Right now I ought to be putting my girls to bed. I’m not. Oh, the big plans I had for this summer break! A complete and utter lack of TV, an impossible balance of summer evenings and early bedtimes, and deeply organizing my house. I suppose the summer is still young and I’m not due back until the second week of August, but what effect does that have right now on the fact I have a naked 3-year-old and a 7-month-old playing with a screwdriver? (I distracted her with a crinkly book in order to remove from her grasp the offending screwdriver.)

Ruby is doing through… not exactly a naked phase, but a pantless phase. I suppose I could put this to good work and try to get her fully potty-trained with that whole bottomless strategy.

Unfortunately, this evening found me interrupting a peaceful evening eating homemade ice cream watching the sprinklers with “Ruby! Get your pants on! The missionaries are across the street!” Yes, there were four awkward young elders gathered at the apartment complex yonder. Be it also known I live on a fairly busy street.

Ruby screamed “No!” at me and waved her nether regions to everyone, Mormon missionary and not, and started climbing on the decorative stone with her butt for the entire town to see. With Jade in one arm I dragged her rudely across the porch and into the house. I’m currently awaiting my CPS call.

So, to the ice cream. What I wanted to make was this: Strawberry Ice Cream with Pink Peppercorns. Because it sounded ever so intriguing. But… where the hell does one find pink peppercorns? The lady of Measure & Whisk found them at Whole Foods. I don’t want to drive to Salt Lake City.

However, this is an incredible ice cream base that is great with just the strawberries.

And mint. Yes, I actually added 2 tablespoons of dried mint to the ice cream and it was really good.

This ice cream is wonderfully creamy and the strawberry addition is incredible.