A very coffee couple days

Vietnamese coffee almond fudge ice cream
Originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! This one started because I was talking with Melody, our wonderful nanny, while Davey was napping the other day. We were looking through The Perfect Scoop together and we both saw the recipe for Vietnamese coffee ice cream and both thought it'd taste great. Then I realized I had all the ingredients in the house. So... here we go! I made up the mixture in the late afternoon yesterday and put it in the fridge to chill, planning to churn it later in the evening.

Well, the churning didn't happen yesterday. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you!

Yesterday morning Mark had his laptop on the coffee table while Davey was crawling around and otherwise playing in the living room. Then Mark put his coffee cup on the table, next to his computer and left the room. Well, Davey being Davey and curious to touch whatever he can... well... of course he climbed up to the coffee table and turned over the coffee cup. On to the iBook. Um. Oops.

Mark cleaned up quickly, turned off the iBook and turned it upside down. Coffee dripping out of it. He left it all day to dry out.

Well... while I was making the coffee ice cream mixture we figured his computer had dried out so he turned it on. It worked for a couple minutes and then started freaking out. Non-stop Zzzzzzzzz appearing on the screen. Hippity-hoppity cursor. Eventually a series of 3 long beeps when trying to start it up. CRUD.

So off to the Apple store we went. Hippity hop, hippity hop. We got there, and boy are those stores bustling! Unfortunately, Mark hadn't made an appointment at the genius bar, so he had to be on "stand by." Three hours we were there. Thankfully I'd fed Davey dinner beforehand and dressed him in his jammies. We walked around the mall while Mark waited. We played in the playground (Davey really enjoyed that). I got a decaff coffee from Starbucks at some point. Eventually Mark got his turn at the Genius bar. "Oh, liquid damage? I'm sorry, but that's automatically a 'Tier 4' issue. That means it's going to cost you a minimum of $750." OUCH. Can we get a cup of coffee with that?

Mark and I discussed it and honestly, his iBook was 3 years old and just not worth investing a minimum of $750. SO... guess who bought a new computer? Well he didn't buy it last night because they didn't have the one he wanted in stock. But we found what he wanted at the Apple store in Emeryville, which he bought this afternoon. Which he then immediately took to the Apple store in Corte Madera so that the genius who'd worked with him last night could do a data transfer from the dead computer to the new computer. She felt bad for Mark, so she didn't charge him for that service.

By Sunday Mark should have his shiny, new 2.2GHz, 1GB RAM, 120GB Hard Drive, Dual Layer Super Drive, 15.4" matte screen MacBook Pro. Yay!

And maybe a cup of coffee?

MEANWHILE... Davey slept terribly last night, waking up at 3:30am and refusing to go back to sleep. From 3:30 to 5 I was nursing, cradling, rocking and stroking his back to no avail. Whilst doing this I started thinking about the ice cream I had planned on churning that evening and thought up what I thought would be brilliant additions: Toasted almonds and fudge ripple sauce. I had almonds on hand and I also had left over fudge ripple sauce from making the tin roof sundae ice cream for Mark earlier in the week.

So this evening I churned up the coffee ice cream, tossed in some toasted almonds in the last moments of churning and then layered in the fudge ripple sauce while putting the ice cream in the container.

You know how it tasted? Mmm. Coffee-licious. Jamoca Almond Fudge has nothing on this.

Who wants some?

Vietnamese Coffee Almond Fudge Ice Cream
Based on The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
1-1/2c sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2c fresh espresso
1/2c half and half
Big pinch of very finely ground coffee beans

Whisk together the ingredients until well incorporated. Chill for at least an hour. Churn in your ice cream maker according to its instructions.

At the last possible minute, add 1/2c toasted slivered or coarsely chopped almonds to the ice cream maker so that they get incorporated.

When putting the ice cream in its freezer container, layer it with fudge ripple sauce. If you ask nicely, I'll give you the recipe for that at a later date (when I don't mind finding the cook book and transcribing the recipe).

The coffee has worn off now and it's time to get some sleep. G'nite!