A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

shelley_crow

I've been on here for years and never noticed the avatars before, lol. I've got one now, wooo!

mardatha

Life is too bloody short to bother about silly people. I concentrate on my own business and try to help where I can. And never ever, deliberately hurt anybody's feelings. Thats my number one no-no in life!
Wind is doing its best here to work itself up to yesterday's levels. Am so sick and tired of BLOODY WIND.

katieowl_2

Hi everyone. I'd just like to say that reading everyone's family tales has made me incredibly glad I have virtually no relatives! I'm the only child of an only child, and have never met my father or any of his side of the family! I've got no siblings, cousins, aunts or uncles. OH has only one sister and a dad, who live miles away and we see only very occassionally! It also makes Xmas nice and cheap

I did have a bunch of 'needy' friends in London, I won't say they were one way friendships entirely as on occasion they all did step up to the mark, but most of the traffic was outward bound, and on the odd day (like once a month) when they all needed my assistance with various things, OH would come home and find me in a gibbering heap, with none of the housework done :eek: Moving to the edge of the world and leaving it all behind was strangely liberating, and although I get the odd phonecall, I'm not much practial 'use' anymore so don't get put upon.

I'd also like to how humbling it has been over the last couple of days to hear the very personal stories you have shared...and I have to say whatever challenges I've had to contend with to date, pale into insignificance compared with what some of you have endured, I think you are all an incredible bunch of people :A

Kate

shelley_crow

I've convinced myself that I want an ice cream maker. It makes no sense, 1 because I am trying to lose weight and 2 because we don't eat ice cream very often.

I think I am thinking of making flavoured frozen yoghurt instead of buying a tub of Ben and Jerry's naughtiness, someone stop me.

*must back away from ebay*

katieowl_2

Shelley this is me dissuading you - unless you buy a super dooper very expensive ice cream maker - one the chills the stuff as it churns - I don't think they are a worth while buy TBH. I hardly used mine, as it just didn't make enough to be worth the faff, and it wasn't cold enough ever. I gave it away (to someone who's probably discovered the same thing now!)

Also if you SAW the amount of butter 600g of double cream makes, you will think of ice-Cream very differently. We could not BELIEVE how much butter comes out of one pot of cream!!!

Frozen Yog doesn't need churning while it freezes either....you can just scrape it about with a fork as it freezes....

Convinced? :rotfl:

Kate

Mrs_Chip

...and unless it has got an on-board chilling unit, you need to have room in your freezer for the bowl - which is big because it is insulated. And you need to know you are going to want to make it tomorrow, so that you can put the bowl in the freezer tonight (I never did!) !

kidcat

I have been considering an ice cream maker too, I knew I needed one that froze as it worked but had no idea how to find one. DD5 was given a kids one for Christmas and its rubbish, leaked salt water into the ice cream and was generally useless. Hence my considering a proper one that kids can use themselves.

Memory_Girl

Slinks into the room. I have a 1970's ice-cream maker that I inherited from a charity shop as it didn't work and repaired the motor to get it to churn. Its one of those with the refrigerator units - so it churns as it freezes ................... and I lurve it.

Frozen yogurt mostly - but it is a real luxury item.

MG

maryb

I do have a super dooper ice cream maker with its own freezer unit and whilst it is good I wouldn't buy it again because it is terribly nopisy and much slower than they claim and the ones that just have a bowl you put in the freezer are hopeless - I always got a better result by putting the stuff in a tupperware bowl in the freezer and taking it out after an hour and using a handheld mixer on it for a couple of minutes.

Secret to home made ice cream - a slug of alcohol, which stops it freezing so hard you can't use a scoop on it. My favourite is orange flavoured ice cream with a slug of Grand Marnier. It's not too extravagant as you don't use that much - otherwise the stuff would never freeze. That's why I don't allow DH in the kitchen while I am making ice cream. This is a man who judges when there is enough brandy in the brandy butter by when it curdles!!

shelley_crow

Katie, you do put forward a very convincing point, I may have to save the pennies for a great one The ones I was looking at on ebay were bog standard kenwood ones. I've never tried making butter but might give it a go if I can find some cheap cream.

Mrs Chip, I hadn't thought of that. I don't fancy sorting my freezer out, it was in some semblance of order until the christmas madness kicked in.

Ooooh Memory Girl, you lucky thing! Older stuff was built to last, you stumbled on a treasure there.