Konichi wa Japan!

Welcome to Tokyo! Japan has definitely got some of the oddest, most wonderful inventions in the world. Here’s just one of them: window displays. Rather than post a boring, printed menu in the window of a restaurant, owners put delectable looking plates of their popular dishes. You can’t help but be drawn into the establishment after ogling these items. Only problem? They’re all made of plastic.
Check out the ice cream in the top shelf. I tried several flavors when I was there in 2008, from tame green tea to sesame. We had the good fortune of stumbling upon a type of Baskin Robbins one night and I couldn’t resist ordering a double scoop of Popping Showers and Temptation Island. Popping Showers tasted of vanilla with red and green pop rocks swirled throughout. Temptation Island was reminiscent of our rainbow sherbet. Both were delicious!
These flavors too tame for you? How about Wasabi, or horsemeat? These flavors and more can be found at
101 Japan’s Amazing Inventions of Ice Cream Flavors
http://www.asianoffbeat.com/default.asp?Display=1897

summer treats

Wow! It's been a very long time since I last posted about ice cream. Since San Francisco, I've taken several trips and sampled the ice cream. Today, however, I wanted to talk about my summer project: homemade popsicles. I bought a popsicle mold from Amazon and started looking up popsicle recipes online. I've found a lot of great links. One of my favorite is from Laura's Best Recipes..
http://laurasbestrecipes.com/2010/07/100-homemade-popsicle-recipes.html
This is the granddaddy of all sites. It lists a number of sites devoted to making your own homemade treats; simple classics such as strawberry pops all the way up to gourmet popsicles, veggie pops, and alcoholic pops.
I've tried a few different recipes and my family's favorite so far is the strawberry/peach pop. It's very simple to make, requires few ingredients, and my husband swears they taste like strawberry daquiris!
Here's the recipe:
Frozen Strawberry-Peach Pops

From Country Living
A frozen treat to keep you cool in the heat. When selecting fruit, the most important features to look for are color, texture, and fragrance. For example, a peach should have no traces of green.
Serves: 5

Yields: Five 4-ounce servings

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup(s) sugar
* 6 ounce(s) strawberries, hulled
* 6 ounce(s) peaches, peeled and pitted
* 1 tablespoon(s) lemon juice

Directions

1. Bring 1/2 cup of water and the sugar to a boil and let cool. Puree the strawberries, peaches, cooled syrup, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water in a food processor. Fill five 4-ounce paper cups or popsicle molds with the strawberry-peach mixture.
2. For paper cups, place on a tray, cover securely with plastic wrap, and pierce a popsicle stick through the plastic into each cup. For popsicle molds, follow manufacturer's instructions. Freeze until solid.

Enjoy!