Showing posts with label dolores hidalgo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dolores hidalgo. Show all posts

22 June 2026

My Recipe Box - Ice Cream

UPDATED JUNE 2026
May 2020 - Toronto ON


I bought a Kitchenaid ice cream attachment last year and went on a kick of making ice cream.



UPDATED - JUNE 2026

Easy homemade strawberry frozen yogurt.
Ingredients
½ cup plain yogurt (see note)
¼ cup honey or pure maple syrup
16 ounces frozen strawberries, about 4 cups
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, optional

Instructions 
In the bowl of a 7- or 8 cup food processor, add the yogurt, honey or maple syrup, frozen strawberries (and lemon juice, if using).
Process until the frozen yogurt is smooth and thick, about 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the container several times, if needed, and using a tamper for the blender to help incorporate the ingredients.
Serve immediately for soft-serve consistency, or transfer the frozen yogurt to a container and freeze for several hours or up to several weeks.

2020 post

But a few weeks ago I had frozen some strawberries and wanted ice cream, but the ice cream bowl needs to be frozen for at least a few hours. Ours wasn't in the freezer (it lived there last summer) as we needed room to stock up during the quarantine.

I found a one ingredient recipe which I tweaked with my additions.
I made it again with blueberries which was also good, but not as good as the strawberries.
I then made it with frozen canned pineapple I had leftover from another recipe. Also good.
I can see any number of combinations working.




INGREDIENTS
2 cups chopped strawberries or blueberries or pineapple
1–2 tsp sugar, optional I used honey
35% whipping cream, just a little to make it creamy
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Chop strawberries in half.
2. Freeze strawberries
3. Put frozen strawberries into a food processor and blend. You may need to scraped down the sides a few times.
4. Keep blending until it smooths out into soft serve strawberry ice cream.
5. Eat immediately or freeze for later. Serve with your favorite toppings.

I came across this article in the New York Times a day after I wrote this post.
Make sorbet from canned fruit. It contains some amazing combinations.

June 13 2020 - raspberries

June 21 2020 - blackberry and lemon honey 35% cream

                         4 bananas and peanut butter 35% cream
May 2021 - mango banana peanut butter

IDEAS
Pink grapefruit basil lime zest

Apple and cinnamon
Rum and raisin


August 13 2020
Found a recipe for no churn ice cream and decided I needed to make it since John had bought cherries and I had dark chocolate from another project along with some past its due date whipping cream. The recipe is from Foodie Adventures. I had also just read that if you soaked fruit in a little vodka it wouldn't freeze rock solid in ice cream, so I did that as well and it worked.

Ingredients
500ml-600ml of heavy cream/thickened cream
1 can of condensed milk (390-400g)
Any toppings you wish (think toppings like chocolate, cookies, nutella or flavoured sauces!)
OPTIONAL - vodka or your alcoholic choice
Method


Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. This may take between 5-10 minutes.
Once stiff peaks have formed slowly fold in the condensed milk.
Soak your fruit choice in vodka. 
When everything is mixed, add your desired toppings and mix them through. *Note if you’d like to add some of your desired toppings on top of the mix, don’t add all of your toppings to the mix, set some aside.*
Pour the mix into a freezer safe container and put the mix in the freezer. *Note, if you set aside some of your toppings, place them on top of the mix now.*
Cover the container and put it in the freezer.

I could also see using flavoured liquors such as lemoncello with raspberries.


2021 

2020 Pandemic






Speaking of ice cream,  I named 2019 The Summer of Ice Cream as we set out to try as many places as we could.


Dundas West was our first introduction to exotic ice cream.


On Dundas West



Queen St. West





Here is a video from probably the most interesting! This was on Baldwin St. steps from the AGO but a new neighbourhood for us.







The there was the POOP CAFE! On Bloor St. West


Vegan ice cream on Queen West.



Yonge St,


Japanese on College St.



Sharing with Suzanne at Garbardine's on Bay.



Harbord St.




Chinatown - gigantic macaron ice cream sandwich.



In Stratford for the weekend.


Trinity Bellwoods - Nadege
John - Canadian Gourmet - maple, nuts and chocolate brittle
Mine - lemon cheesecake, not very lemony but lots of cheese chunks
Average.



Samples from Nani's - carrot and cream and sweet potato, both delicious.
He is top of our list for next summer!





04 July 2025

Weekend Roundup

 Welcome to The Weekend Roundup...hosted by Tom The Back Roads Traveler

1. Starts with "A"
2. A Favorite
3. ACROSS - Chosen by Tom

Starts with A (BIGGEST/SMALLEST/LONGEST/SHORTEST/OLDEST/FIRST)

ANTIQUE ASHTRAY ATROCIOUS


FAVOURITE

APRON or AMPARITO Dolores Hidalgo Mexico


ACROSS

Walking ACROSS Tower of London Bridge London England



02 May 2024

2016 Mexico Recap

For this Cinco de Mayo I thought I would repost the highlights of our 2015-2016 trip to Mexico!

JANUARY

MEXICO

December 15 - March 15 2016

We ended 2015 in Mazatlan Mexico the first leg of our three month winter sojourn. We had made a couple of long term rentals from home. 
Three weeks in Mazatlan at El Cid, four weeks in San Miguel de Allende and a month in Puerto Vallarta. 
We knew we wanted to go to Guadalajara for a few days as well. 
We met up with friends and bloggers in Mazatlan who pointed out that we should definitely make a trip to Guanajuato while here and that was the best suggestion!!
The schedule worked out like this:

December 15 to January 9 Mazatlan

January 9 to 14 Guadalajara we added two additional days based on advice from friends.

January 15 to February 14 8 San Miguel de Allende reduced by two days at the start added to Guadalajara and we left five days earlier to include Guanajuato (3 days) and Leon (2 days)

Guanajuato February 9 to 12 as soon as we arrived we feel in love and cancelled Leon and extended our stay by two days.

Guadalajara February 12 to 14

Puerto Vallarta February 14 to March 19 15 this was reduced by three days due to flight limitations and we also managed to use some frequent flyer points for a flight to LA.

Where we are - Mazatlan


January 1 in Mazatlan and we dined at The Shrimp Bucket.

We went back to El Quelite and also took a trip to Le Noria. Such pretty unspoiled towns.


A stroll around Le Noria



A highlight was on our last night when we went to Beach Burger for dinner with friends Bill and Carol of The Golden Years blog. Another blogger George of Tioga and George, a legendary (he's in his 80s *RIP) blogger was visiting Bill and Carol. As we were having our drinks Carol and I spotted another blogger, neither of us had ever met her but immediately recognized her husband from photos on her blog. It was Contessa of 5C's Que Pasa.
Our favourite server, Roberto was working and Rafael Rodriguez was performing also a friend of Bill's. 


* George passed away in January 2019.
Our good friends Bill and Carol tribute
The book Nomadland made reference to George.







January 9 saw us embarking on our first bus trip using ETN and what a pleasure it was. This is the only way to travel around Mexico!!
Click below for the bus ride and our hotel.

Where we are - Guadalajara


We spent five days in Guadalajara, a cosmopolitan and enjoyable city. It is high in the mountains so the evenings got quite cool but the days were full of heat and sunshine.


We took a tour in a carriage on our first day then we walked all over the town making sure we stopped at the bar beside the theatre as recommended by George. I also had my first Michelada here.

Our hotel was quaint and historical, the staff were superb.  

The city abounds with murals. Click the links below.
And more to come in future posts!

The number of gorgeous churches is astounding.
Santisimo Scramento holds our vote for the most fantastic we saw on this trip.
San Augustin
San Francisco
Santa Teresa - scheduled


And many more to come.




It included  semana cuatro and semana cinco
Deserving of its own post are the Chair sculptures.
Listen to some mariachi music in the mariachi bar. it's a little blurry at the start.




Here are the highlights.


We took a day trip to Tequila which was fun.


We went to Tlaquepaque on our own even though there are tours you can take. This gave us the flexibility to do what we please. We did get caught in a torrential downpour in the afternoon but it only lasted a while.

We caught a show by The Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers), or Palo Volador (pole flying), is an ancient Mesoamerican ceremony/ritual still performed today, albeit in modified form, in isolated pockets in Mexico. It is believed to have originated with he Nahua, Huastec and Otomi peoples in central Mexico, and then spread throughout most of Mesoamerica. The ritual consists of dance and the climbing of a 30-meter pole from which four of the five participants then launch themselves tied with ropes to descend to the ground. The fifth remains on top of the pole, dancing and playing a flute and drum.




A guided tour to Lake Chapala was a big disappointment as tours go, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway!


An incredible five days!!


January 14 we took the bus from Guadalajara to San Miguel de Allende.
We had rented an amazing artist home for the duration. We spent many hours enjoying the heat in the garden. The house got amazing cold overnight and we often woke to 59 F or 15 C.
For 7 pesos we could get the bus into town from the corner. A cab ride was only 40 pesos. The house was a five minute walk to Mega for groceries.



Semana cinco


Semana seis



Semana siete

The definite highlight of the week was the "Callejoneadas" performed before or after a wedding. Bride and groom along with guests stroll through the callejones, drinking and singing along with mariachis.


We also took a day trip by bus to Dolores Hidalgo



Semana ocho our last week as we head out to Guanajuato.



Bellas Artes



Coffee signs



A church reflection

Restaurant reflection

Instituto Allende

Mural at the Instituto

A trip to the Toy Museum




Scene from an Italian Restaurant

A Sunday stroll

Breakfast at Buen Dia

The women of SMA

A day at the Tuesday market



CHURCHES
San Miguel Archangel the most photographed church in Mexico


San Felipe Neri


Las Morjas





FEBRUARY


Where we are - Guanajuato

Off the bus, into a cab and were are stunned by the tunnels under the town.

Click here for a video of the tunnels.


We stayed for 5 nights at the Posada Santa Fe. Everything was perfect, location, staff except for the included breakfast.


The hotel is on the Jardin Union perfect for wandering.




Click here for our first view of this incredible town.

The first thing that comes to mind about Guanajuato is the street musicians, they are everywhere and not only at night.

Our hotel had included a complimentary city tour which was longer and better than we expected.


MUSIC everywhere all the time!




Where we are - Guadalajara We made a weekend stop in Guadalajara on our way to Puerto Vallarta.

We couldn't get into the Hotel Morales so we booked a brand new hotel the NH located on the Plaza Universidad. So new our taxi driver had never heard of it.



An overview - the weekend included the 374 th anniversary of Guadalajara, Valentine's Day and a very unusual public baptism attended by thousands of people.



Churches

San Augustin

A visit to San Juan market

Saturday walk





Where we are - Puerto Vallarta we left Guadalajara on Monday morning and took a bus to Puerto Vallarta. We will spend four weeks here.
We had rented a condo at Plaza Marina a five minute walk from the Marina.



This is our first trip to PV in 22 years!!!
A walk down memory lane - Puerto Vallarta 1982
Memories 1983
Memories 1985
Memories 1987
More PV memories 1989,1993,1994



This was also a relaxing month, not much sightseeing, well, there isn't that much in PV anyway.

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

I'm just going to do overview collages around town.

Marina - evidently we ate a lot here!! It was a five minute walk away.


Puerto Vallarta Malecon


Around Los Muertos



Rio Cuale


Around town.


We spent a day in Bucerias, about twenty minutes from PV.



General

Our Lady of Guadalupe
Frida Kahlo




Scrabble - 11-2 for John



What did we buy? In the brown bag are six tequila glasses.




Toronto to LA - on Air Canada used AMEX points
Sheraton Hotel in LA used 2015 $200 AMEX travel credit
LA to Mazatlan - Alaska Air booked through Cheapo Air
Timeshare El Cid 3 weeks
ETN buses used from town to town
Hotel Morales Guadalajara
AirBnB San Miguel de Allende
Hotel Posada Santa Fe
Hotel NH Guadalajara
         condo Marina Plaza PV
Puerto Vallarta to LA - Alaska Air used AMEX points



ADIOS AND VAYA CON DIOS!

Weekend Roundup

  Welcome to The Weekend Roundup...hosted by Tom The Back Roads Traveller 1. Starts with " N " 2. A Favorite 3. NUMBER - chosen by...