How to Make Homemade Ice Cream

Thanks to Shaw flippin' Rowe I was able to enjoy some great homemade ice cream with Reese's Peanut Butter cups this past weekend while watching the entire third season of Lost and now I'm passing on the savings to you!...ice cream savings I guess. Here, straight from the primary resource, is the famous recipe for incredible vanilla ice cream by Shaw himself, which you can make in your very own ice cream churn:

1. Start by pouring two 14 oz. cans of condensed milk into churn bucket
   
2. Add one quart of half and half and several tablespoons of vanilla
3. Stir together and fill up the rest of the container to fill line with milk
4. Surround the center metal container with ice and salt in layers
5. Hook up the ice cream maker and start up the churn
   
6. Wait til the churn slows down or stops
7. Open it up and eat the greatest ice cream ever!

Unofficially, listening to questionable music and watching a ridiculous amount of Lost makes the ice cream taste better. :) Enjoy!

Mimzy

I was able to watch The Last Mimzy today with Elias and Leighanna and it was great! Maybe it's because I haven't watched a kid's movie in a while or because we were pretty close to the screen, but this one gave me chills. One of the biggest lessons in the movie is to stay open and as pure as possible. The two children in the movie come across something is hard to believe, but they go with what they feel is right and they find themselves doing great things because of it. Also, the movie shows again and again that there is a lot more to this world and this universe than we might ever know. As a student of science and an observer of the world around me, this is something I try to remind myself as often as I can. We love to try to explain things away as quick as we can, but maybe one of the best things we can do is seek out the mysterious and try to appreciate our place in it. We might not always understand everything, but maybe we're not supposed to either.

Florida!

I just recently returned from a great trip to Florida with my family. For one week my sister and I went down to see our friends in Melbourne and then the next week my entire family met in Gainesville to visit our friends and family there. The last time I visited Melbourne was two years ago, in my sophomore year of college, and the next time I am able to visit will probably be two years from now when I return from the Peace Corps. It's hard to visit that far apart, since so much can change in two years, but at the same time I have found that a lot of important things stay the same. Like I mentioned in my entry before about Jessica and I, it's nice to be able to see your close friends and not feel like that much has changed.

I was able to see Jimi and is new baby boy Asher, my old friends David, Christy and Jessica and all of my family in Gainesville. My sister and I were able to drive around to all of our favorite spots in the Melbourne, including our old schools (Harbor City, Meadowlane, Central and West Shore), our old houses on Tompkins and Keystone and even eat some butterscotch dipped vanilla ice cream cones at Del's Freeze, our favorite ice cream shop. We explored the streets of St. Augustine, swam in the waves of Crescent Beach and played bocce ball with our uncles and cousins right before we left for home. In all, we had an awesome time and I am really glad that we went. Even though it will be a while, I really look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

Mac Family

I am pleased to announce that I have purchased and will be receiving tomorrow a new MacBook. This is my second computer (this one I'm on right now will be going to my sister) and I couldn't be more excited. I thought about it all this school year, talked with dozens of people (including Peace Corps Volunteers), saved up quite a bit of money and finally called Apple last week to order a MacBook and free iPod. It did take time to decide on a MacBook, including choosing black or white, but I am lucky to have had quite a lot of help along the way.* I knew I wanted something that I could take with me to Peace Corps: something light, fun, simple, wireless, and great on battery life, and MacBook was it...a white one to be precise.

In the coming weeks I know I will have a lot to say about Macs, including what it is like to switch from a PC to a Mac, but for now I would just like to say I am very grateful to those of you who have helped me get this MacBook and I am very excited to open it up tomorrow.

* I have a pretty long list of people to thank for all of this since the advice and the money I've received for this purchase didn't only come from my own research or hard work. Each time I open up my new computer or turn on my iPod, I will think of you. Thank you Chris Disher, Ashley Mushnick, Shawn Pendergrass, Heather Davis, David Rengifo, Michael Sellers, Toni-Lyn Keller, Chris Hewitt, Jimi Rainier and Jonathan Huffman for all of your encouragement, advice and answers to my questions regarding Macs. You really helped me choose a great company and the great products it offers. Thank you also Papa Leslie, Aunt Debbie, Big Nanny, Papa Jack, Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Arthur, Aunt Mary, Uncle Ronnie, Uncle Randy, Aunt Suzy, Omega, Paolo, Jessica and Shayla Donisi, Christy, Mark, Alexis and Brody Boyer, Cassandra McPherson, Grandma Louise, Papa Ward, Leighanna, Elias, Mom and Dad for helping me to buy this MacBook and iPod. I saved up a bit on my own through working at Campbell this year (thank you Campbell students for your tuition money), but your graduation gifts and kindness made up a huge sum of this purchase. I really appreciate all of your support. Thank you very much.

Bestest

Saturday I was able to see one of my bestest friends of all time: Jessica Donisi. We have been friends since kindergarten and I love her dearly. Neatly, my sister Leighanna and her sister Shayla are also best friends since before kindergarten (they are both younger than us). So, needless to say, when we all got together it was an official awesome adventure and super shindig. This time we played the Wii, chased a dog, boxed, golfed, bowled, played tennis, raced horses, played Trivial Pursuit, hit the jackpot on the Wheel of Fortune, took tons of ridiculous pictures, slammed hammers on that carnival thing with the bell on the top, shot terrorists (and hostages…sorry) with machine guns, ate chicken fingers, hunted deer, won over four thousand tickets, bought whistles and a Cookie Monster, jumped up in the air in nervous excitement, laughed our butts off over and over and gambled away tons of money on Colorama. I still can’t decide if Colorama or Wheel of Fortune is more likely to pony up the most tickets…I guess if you have to ask, you’ll never know.

I will say this: no matter how old we get I think it will only take a game or two to remember what childish things we all have in common. As serious, old and seriously old as I get, Jessica will always be able to bring out the kid in me and that is really nice. I’m sure she feels the same way. I mean, who else can beat her in all these games? Oh snap.

Disney

I would like to mention the existence of an incredible program that is available to college students called the Walt Disney World College Program. Not only is Disney one of the five companies that I mentioned before in my entry Ideal, (named the top 5 companies to work for in the United States) but Disney is by far one of the best known companies in the world. Based on the history of the program, as well as the recommendations of my friends, I would like to highly recommend the program myself. Especially if you are interested in public relations, communications, marketing, advertising, hospitality or entertainment, I would seriously consider the Walt Disney World College Program. Apply and see what you think. I don't think you'd regret it.