfect fit— a big thank you to Tenli, Marie, Raisa and Weston!


my ice cream maker churning away on its first batch

They also thoughtfully included a copy of David Lebovitz's exhaustive ice cream cookbook, One Perfect Scoop. It has tons of amazing recipes for ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, sorbets and granitas, as well as delightful things to mix in or sprinkle on top of your cold confections. I of course read the whole book cover to cover and was able to learn quite a bit about frozen, churned desserts.

One thing that you may not already know is that many types of ice cream are made from a custard base. This is generally made by carefully cooking egg yolks with cream and sugar until the mixture thickens. I say carefully because egg yolks cooked over direct heat have a very strong tendency to scramble and harden, which doesn't make a very good ice cream base at all. If this sounds intimidating, you are not alone, which is why I chose an ice cream that did NOT have a custard base for my very first batch.


easy ice cream

To be specific, I made a Philadelphia style vanilla, and to be fair, I have always preferred that to French vanilla ice cream. Some thing about the crisp visual contrast between the white ice cream and the dark speckles of vanilla bean is way more appealing to me than the rich, eggy yellowness of French vanilla. I like both, but Philadelphia vanilla has long been my favorite of all ice cream flavors. It certainly didn't hurt that it was the easiest of all David's recipes, but there's a good chance that I would have gone with a classic vanilla as my first flavor regardless. I love it that much.

How easy is the recipe? Here, I'll give it to you.

Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style
(from David Lebovitz's One Perfect Scoop, published 2007)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
¾ tsp vanilla extract

Pour one cup of the cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar and salt. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining cup of cream, the cup of milk and the vanilla extract.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving it for another use, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.


Philly vanilla with fresh whipped cream

Beautiful, easy and delicious. Wow. Tasted exactly like every other Philadelphia style vanilla I've ever had, which is to say AWESOME. I had some extra heavy cream, so I quickly made some whipped cream with my electric mixer. A classy, classic, all white combo.

This was actually the second thing I was able to eat after my wires were snipped and I went on the soft food diet. (Nathan made me some Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs for lunch, but then I went home and made this.) Let me tell you, it quite hit the spot.

I know that an ice cream machine is a bit of an investment, both monetarily, and in terms of much coveted kitchen space, but I'm really enjoying mine. Being able to churn my own ice cream has opened a whole new world of culinary possibilities, I'd encourage you to get one yourself if this is something you'd like to do at home. Big thanks again to Tenli and Marie for the super amazing gift!

I scream, you scream, from California to the New York Islands

Note from Sarah: Today's entry is a guest blog by Nathan's mom, Tenli. She posted some absolutely mouthwatering photos of homemade ice cream on facebook earlier, and I was so impressed. Even though lots of food blogs frequently feature ice cream making, it still seems like an impossibly daunting proposition to me. I was so impressed with her blackberry ice cream that I insisted Tenli post a guest blog entry explaining the process. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!


Nathan's brother Weston, age 15, is an avid and creative cook, particularly skilled in the dessert area. He and I had been searching for a cooking class to take together since his birthday in October. Last weekend, we finally had our chance: Ice Cream 101 at Sur La Table in San Francisco. In the hands on class, we were introduced to the concept of "French style" ice creams, which are custard based. Weston and I participated enthusiastically in class, making four different kinds of ice cream, as well as chocolate and strawberry sauces, and of course eating them all. We came home to Oakland with the recipes from our class, a gorgeous red Cuisinart ice cream machine, and "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz. The next morning, as I stumbled around the house still logey from my ice cream hangover, it came to me: "Hair of the dog!" Off I went to get the ingredients for my first solo batch of Lemon Curd - Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream with Blackberry Sauce.

Our teacher, Sara Lodick, reminded us at the start that the best ice cream is made from the best and freshest ingredients, and, with that in mind, I splurged on Strauss Family Creamery organic dairy products from Marshall, California. The lemons and blackberries came from the local Sunday farmer's market. Pretty much everything else was already in my pantry, and I was good to go.


For the blackberry swirl part of the ice cream, I began by boiling the berries, sugar, lemon juice, and a small amount of light corn syrup in a small saucepan until they generated a fairly thick, deep purple sauce. I strained the liquid and set it to chill while I prepared the lemon ice cream. In a larger saucepan, I combined cream, milk, and sugar with some extra special vanilla extract from Mexico, and just barely scalded the mixture, turning off the heat when the merest hint of a skin formed on the surface of the liquid. In a metal bowl, I whisked together eight egg yolks with 3/4 cup of sugar, then added lemon juice and grated lemon peel. Finally, I combined the two mixtures together, slowly adding the liquid to the egg mixture with a ladle so as not to curdle the ggs. (I really missed Weston at this point -- ideally, this would be a two person operation.) Next, I put the metal bowl over a double boiler and stirred it over boiling water until it began to thicken. I fed the custard base through a strainer, and put the strained custard over a bowl of ice to chill quickly, then put it in the fridge to cool down further. The recipe said to cover and refrigerate overnight -- but in class, we did it in a couple of hours, so I knew it would be fine if I rushed things a bit!

While the custard was cooling its heels, I combined blackberries, more sugar, and more lemon juice in a bowl and let them stand for an hour or two, stirring every now and then. Over time, the lemon juice and sugar broke down the berries into a distillation of pure blackberry sweetness that would later be the sauce for our dessert.

Later that day, while eating a delicious grilled dinner out in the garden, the ice cream maker did all the work of turning my custard into fabulous lemony ice cream, which I then layered in a loaf pan with the blackberry swirl mixture, and returned to the freezer for another hour or so. Scooping into the layers produced a mouthwatering swirl of pale lemon and purple blackberry which was then drizzled with indigo sauce and a couple of ultra sweet blackberries. When we finally got to eat dessert, there were moans of pleasure all around.

- Guest entry by Tenli, Nathan's Mom. Thanks to Sarah for inviting me to share this experience.

my sweet tooth wins this round

I ran into a college acquaintance while walking along the parade route yesterday. We both still live near Fordham's Rose Hill campus in our post-undergrad lives. He claims it helps him to save on rent so he can splurge on food, drink and wardrobe. Unfortunately, I too save on rent, but that doesn't mean I have dough left over for anything too indulgent. That's why it's a problem when I learn about $9 slices of almond cake with walnuts and heavenly looking frosting. One day, I will try it, and I bet it will be worth it--unlike the Haagen-Daz Bailey's Irish Cream Milkshake I spent $6.45 on last night while waiting for the LIRR in the bowels of Penn Station. Epic disappointment. Bailey's has a nice flavor when you are sipping an alcoholic beverage, but quickly becomes cloying and overwhelming when served as a 1500 calorie shake. You don't get drunk, just full. It was purchased in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, but I should have gone with my old standby, the Mint Chip Dazzler. I will never abandon you again, Dazzler. I know now that nothing could be better that your layered depths of mint chocolate chip ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, Oreo cookie crumbs and chocolate sprinkles. Give me that coronary in a cone!