Garden mint chocolate chip ice cream

I love ice cream. I can't eat regular ice cream because I can't have milk fat, so my ice cream maker is my best friend. I LOVE mint chocolate chip ice cream. Luckily, my mint is starting to grow big enough to trim and use for ice cream. The other day, I discovered that you can buy push pop containers! I got a pack of 24 push pop containers for less than $30 from Amazon. 

I used mint from two different mint plants I have--one I planted from trimmings from my mom's mint, and one that I bought at Trader Joe's. My ice creams are all custard-based (include egg yolks) for creaminess since there isn't any milk fat involved.

Mint plant #1 

Mint plant #2 (rooted from cuttings)

Fun with straps #2

My second dress for my fiance's med school graduation came from a self-drafted pattern that I fully lined and incorporated some fun squiggly straps. I generated the initial pattern for my black dress with white polka dots with the knotted straps (blog post here), which has an A-line skirt. I modified it for this new dress into a pencil skirt, including a back vent. It's not a wiggle skirt (it doesn't taper in at the knees)--it's just a straight pencil skirt.

Back straps

Fun with straps #1

My fiance graduated from medical school last weekend, so I made two new dresses for the occasion! I had fun making creative straps for both of them.

For this first dress, I used Simplicity 5498 (out of print, the first dress I ever made) with a few sizing alterations--I took it in at the back seams connecting the side pieces to the back panels and in the center front as well. The dress has princess seams and flares out at the bottom, giving it a mermaid shape. I used a thick fabric with some stretch to it, so it was really comfortable. The fabric has been in my stash for a long time, so I'm not sure what it's made from or where I bought it.

Fun with straps dress #1

Aloe Melon Sorbet

I wrote this post a while ago and never actually posted it, so my apologies for the references to the wrong month... This March heat wave has been AWESOME and has made me excited for summer cuisine like sorbet. 

Homemade pretzels

I've been planning to try making pretzels for a long time. It was definitely fun, and worth it. I wouldn't recommend it if you have as little counter space as me (I have about 4 square feet of counter space total). Making the dough into pretzel shapes was the hardest part, so after I had enough for everyone in my lab to have one at journal club, I moved on to little pretzel nuggets. Just a heads up--these taste like movie theater pretzels, not like Philadelphia soft pretzels. Both are delicious, but I'm still looking for a Philadelphia pretzel recipe!