JULY IS NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH, so why not celebrate by making your own ice cream? You don’t even need a fancy machine to do it, all you need is a couple of zip-top baggies, says Michael Carrino, chef and owner of Restaurant Passionne’ in Montclair, New Jersey. This is his basic recipe to get you started:
Place 1 cup organic whole milk, 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 Tbs. sugar in a quart-size zip-top plastic bag and seal.
Combine 4 cups of ice and 1/4 cup of Kosher salt in a gallon-size zip-top plastic bag. (The salt actually lowers the temperature of the ice by several degrees.) Place the smaller bag with the ice cream mixture inside the larger bag, and then seal the larger bag.
Shake the large bag vigorously for six to eight minutes; avoid squeezing the bag. Your ice cream is ready when the smaller bag gets plump and pillowy!
Remove the smaller bag and carefully wipe off any ice and salt. Serve right away as a soft ice cream or pop the bag in the freezer for 20 minutes or so to make it harder.
inding it hard to motivate yourself to do something? Try turning on Baroque music – such as Handel’s “Water Music.” When people listened to this type of music while doing a boring task, 50% were more satisfied with the job, and most felt it was easier to focus. “Listening to Baroque, your heart rate drops to match the 60 beats per minute in the music”, says study author Paras Lakhani, M.D. “This has a claming effect, making concentration easier.”
Conscious Consumer Network 