snow of the carafe

it's been awhile since i updated the blog. where did February go?

all in all, it's been a good month of good eating.

the rain clouds have moved on and it's been getting hot, so i've been eating a lot of nieve de garrafa (it's a plausible excuse, is it not?). homemade ice cream, churned with old-fashioned ice cream maker, nieve de garrafa is not unlike the one i make at the museum to demonstrate the art (and the pain) of making ice cream. as these are commercial versions, however, they use larger metal tins, also lined with salt and ice on the outside layer to bring down the temperature of the ice cream mixture down. instead of cranking a handle though, the mixture is plunged in vertical motion to churn the ingredients. there are a number of flavours, and so far, i've tried:

• lime (which is like the lime sorbet we get at home minus the incredible hulk green food dye, a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. as esther says, 'you can't go wrong with lime/lemon flavours.')
• pinon con cerise (pinenuts with marachino cherries that is thickened with condensed milk)
• mamey (a fruit that looks like an avocado, but with a brown skin and orange flesh with black seeds; tastes like a watery persimmon)
• yoghurt (it takes like what you'd expect it to)
• vanilla (yellower in colour but good none the less)
• etole (it's a frozen, sweeter version of the corn snack i described earlier)
• coco (with chunks of coconut and yes, more condensed milk flavour)
• tequilla (yes, you heard it right - it's sorbet without milk products, so has a clean, sweet taste with a hint of the liquor which it's made with).

the texture is very smooth, so you can't pick out the grains of ice for the most part. nieve can be found on the street carts, markets, and nieve shops. they are sold for about 12 pesoes for chico (a mini cup that holds about 200-300ml) but i always regret not getting a grande instead as it disappears much too quickly.