Ice cream

Mmm. Homemade ice cream.

I bought an ice cream machine years ago, a Philips HR2304, but that was way too cumbersome to use: it had a frozen element which you took out of the freezer, put underneath your ice cream mess, and had to lever out of there somehow once your treat was done (it's frozen to the bottom of this bloody machine, with frozen ice cream in all the cracks, what now? - far too difficult, and cold, too), wash (argh, water freezes onto the surfaces of this annoying thing!), dry it (argh, there's water frozen to this annoying thing!), and put back into the freezer (whew... oh hell, now look, my ice cream isn't ice cream anymore.).

I gave it to my sis, cos really, who could be bothered to do all of that, just for a pound or so of ice cream? I know I couldn't ...
... but a month or two ago, the machine of friends with less than optimal Finnish language skills broke down, and they asked, could I possibly find one for them, in Finland, on the great intarweb?

A Gaggia Gelatiera? The ice cream maker to get, if you were to get one, with no annoying thingies to put into the freezer? Sure I could. And I bought one for myself as well, nevermind that it was rather expensive.

So now we make ice cream every so often. I've loads of frozen berries in the freezer, and a few homemade jams and jellies in the fridge. Three eggs, 2-3 dl of formerly frozen berries, a tablespoon or two of a suitable jam, possibly 1 dl of cream, and let that machine whizz away for half an hour.

Cleanup is as easy as a very easy thing: just put the bowl'n'things into warm soapy water and give them a twirl with your dishwashing brush once you have a minute or so.

Bliss.

Favorite recipes:
Half cranberries (our local ones), half gooseberries. Yum!
Half lingonberries, half black currants. Mmmm.
Half rowanberries, half apple, with a dash of either lingonberries or black currants. Delish.
Just bog bilberries ... absolutely fabulous.
And the old-fashioned mix: bilberries and raspberries. Y-u-m.