Happy Independence Day

64. Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it 
65. Give some thought to where your food comes from.

Happy Independence Day, all.  It's late, and I'm just returning home from a spectacular barbecue with my family.  Chicken, corn on the cob, two different types of pasta salad, plenty of beer...

I'm not gonna lie, I broke a lot of rules.  We made "spiedies," which are essentially chicken kebabs with an italian marinade specific to my mom's hometown in upstate New York.  The marinade is dripping with more chemicals and preservatives than you can pronounce, but god are they good.  

But we also homemade vanilla ice cream topped with fresh berries made with my grandma's old, old school ice-cream maker, which we all took turns cranking until our arms fell off.  So I like to think that balances it out.

Remember these!?!?

It tasted like only fresh, homemade ice cream can taste, which is to say, heavenly, and totally worth the cramping biceps.  This is my grandma's classic recipe, to go with her classic ice cream maker.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 6 eggs
• 2 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. vanilla
• 2 pt. whipping cream
• 3 pt. half & half
• milk "to fill"

It came out a little melty, but still delicious.

INSTRUCTIONS

Beat the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla together, then mix in whipping cream and half & half until everything is incorporated.  Pour mixture into the ice cream maker.  Top off with milk until it is about three inches below the top of the container.  Put the top on the ice cream maker and fill the bucket around it with as much ice and rock salt (we used kosher salt) and crank until your arm falls off!  Seriously, crank until the ice cream is too stiff and the crank won't move.  Open it up, pull the paddles out, close it again, and cover the whole the with ice (we wrapped it up in a towel, too, to achieve maximum coldness) until you're ready to serve.

Very patriotic.

Happy 4th of July!