“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just to enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate.”
~ Thornton Wilder

I think if we were to exam just how much of our time is wasted trying to figure out why something happened or worrying about what might happen we’d be astounded. There comes a time in your life when you realize the futility of both activities and you learn to let go and enjoy the small things that come to you every day.

I remember when the kids were little, the hubs and I would wait until we put them to bed and sneak into the kitchen and make ourselves a bowl of ice cream. I know what you’re thinking ~ don’t judge us!! haha This was a quiet moment we had to ourselves after a hectic day. How we did enjoy it! To keep it from the kids we would use the Spanish word “helado” to hide our secret plans. Well, you know “helado” was the first Spanish word the kids learned.

One night as we were fixing our bowls my 4 year old daughter yelled from her bedroom, “I hear the spoons. I know what you’re doing!” You would have thought we were caught doing something horrible. We felt so guilty, but the ice cream soothed our consciences fairly quickly.

So for today, enjoy the ice cream on your plate.

Recipe Source: How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

Ingredients

1 vanilla bean
2 cups half and half
½ cup sugar (divided in half)
4 – 6 egg yolks (the more yolks the richer)
1 cup cream

Instructions

Split the vanilla bean and with the back of a knife remove the seeds.

Combine them with the half and half and a ¼ cup of the sugar.
Heat, stirring occasionally, until steam rises from the half and half; remove from the heat.

Beat yolks and remaining sugar until thick and slightly lightened.

Stir about ½ cup of the heated half and half into the yolk mixture and beat.
Stir the warm egg mixture back into the half and half mixture, return the pan to the stove and heat on medium low, stirring constantly, until thickened.

The mixture is ready when it thickly coats the back of a spoon and a line drawn with your finger remains intact. This should take around 3 to 5 minutes.
Cool completely, then stir in the cream and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

When ice cream maker stops, freeze in the freezer until firm.

Enjoy!