Gluttony: Homemade Ice Cream Cake

 This weekend I made an ice cream cake for my sister, Kat. It was her 21st birthday, and she has recently developed an interest in tattoos. Last year's gift was $100 for her to get the tattoo on her side coloured in, and an orchid plant (white flowers, the theme was "what's missing? = colour!")... this year was a magazine for women of tattoos and the cake. Kat had mentioned to me that she wanted her next tattoo to be a Native whale on her leg, so I topped the cake with a fondant whale. It turned out to be a bit warped - the fondant was very soft from working it in my hands.

The rest of the cake was outstanding! I used a Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix and instead of water I used 1% milk. I layered it with vanilla ice cream and RAINBOW ice cream. In case you are unaware, Loblaws has a new collection of ice cream and is marketing the freezer section as an ice cream parlour. Included are flavours like Tiger Tail, Party Cake, Rainbow and other crazy types. Rainbow consists of BUBBLEGUM, GRAPE and BLUE RASPBERRY. You may be thinking, "Um, that sounds like overload," but I assure you, it is just the right amount of sweetness.

After multiple rounds of popping this bad boy in the freezer throughout construction, I was finally able to cover the entire outside with Duncan Hines Whipped Vanilla Icing - holy crap, was it so good. The entire cake ended up being light, fluffy, sweet and creamy: the perfect summer treat to follow a BBQ.

FYE: Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man

I'm really digging this song right now. Wish it was a little grittier, like Billy Ray is REALLY the ONLY one who could ever reach her and teach her - when Dusty sings it's like there could possibly be a couple others that might be able to. I really want her to sound like Billy Ray is THE ONLY ONE, but it still has a groovy-ness I can jam to over and over again.

Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man

Aretha Franklin does a great version too, but I like Dusty's more.

 

Aretha Franklin - Son of a Preacher Man

One, two, three

No, I don't mean the Billy Wilder movie. Just three little things to share.

One, to go along with my last post on 12 Angry Men, I wanted to show this cool pixel art from Andy Rash. He makes iotacons, low res portraits that are amazingly still recognizable. He has tons on his site representing all different people and characters. I really like his Hitchcock series.

Two, another link to something neat. I found an Etsy seller who makes charm bracelets with very detailed book covers. I contacted her about making one with DVD covers, and she said she absolutely could, that in fact she has in the past. How cool would it be to have a bracelet with charms for all your favorite movies on it? Maybe all from one director, or in a theme like Film Noir? What a unique piece that would be, and a great gift for a movie lover! Here's the shop, if you're interested.

Three, some LAMB stuff. You may know about the Large Association of Movie Blogs and how right now it's been announcing the LAMMY award winners. While I wasn't nominated for any awards (and didn't expect to be) I did notice that on the list of all vote getters, this blog was listed under Best Rating System, Best Classic Film Blog, and Best Blog. Now, that could mean I got one vote in each category, but I was flattered nonetheless. So thanks to whoever of you put my name in for consideration!

Also on the LAMB blog right now, there's a chance to vote for LAMB Casting. That's where members are asked to recast a movie with current actors. While I'm not always a big fan of remakes, it is fun to imagine how different a movie would be if it were redone, and who could make the roles work now. The latest recast is for the classic All About Eve, and it's currently time to vote for which imagined cast would do it justice. If you're interested, you can see the lists and vote here. I did put in a suggestion this time, but I can't say yet which one is mine. There's a lot of interesting choices there. I can't wait to see which redux cast will win!

(OK, so I guess technically that was four things and not three. But there's three pictures so I'm calling it close enough.)