Earlier this year, representatives from the Philadelphia KiXX professional soccer team (of which Turkey Hill Dairy is a sponsor) visited Africa. As you may know, soccer is a very popular sport among African youth. The photo below shows a very happy boy holding a brand new soccer ball in one hand and a bundle of cloth they’d been using as a soccer ball in the other hand.
Whew! The holidays and our 12 Days of Ice Cream celebration are over and we hope everyone had a great Christmas and got everything they wished for (even if it was just spending quality time with friends and family). We’ve already reached out to our 12 Days of Ice Cream prize winners and we’ll announce the winners as soon as we can. In the meantime, thank you to everyone for making this year’s holiday blog celebration the BEST EVER!
Speaking of getting everything you wished for this Christmas, we’d like to know what your best gift was this year. Share your joy with the group by leaving a comment. You can also let us know what your worst gift of all time is, if you don’t mind sharing that sort of information. It’s okay to vent about it here on the Ice Cream Journal… the person who gave you that gift probably isn’t reading!
As we conclude our 12 Days of Ice Cream celebration here on the Ice Cream Journal, we just wanted to take some time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from all of us here at Turkey Hill Dairy. Whether you’re in Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico or Peru, we hope you find some time to celebrate with friends, family and loved ones on this special day!
TODAY’S PRIZE: Our final prize in our 12 Days of Ice Cream celebration are the ice cream notecards below created by Carrie’s Crafty on Etsy. They’re ideal for writing thank you notes to friends and family or just for writing a letter to someone. In the age of e-mail, the joy of receiving a letter in the mail is foreign to most people, but we can bring that feeling back by writing more letters! One comment chosen at random from all the comments left on this entry will receive this prize.
WARNING: The following image may cause uncontrollable drooling and extreme hunger. Please view only if freezer is well stocked with ice cream.
We warned you! Now you have to deal with the consequences of viewing such a delicious photo of chocolaty goodness. Okay, now here’s the bad news: The ice cream in this photo is fake. That’s right, fake. Turns out, “ice cream” used for photo shoots is often not really ice cream, but a concoction made to look like the real thing so it doesn’t melt under the hot lights of the studio.
We talked about it before on the Ice Cream Journal (here). Hopefully you have some real ice cream in the freezer though. And if you don’t, go get some to enjoy with family on this Christmas Eve!
TODAY’S PRIZE: On the 11th day of ice cream, my true love gave to me…a cute little monkey ornament made by emgrace on Etsy! Mr. Monkey looks like he can’t wait to dig into that ice cream cone — or share it with a friend. One comment chosen at random from all the comments left on this entry will get to monkey around with this guy.
After an ice cream shop owner (right) in Kent, England learned that what kids dislike most about Christmas is brussel sprouts, he set out to change their minds about the leafy veggie by creating a brussel sprout flavored ice cream. It should be noted that the concoction also includes chestnuts and cranberries. It sounds like a good way to get your daily serving of fruits and vegetables, but the question reamains: Would you try it?
TODAY’S PRIZE: No, it’s not brussel sprout ice cream, but you could probably put brussel sprout ice cream in it. It’s an ice cream tote bag, and it’s made by Katie Gariepy on Etsy. One comment chosen at random from those left on this post will take home this prize.
Ernie offered his two cents the other day about whether or not you can eat ice cream (short answer: yes, in moderation), but the video above takes it one step further with a simple demonstration on how to make snow ice cream. We’ve never tried this, but if anyone has, leave a comment and let everyone know how it is!
TODAY’S PRIZE: Everyone has trinkets, doo dads, and odd-and-ends. Whatever you call them, you need a place to put them, and today’s prize is perfect for that job. It’s an ice cream cone trinket box. The box, which isn’t really a “box” in the traditional sense as you can see from the photo above, stands just over six inches tall and is made from ceramic by Fruit Fly Pie on Etsy. One comment at random from all the comments left on this entry will receive this prize.
All this snow over the weekend reminded us of the picture above, which was taken last winter here at the Dairy. Unfortunately, our Giant Cows don’t fit in the barn, so they have to brave the elements. But don’t worry about them, they’re a tough duo!
TODAY’S PRIZE: If all the guys out there didn’t get the hint the other day that women love jewelry when we posted our ice cream sandwich earrings, here’s another chance. Today’s prize is a very stylish ice cream cone necklace from Honeypop Jewellery on Etsy. One comment chosen at random from this entry (guys, here’s your second chance) will receive this delicious prize.
Whew! We hope everyone was able to dig out from under this snow storm and enjoy a day indoors yesterday. All of Lancaster County is blanketed in about eight inches of snow and it looks beautiful!
In other news, our Ultimate Holiday Recipe Contest has ended and the winner is… Jessie G. of Falmouth, Maine!
Jessie’s Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Torte (recipe here) battled Patti’s Decadent Dutch Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie (recipe here) for most of the contest, but came out on top. Rounding out the other contestants was Stefanie’s Ginger Snap and Pumpkin Cookie Sandwiches (recipe here) and Paula’s Ginger Snap Apple Pecan Pie Parfait (recipe here). For her victory, Jessie will receive a year’s supply of Turkey Hill ice cream and the others will get a one-month supply. Congrats!
TODAY’S PRIZE: How cute is this little guy?! He’s an ice cream robot made by an Etsy storeowner called Bolts & Bots. Bolts & Bots makes all sorts of adorable little things, each standing only about an inch tall, including a zombie bot, a bad day bot, and a surfer bot. One comment chosen at random from all the comments left on this entry will receive this prize.
Among the many recipes sent to us during our Ultimate Holiday Recipe Contest, the recipe below stood out for its simple yet poignant nature. Thanks to Deanna for providing this simple solution to life’s problems. And don’t forget to vote for your favorite recipe on the right – the winner will be announced tomorrow)
THE PERFECT RECIPE
A nice warm home
Lots of love
Laughter
And Turkey Hill ice cream
TODAY’S PRIZE: To all the men out there, listen up. Women love jewelry. It’s a scientific fact. And if the woman in your life also loves ice cream, she’s going to love these ice cream sandwich earrings from OneElf on Etsy. OneElf specialized in making miniature food shaped jewelry, and these tasty treats definitely caught our eye. They measure only about half an inch in height and we’ll choose one comment at random from all the comments left on this entry to win this prize!
The following was posted previously on the Ice Cream Journal, but given the approaching snowy weather (up to a foot here in Lancaster County this weekend!), we thought Ernie’s advice deserved a second reading. If you’d like to ask our “Einstein of Ice Cream” a question, feel free to send him an email using the “Ask Ernie” link in the sidebar on the right.
SUSAN ASKS: With all the chemicals in the air, is snow ice cream still safe to make? I made it as a girl, but that was so long ago.
Good question, Susan. I won’t repeat the age-old lesson about eating a certain colored snow, but I will say that most of us ate snow as children and we turned out okay! So that means, eating snow is safe, right? Well, that depends who you ask.
But first, let’s consider how snow is made. It’s simple really. Snow is created when moisture in the air freezes around a dust particle. So at the very least, with each snowflake you ingest, you’re eating a tiny dust particle, which isn’t so bad when you consider that dust is everywhere around us and we eat it every day. (My apologies if anyone is eating as they read this.)
As for the risks of ingesting airborne chemicals and pollutants when you eat snow, that answer is a little trickier. That’s why we’re going to defer to the experts. According to Helen Macintosh, an environmental professor at Harvard, as snow falls, it can attract toxins and these toxins are greater with snowfall in or near a city.
It’s not looking good for our plans to make snow cones, is it?
Here are a few other rules-of-thumb, which may or may not be backed up by a Harvard professor. Some say not to eat the first snowfall of the year, because that’s the one that collects all the bad stuff (after that, you can chow down, apparently). Others say that eating snow that falls on top of the Himalayas – or any other tall elevation – is okay because the air up there is cleaner. Good news for those living on Mount Everest.
For our bottom line answer, we’re going to defer to Dr. Lynnette Mazur, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical School, who says, “Licking a little snow off a glove is probably OK. A meal of snow is not.”
The only question now is: How much exactly is a “meal of snow?”
Bon Appétit!
Ernie
TODAY’S PRIZE: It’s a magnet! And not just any magnet, but a magnet that’s handcrafted from a recycled soda can (specifically, the can shown on the right). How cool would this thing look stuck to your fridge? The person who made this magnet has a whole bunch of other recycled can stuff available for sale in her Etsy store, Funky Recycling. Check it out!
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If you’ve got a technical question about the ice cream making process or some other inquiry about the nuances of America’s favorite treat, chances are Ernie has the answer. He might not be able to answer all questions, but he’ll try his best and some may be featured on the Ice Cream Journal.
Click here to contact Ernie
