Hey Joe, Whaddya Know?

After an early breakfast and a stroll into town a couple of weekends ago, Moon, our friends, Richard and Fran, and I decided sampling Gelato Joe's would make the perfect pre-lunch, post-12pm treat.

I've eaten at Gelato Joe's before in its previous form, The Bite Company. I believe they've now moved on to the bright lights of Reading and while the interiors remain the same in the Parkway Centre, the menu is now a simple one of ice cream, waffles, crepes and shakes.



One thing I've always agreed with when travelling around the rest of Europe is that we just don't do ice-cream as well as the rest of them, Gelato Joe's might be a good contender though. With my favourite, salted caramel, they can't really lose but there's such a great range of choice, from bubblegum to Nutella, that it's easy to see why in the height of summer the queue was out the door.










I adore the quirky, industrial-style décor and I think they've really made the most of the small space (an aspect of interior design that I love). I'll have to sample the rest of their menu, their waffles looked delicious, and it will certainly be a great place to take guests in the summertime. I'm so pleased that Newbury's ice cream parlour is so much more than just another coffee shop, which Newbury has by the bucketful.

Gelato Joe's will actually be opening their second store in Bristol soon so it looks like the future is very bright and I'm really glad about that.
I know summer is winding down and autumn is on its way, but there's always time for ice cream. ♥

Follow Gelato Joe's on Twitter or 'like' them on Facebook.

:: Have you entered my giveaway to win tickets to the Royal Berkshire County Show on the 20th September? ::

Recipe: Blackcurrant Curd Ice Cream

You might remember a little while ago that I blogged a recipe for passionfruit meringue pie that was actually way more delicious than it looked. Well, the lovely people at Thursday Cottage sent a couple more of their tasty curds to try out.

I wasn't sure what else to do other than make another meringue pie but Moon and I were dead into making our own ice cream for a time so as well as having this tasty blackcurrant curd with yoghurt and fruit for breakfast, I had a brainwave to mix it into the mixture for our next batch.



We took a lot of inspiration from (the wonderful) Nigella for this one, but gradually as we've made more, we've adapted it a lot from the original espresso recipe. My favourite is still when we added blended strawberries, oh my!

You Will Need:

• A container to store you ice cream - any tupperware should be fine, you could even use an old ice cream container

Ingredients:

• 300ml Double Cream
• 1 Can of Condensed Milk
• 2 Tablespoons of Blackcurrant Curd - or any curd or blended fruit

Method:

1. Whisk your double cream into soft peaks
2. Fold in the condensed milk and whisk again
3. Mix in your blackcurrant curd - if you leave it, you'll have swirls of blackcurrant running through, like fancy Carte D'Or
4. It should be a thick, creamy consistency by this point - spoon the mixture into your chosen ice cream tub and leave in the freezer for 6 hours or overnight

I just think this recipe is really great because it requires almost no effort aside from having the right sized container to bung everything in the freezer once you've finished, plus ice cream so...
I had hoped for swirls but it was so tasty that in the end it really didn't matter so much, sorry I didn't get a picture of the end result, I was too busy stuffing it in my face, hope you enjoy making it yourself though.

Photo A Day April: Day 10

Day 10 — Cold

I nearly, nearly took another photo of a drink, but I think this was better. Today's weather was hella weird, about half an hour after I enjoyed this, there was thunder...

596.

Have some photos, I apologise that they're slightly less exciting than the those from my Oriental adventure, but I quite like them. I'm really looking forward to taking a few more photos in the next few days, as well as using my camera lots when I get off on holiday again.
These are from yesterday, the sorbet is an amazing combo of mango and blackcurrant, delicious, I'm really doing well with finding tasty frozen treats.





#avoidingthejobhunt
#lovingmy35mmlens

Also, didn't get sharing this with you because I wanted to keep it a secret, but here is a drawing of Stitch I drew inside Moon's brother's birthday card.

After being slightly inspired from all the Stitch stuff in Hong Kong as well as knowing that Edward has a soft spot for him I thought I'd see if I could pull it off. I'm not 100% about colouring in his fur with biro but I had nothing else at my disposal. I wish I still drew things, anything.

Maxin' relaxin'.

I learnt today that Sunday is 'the' day in Hong Kong, I thought it was busy before, today was about ten times busier than usual. There were people everywhere, touching me with their sticky skin, I hate bumping in the people generally, but when the weather is like this, it's just gross.

My sister and I had a wander up to Times Square and back to the flat. There isn't much to tell about today because we didn't actually do anything. Sunday also seems to be the day that a lot of Filipino's come to hang out at Causeway Bay, there is a huge food market set up for them outside our apartment and they all sit on the street chatting and making bags, it's quite nice.

In Times Square, because it was so busy and everything there is either designer clothes or electronics, Lucy and I had a break at the Ben & Jerry's stall and tried some of the delicious, unknown to the UK, flavours. I had Clusterfluff (Peanut butter), Sweet Cream and Cookies (Oreo) and Coffee Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz (Duh!). I long for the day Clusterfluff is brought over the UK, it's easily become my favourite, even after one try. I wish we had more interesting flavours in the UK, Phish Food just doesn't cut it, especially at the price that it usually is.

We saw a couple doing 'trash the dress' on our way back to the flat, so cool.

Ongoing Flickr set
Tomorrow I am up early to go to Ocean Park, which I hope won't be too busy. I'm looking forward to the cable car ride and ofcourse, seeing the Giant Pandas. I finally have a working, hand-held fan, so I hope I'll be able to 'take the heat', eep!

I have very mucky feet.

Got home from Ben & Jerry's festival about an hour ago.
Wore flip-flops today, I'd say it was a mistake but it was hot and sunny until about 2 o'clock this afternoon and I left the house at half 10. Made me so cross, I nearly had a little cry on the way back to Clapham Junction.
I've tried washing them but they are still dirty. Ew.

Any time I've tried to do anything fun, it has rained so far and when it's not raining I'm always doing nothing so just end up sitting in the garden being very unexciting.
It best not rain on holiday, that would be rubbish.

Ben & Jerry's was good though, although it was way, way busier than last year, even though it was a bit cold and very wet and last year was the beginning of a heat wave (therefore perfect for a festival with free ice cream). I believe there were too many people with brats there, they should get rid of them.

Had a long DMC with Moon over dinner at my Mums about how shit some of the people we know are and about how even the ones we love are slightly rubbish and lazy. It's infuriating, but one of those things, I just wonder if we'll ever get away from it.

I have two Lovefilms begging to be watched but we've been home too late two nights in a row. Poo. Well, actually, tonight we were home at optimum time but Moon is watching some silly Sean Connery man movie on TV.

Photos from Ben and Jerry's should be up tomorrow as will some examples of my summer RDB.
We saw some badass alpacas today. Animals from Vauxhall Farm have very nice hair.