use real butter

Recipe: coffee ice cream

It was summer’s last hurrah today. We went for a local hike to assess fall colors. It was warm – too warm for our tastes. When we got home, I poured the coffee custard into the ice cream machine and watched as it became the creamiest and dreamiest ice cream I’ve ever made. I have to avoid caffeine in general because it gets me pretty hopped up and I’m hoppy enough to begin with. Jeremy can drink two pots of strong coffee and still appear to be on the verge of nodding off. We are opposites, but it makes life exciting.

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This morning we left for Victoria at 5:45 am. The weather forecast was for scattered showers, so the overcast skies were not a surprise. However, the cloud deck was higher and we only encountered a few sprinkles on the drive down. The ferry was cool, as in, HUGE. I’ve never been on a ferry so big before! As we neared the other side, I went outside to find Jeremy on the deck and we watched as the islands drew closer, draped in clouds. Ahead of the ferry, we saw a few seals surface and dive back underwater – so cute!

Once off the ferry, we made our way to Butchart Gardens. Jeremy and I are both suckers for botanical gardens, as is my mom. My dad goes along for the ride and I didn’t know if he agreed to go because he wanted to make me happy or because he was interested to see the grounds. Mom and Dad had been there before 10 years ago. Turns out every comment my dad made regarding the flowering plants he saw had to do with whether or not he could plant those in his yard. But for us, it was quite a treat. Butchart has manicured grounds and strict walking paths in contrast to the more free form Huntington, but the wet and lush environment makes for a most spectacular display of flowering plants.

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I’ve had matcha on my mind lately. You just can’t make real green tea any pastry without matcha, the finely ground green tea. I even dreamt about what I was going to make, but this morning I changed my mind and opted for an opera-like cake. I could use up my earl grey infused ganache and turn some other chocolate ganache into glaze. All I needed to make was the matcha spongecake and the buttercream.