Postcards from the Trail

I don't know how I did it. I survived Christmas without craving or eating chocolate. But I think the subtle chocolate messages being sent out for Valentine Day did it. I started craving chocolate ice cream two weeks ago. I made the lovely medium dark spicy chocolate from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream book. It includes a bit of cinnamon and cayenne pepper which makes it a lovely warm chocolate - perfect for mid-January. In her book it is called "Queen City Cayenne".

We polished off the first batch and I got a craving for hazelnuts with the chocolate. Two of my favorite gelatos are Gianduja and Baci. I love the Gianduja chocolate squares from Leonidas chocolates in Holland. Hmmm...

There wasn't a specific recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream in the book. I googled around and found several using Nutella but that wasn't the flavor I was looking for. Nutella is a little too sweet. I remembered an technique that was used in the book for making pistachio ice cream. She roasted the pistachios and then ground them in a food process until they formed a paste. Ding!

I decided to use the chocolate recipe minus the spices and add the hazelnut paste. I'd also add a tablespoon of Frangelico for flavoring. And to make it extra special, I'd also add melted dark chocolate at the end to make chocolate freckles/chips to give it that dark chocolate crunch similar to Baci.

Let's just say it was fabulous!

Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream
Based loosely on Queen City Cayenne from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream

1/2 cup shelled unsalted hazelnuts

Chocolate Paste
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Ice Cream Base
2 cups whole milk
1 Tbs + 1 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 oz (3 Tbs) cream cheese, softened
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbs light corn syrup
1 Tbs Frangelico

Freckles
2 oz bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread 1/2 cup hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in oven for 10-12 minute until just starting to brown. Remove, cool slightly and whirl in a food processor until the hazelnuts become a smooth paste.

Combine cocoa, sugar and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil stirring to dissolve sugar and boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate stirring until smooth. Set aside.

Mix about 2 TBS of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl.

Whisk together the cream cheese, hazelnut paste, salt and warm chocolate paste in a medium bowl until smooth.

Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar and corn syrup in saucepan, bringing to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.

Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium high heat and cook stirring until slightly thickened - about 1 minute.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Stir in Frangelico and chill until cold.

Pour in to frozen canister and start to spin to freeze the ice cream. While it is freezing, melt the bittersweet chocolate for the freckles and let cool until tepid but still fluid.

When the ice cream is thick and almost finished, drizzle the melted chocolate slowly through the opening in the top of the ice cream machine and allow it to solidify and break up in the ice cream for about 2 minutes.

Pack into storage container and seal. Freeze in freezer until firm - about 4 hours.

Hazelnuts after whirling in food processor to make a paste

Chocolate Hazelnut paste mixture - a little grainy but not bad

Final mixture chilling before the freeze

Okay... okay... I will take the blame. I should not have written about Spring in my previous post. Yes, I know... I was tempting the Fates and I jinked us. Snow arrived in the Puget Sound area on Saturday. The Arctic cold that had been shy and staying up in the Northern Territories and Alaska decided to spread out and finally swung down to the northern US.

It started on Saturday. We went out for our weekly errands and it started coming down fast and big flaked. Always a sign that it is not that cold. It was so funny at the store. It was suddenly empty - everyone was rushing to get checked out and home. The Civic was fine on the few hills home.

Sunday we had thought about going out to the movies and see "The Artist" but we decided to stay home and we were a couple of couch and internet potatoes. G watched the football games and later we watched the first episode of Downton Abbey. Dinner was a warming sweet potato enchilada casserole.

I have Monday off for Martin Luther King Day (gotta love union contracts). I decided to head out for a walk around the neighborhood. It was surprising quiet for a Monday. The temperature was just above freezing so the streets were slushy but still slick. I watched my balance. Not much going on a few snow ball fights and a couple of interesting snow people. The wind was slightly biting but refreshing.

Here are few pictures from my walk and a tune from Fleet Foxes which were perfect tune for a snowy walk.

Around the corner - other people were also out for a walk

A two headed snowman

I loved the humor in this snow woman

Chase Lake which is just behind our house

The lake is just barely hardening in a freeze and the ducks were walking on the frozen lake

Another view of Chase Lake

Here is one of my favorite tunes while out for a walk

This has been a very mild winter. Temperatures and rainfall have been average but we have not any major freezes and snow. Winter has really just gotten started but we usually have some significant freezes or long periods of cold but not so far this year.

We went for a walk this morning along the Edmonds waterfront and we were both surprised to see some signs of spring. Witch hazel and camellias were in bloom. I have been seeing camellias since Christmas. It is so different from last year and the witch hazel was not blooming until almost February. But looking back two years - we are right on schedule.

Let's hope it continues to be mild.

Witch Hazel

Camellia trained along the fence

Flag at half-mast in memory of the ranger who was killed at Mt. Rainier on New Years Day

USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier arriving in Puget Sound

Dock were the fire occured on Dec 30th

The winter can be tough here in the Puget Sound region. You learn to adapt to the gray but the short days of winter can really challenge a spirit. We try to get out and do short walks in the Seattle region during the winter to boost the spirit and get a bit of vitamin D. I thought I might highlight some of our favorite spots to walk starting with Discovery Park.

Discovery Park is the largest park in Seattle. It is located on the bluffs in west Magnolia over looking the Puget Sound. The terrain in the park is very diverse - from expansive views across the Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains, the gravely beach of West Point, the alder forests where the trail winds to the remnants of the the Army's Fort Lawton.

We visited recently on New Years Day and did the Loop Trail with a side trip out to South Beach and views of the lighthouse at West Point.

The day was very mild - in the upper 40's so it was not surprising to find the South parking lot full. But it was surprising to find the overflow lot barricaded and we ended up parking on the street. We decided to do a reverse loop. We usually walk first to the bluffs and the loop around back to parking lot but for a change we reversed the walk. Everything seemed so different so it was the perfect way to start the New Years. Come along with us on our walk through Discovery Park.

Trail through the maple leaves

Overlooking North Seattle and Cascades

Sun breaking out to shadow the photographer

Sunrays on the trail

Busy day at West Point

Kayakers with Mt Rainier in the distance across the sound

Climbing back up towards the bluff

Tree trunks in the winter sun

Across the bluff meadow

Homemade Tonic Water

I know... this would probably be more appropriate for summer but I recently made tonic water. I have been looking for something to drink during the day and I'm a big fan of soda. But I do not like HFCS. Many of the standard tonic waters like Schweppes and Canadian Dry contain corn syrup instead of cane sugar. You can buy some premium tonic waters but I need something I can drink regularly.

I've been intrigued with the idea of making my own soda. I'd love to have a Sodastream to make my own carbonated water but I hate buying something that I have to get refills.

I came across a recipe recently on Serious Eats. Most of the recipes use cinchonia bark and it turns out a good source of it is a local herbalist - Tenzing Momo.

We visited downtown Seattle this weekend and we made a trip to the Pike Place Market. I just had to get some bark and try it.

What fun! It is great. Just the right amount of bitter and good clean citrus flavors. So easy. I have a jar of it in the fridge that I add to Sparkling water or tap water. Give it a try. Disclaimer: Don't forget that cinchonia bark does contain quinine. See WebMD for potential side effects