Tuesday, November 16, 2010

365 Days, Day 162


Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind

Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves

The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach

Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free

Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands

With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves

Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

(Bob Dylan, from Mr Tambourine Man)

I went out early with Lily for her morning ablutions. She was slightly taken aback by the crispy white grass. I had to pick her up and carry her onto it. The frost was delightfully crunchy underfoot and was Lily’s new favourite experience. We discovered that the bird bath water had frozen over. Lily was delighted by this and munched happily on frozen water and leaves.

The leaves trapped in the ice reminded me of the ice bowls (with rose petals inside) I have made in the past for dinner parties. You can serve ice cream or sorbet (champagne sorbet is particularly delicious) from it. You do have to stand it on a plate as the ice melts quite quickly once removed from the deep freeze. It makes rather a striking serving bowl and conversation piece.

Below is a recipe for champagne sorbet – it is not one I have tried before – my recipe books are still in storage!

Champagne Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups sparkling wine or champagne

* 1 cup white granulated sugar

* 1 Tbsp honey

* 1 teaspoon of lemon and or grapefruit zest

* 1 1/2 cups fresh grapefruit juice

* 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (Meyer if you have access to them)

Method

1 Put champagne, sugar, corn syrup, and zest into a saucepan. Bring to a vigorous boil so that the sugar completely dissolves, remove from heat.

2 Strain into a stainless steel bowl (will help cool down faster), add the grapefruit juice and lemon juice. Chill completely. To do this, either place bowl in a larger bowl half-filled with ice water, and stir until champagne solution is completely cold, refreshing the ice in the outer bowl if necessary. Or you can cover with plastic wrap and chill in your refrigerator over night.

3 Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a storage container and freezer in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

Lily tired of her new icy experience once her feet got too cold. I am wondering if you can get little snow boots for puppies for winter! Speaking of which – she needs to get a jumper or jacket for her Walkies. Yesterday, the golf course and forest were very wet, the water was splashing up to Lily’s under-carriage as she trotted along. She chased after the crows which lead her on a big circular route (unafraid of her it seems) by flying low, not far above her head, until they tired of the little sausage-noir pursuing them, and would fly off into the woods. Her undercarriage, legs and feet were sopping wet by the end of the walk, and little sausage-noir was shivering. So we think we she needs a woolly jumper.

The frozen leaves were released as the sun melted their icy casing; they lay limp, basking in the wan warmth…

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