Spirit of Summer

My favorite summer indulgence, by far, is the Sea Dog BluePaw wheat ale. Of the several blueberry/wheat beer concoctions I've tried, Sea Dog is the smoothest, with the most natural, satisfying blueberry taste. It's a strong, solid ale with just a hint of real Maine blueberries, and no fake aftertaste.

But the best part isn't just the beer: it's what comes in it when you order. In Boston, at least, it comes to you with a smattering of fresh blueberries floating on top. Each surrounded by teeny bubbles, as you sip, they slowly sink down to the bottom, resulting in quite a pleasing display of physics (trust me, the process becomes more entertaining with each glass).

My friend and I started calling it the "poor man's sangria." But you can also call it delicious.

After typing a post about a wasabi popsicle, I started to think about other spice and and ice combinations. Naturally, I thought of cardamom, one of my favorite spices. A friend of mine recently suggested that we make cardamom ice cream. Unlike wasabi, cardamom is widely used in both savory and sweet dishes, such as rice and pastries. Its deeply aromatic qualities have always attracted me. And now, I'm dying with curiosity to find out its potential with ice cream.

Below are a few recipes you can try at home:

• Pear and cardamom sorbet
• Rose-cardamom ice cream
• Cardamom ice cream
• Cardamom-pistachio ice cream
• Vanilla cardamom ice cream

If any of you have tried cardamom ice cream before, I'd love to find out what it tastes like. Please let me know!

Here is the recipe from Pairings Food & Wine Education Center, and Chef Robert Waldron, of Pairings Coconut Ice Cream with Warm Rum Glazed Pineapple, mentioned in Chapter Five of "Diary of a Distiller."

Coconut Ice Cream
Chef Robert M Waldron

Ingredients

1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 quart Half & Half
2 cans coconut cream
1/2 Tbs vanilla extract
1 (15 oz avg) bag coconut flakes, 3 oz. reserved for toasting.

tools
ice cream maker
measuring cups and spoons
plastic containers
large whisk or slotted spoon
cookie sheet
candy or instant read thermometer
parchment paper
lg sauce pot

In a heavy bottom sauce pan combine the cream, Half & Half, and canned coconut cream and heat to 170'F over med/ med-high heat. Stir more frequently as you approach the 170'f mark. Do not Boil
At 170'F you may see a bubble or two, remove from heat and add vanilla extract and 12 ozs. of the coconut flakes.
Let mixture cool enough to work with and transfer to a large plastic container and refrigerate overnight.
The next day the coconut flake will have risen to the top and be "locked" into the coconut fat, break the fat and flakes into large pieces and pulse in a food processor a few times, this will give a creamer texture. Depending on the size of your work bowl you may want to do this in 2 or 3 small batches. This can be messy so use a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl.
Combine the processed coconut cream and flake back into the rest of the chilled batter.
Follow the manufacturers instructions for your ice cream machine, making sure you don't overload it.Patience is key, will be rewarded. the ice cream should make a soft serve consistency initially, store in the freezer for a couple hours to firm up.

Pre-heat your oven to 350'F and place a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil down on a cookie sheet.
Spread the 3 ozs. of reserved coconut flakes over the foil, thinly.
Place in hot oven, watching carefully, and brown to a light gold, rotate pan once every 3-4 minutes. Do not over cook. It is better to pull it out a little early since it will continue to brown for a minute or two after being removed from the oven. Just keep an eye on it and you'll be rewarded with golden coconut flake to top your delicious ice cream.

The recipe for the Rum Glazed Pineapple is after the jump.

I was in NYC the past week to attend some food and cocktail events and to tape some spots about summer time cocktails and spirits for a radio show, during the first heat wave of the summer. For several days the temps were in the mid to high 90's and the whole city was in meltdown. Everyone walked around slightly spaced out and dragging their feet, myself included. For me the weather was a real killer because I live on the coast of Maine and the warmest it had been all year was a day or two in the low 70's, with it so chilly at night I still had the heat on every night since last September. The morning I left for NYC it was 42 degrees out and I started the drive with my heat on high in my car, by noon the AC was cranked instead.

As I walked out of the radio studio on my last day in town it was the hottest yet. 96 degrees in the shade and the humidity was so high that you felt like you could actually feel the water sitting lifelessly in the air. I broke into a full sweat before I had walked ten feet and I started to think about waving down a taxi. My original plans were to walk from the financial district, north up to Chinatown to get some eats and buy some lychee fruit, and then through Soho and into the East Village. Now it didn't seem like a very good idea at all.

For me, the beginning of every season conjures up images from my childhood. The changing of the seasons makes me sensitive to the passing of time. And so, while opening the freezer door on a recent particularly hot June evening, I remembered the orange popsicles I'd make during the summer. I romanticized those blisteringly hot summer days as a 7-year-old boy with both of my sisters sitting outside by our inflatable "kiddy" pool. At that moment, I felt compelled to make the same super sweet, mildly acidic, and juicy ice pops.

I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase the identical plastic popsicle molds I used as a child. On the side of the plastic mold is a straw so that you can drink the orange juice that melts to the bottom. For some reason, I remember that being the most enjoyable part of the treat. As a child, creating these orange juice popsicles –pouring orange juice in the molds and placing them in the freezer-seemed so thrilling.

I highly recommend these orange juice popsicles! They're a great way to keep children excited and hydrated during the sizzling summer days. Find out some wild and crazy ice pop ideas and check out the gallery of popsicles of different shapes and sizes.