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Golf Tournament

The other week, I had an opportunity to volunteer at a golf tournament fundraiser.  I had never been to a golf tournament, so I had no idea what to expect (yes, in 20 years of event planning, I never had to organize a golf tournament, it’s true). I was looking forward to helping out and having an excuse to spend all day outside.

The morning of the tournament, I got geared up in my official volunteer golf shirt and headed off to the country club.  It’s a really beautiful facility with a mission-style clubhouse and of course the golf course was impeccable.

  • photo credit: Leslie Jones
  • photo credit: Leslie Jones

Phones aren’t allowed on the course (one of the volunteer coordinators had a cautionary tale of someone who was escorted off of the property for taking a call), so I left my phone in my car, which was kind-of great.  I mean, I leave it in the other room all the time, but not checking in for eight hours is an accomplishment these days, wouldn’t you agree?

This is one of those events that has been going on for years and years.  Most of the volunteers are regulars and everyone knows each other.  I always get a little bit nervous when I find myself walking into one of those kinds of situations, so I was relieved by how nice and friendly everyone was.  The volunteer coordinators and the other volunteers were super nice, and all the golfers were relaxed and happy.

I was paired up with another woman who was also new to the event.  We were dropped off at our assignment with the promise that someone would come back by to explain what we were supposed to do.

It was a cool, overcast morning and my new friend and I had about an hour to chat and enjoy the scenery before the golfers showed up.  We still didn’t know what our official job was, so we just made a point of being friendly and checking off the groups as they came through.

photo credit: Leslie Jones

A gentleman in the maybe fourth or fifth group finally explained to us why we had been stationed at that hole.  You see, the fairway on this hole was a big hump.  Long hitters would clear the crest of the hump, but from the tee, you couldn’t see whether they were still hitting up or were on the green.  One of us was supposed to stand out on the course at the top of the rise and then signal back to the tee when it was clear for them to tee off.

This was an unfortunate interruption of my conversation with my new friend, but I was glad that we had something important to do like making sure that no one was concussed (I mean, the golfers were practically all doctors, but still).

When our final group had teed off, we headed back to the clubhouse where there was a lovely cocktail reception with a huge silent auction (add that to the list of reasons that I am glad to have never had to plan or run a golf tournament).  I’m looking forward to volunteering again next year.

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Estate Secrets

My writing club had a flash fiction contest so I made my first attempt at writing a 1,000 word short story.  The writing prompt was:

The wacky antiques dealer took pictures near a broken refrigerator about an hour ago to discover the secret.

Here is my story:

Estate Secrets

I never expected this to be my life. 

Sure, getting into the estate sale business seemed like a good idea.  Think about getting paid to go through someone else’s lifetime accumulation of treasures.  Imagine being the one to discover that rare item that would send Leigh and Leslie Keno into a tizzy.  Every day would be an adventure of discovery!

I’ll tell you what, it’s not like that.

What it is like is long, dirty days of sorting through mountains of someone else’s junk, trying to create some semblance of organization in order to encourage today’s hoarders – excuse me, I mean my future clients – to pay me for the privilege of taking as much stuff as possible off of my hands.

Our fiduciary responsibility to the estate means that my team has to go through every item, catalogue it, and research its value.  We can’t just skip the piles of magazines and overflowing linen closets, and we can’t make someone a bro deal to get them to take that 120-piece collection of Waterford crystal.  It is tedious and often smelly work.

I never thought that I would say this, but I should have listened to my father and gone to law school after all.

I’ve been in the estate sale business for long enough that I thought that I had seen it all.  I mean, did I tell you about the crazy cat lady who, in addition to the dozen living cats which were the beneficiaries of her estate, had a collection of nearly 3,000 cat objects?  Sure, plenty were from the Dollar Store, but there were also dozens and dozens of Baccarat and Lalique crystal and Herend porcelain figurines. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of cat tchotchkes.

Then there was the guy who had every issue of Playboy magazine from 1953 through 2003.  Someone bought the entire set.  And yes, we did wear gloves the entire time we were at that house. 

But this house really took the cake.

This tutor-style bungalow has always been something of a landmark in town.  Let’s just say that no one else had a Stonehenge-style garden folly in their front yard, much less one illuminated with gas-powered, flaming torches (at least until the fire marshal had something to say about it).  And, I have to admit that I was looking forward to getting to see what was inside…until I did.

I was expecting to find the suit of armor, the elaborately carved, throne-like chairs next to the fireplace, and the endless yards of heavy, red, velvet curtains.  I was not surprised by the well-stocked library with floor-to-ceiling shelves of leather-bound, first editions.  Frankly, I was not even surprised when we were cataloguing the library and discovered the volume that revealed a secret passage.

What we found when we explored the passage was surprising to say the least.  Horrifying is probably a better word.  But in spite of how disturbing it was, it was not illegal and was no reason for us not to carry out our responsibilities in terms of liquidating the estate. 

A rare book dealer from Archer City, Texas had agreed to take the entire collection site-unseen so we wouldn’t have to worry about having the library accessible to the parade of antiques dealers and lookie-loos who we were expecting for the sale.  We moved on to the kitchen.

#

It was the first day of the sale.  I peeked out at the line of early birds and my heart sank.  Roger, that wacky antiques dealer from Glendora was at the front of the line, pontificating about the home’s provenance and extemporizing about the value of the items that he expected to find.

The doors opened and we admitted the first 15 from the line.  The house was immediately buzzing with the excited energy of the treasure hunters.  It was a welcome relief from the ominous feeling that had come over my entire team after we found the chamber.  Now if only we could get Roger out of here before he discovered the secret.

From the moment he walked in the door, it was clear that he was not here to shop.  Watching him snooping around the fireplace and tugging on the sconces in the hall, I knew that it was just a matter of time before he asked me why we had placed that enormous credenza in front of the locked door to the library.  I did enjoy letting him know that Larry McMurtry had already wired the funds for the contents of the library and that there was nothing in there for him to see.

With a sniff, he proceeded to the kitchen.

“Why isn’t the refrigerator priced?” he asked Monica.

“Oh, it’s broken, and we don’t know that it is reparable, so the family chose not to put it up for sale,” she replied in her fantastically, disdainful manner. 

What did he think she was going to say? “Oh, it’s a second passageway to the most horrible thing that I have ever seen,”  Monica was too smart for Roger’s games.

He sniffed again.  “Well, you won’t mind if I take a few photos so that I can look up the model then. I may still be interested.”

The only thing interesting about that refrigerator was its secret.

#

About an hour later, I came through the kitchen to check on Monica.

“I didn’t see Roger leave; do you know where he went?”

She shrugged and glanced toward the broken refrigerator, “You know those wacky antiques dealers,” she deadpanned, “sometimes they just disappear right out from under your nose.”

The End

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Another vet visit

You guys, I have a confession to make: sometimes I take the kittens for a vet visit even though there isn’t anything wrong with them. It sounds worse than it is.  You see, when they were little baby kittens, the vet talked me into the “kitten package” that included all of their vaccinations, getting fixed, microchips, and unlimited vet visits and nail trims for a year.

You already know that I am a firm believer in nail trims, and it is something that I do at home, otherwise we would probably have been going to the vet every two weeks.  But every few months, I like to take them in to be weighed and talk to the vet about their diet, etc.  I like putting them in the car and taking them somewhere close by and since they aren’t getting shots or other procedures every time they go (and are so easy-going in the first place), they don’t freak out.

Sally napping in his cat carrier

When we get into the exam room, the kittens get weighed and then I let them wander around.  This time I was cracking up because as Anabel was exploring, Sally was trying to hide himself in the corner.  Poor guy!  At one point he even crawled under a bookshelf.  Now, he never behaves like that at home and nothing bad ever happened in the exam room anyway (they get taken in the back for shots) so I just thought it was funny that this big guy who acts all BMOC at home, was trying to hard to hide.  So, I scooped him up and held him in my lap while the doc examined Anabel.

This time, because we are transitioning from kitten food to cat food, I wanted to talk to the vet about what and how much we feed them.  Here is what the vet told me: a normal, full-grown, female cat should weigh between 8-10 pounds (Anabel is just under 9 pounds); a full-grown, male cat should weigh between 10-12 pounds (Sally weighed in at 10 pounds, 12 ounces).  I mean, I already knew that my kittens are perfect, but it is always nice to get quantifiable confirmation of such things.

Of course, the vet did have to find something to pick on me about.  Their nails were trimmed, they were a good weight, they are nice and well-behaved…he was going to have to really make an effort to come up with something.  He broke out a flea comb to see if he could find any evidence of fleas (he didn’t, we have the really good flea medicine that we get at there and I use it).  He sure did get a comb-full of fur though.  Busted!  I have been trying to brush these guys ever-other day, but the day before their appointment, Anabel was not in the mood for a brushing.  So, now under doctor’s orders, they are one a daily brushing schedule.

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An Intro to Chakras – Svadhisthana

“He who meditates upon this stainless Lotus, which is named Svadhisthana, is freed immediately from all his enemies…and is like the sun illuminating the dense darkness of ignorance.”

Description of the Six Centres, Verse 18

Svadhisthana – the sacral chakra

The next chakra is svadhisthana, the sacral chakra. This is the chakra of emotions and creativity.  Within the body, svadhisthana is located in the region of the sacrum, where the spine connects to the pelvis.

When svadhisthana is not activated, we exist in a psychic state where we just want to live in a carefree and hedonistic way.  Wilhelm Hauer (a Tantric scholar and contemporary of Jung) described it as, “the life we live freely and thoughtlessly, just throwing ourselves into the stream of life and letting ourselves be carried, floating on to all that comes to us.”

In modern descriptions, svadhisthana is assigned the color orange, but in the traditional texts, the six petals of the mandala are described as being of a vermillion (bright red) color.  It is associated with the element of water, symbolized by the silver crescent moon within the mandala.

The animal contained within the mandala is a makara (crocodile or sea monster).  This is the only chakra whose mandala contains a scary animal.  To Jung the svadhisthana chakra contains the idea of a symbolic death complete with confronting the danger of being drowned or devoured by the makara.  He relates this not only to the act of baptism but also to the sun myth found in ancient cultures such as the Egyptians and the Greeks.  I found his equating the whole baptismal story to the sun myth very enlightening.  Here is how he explains it,

“…the sun in the afternoon is getting old and weak, and therefore he is drowned; he goes down into the western sea, travels underneath the waters (the night sea journey) and comes up in the morning reborn in the East.  So, one would call the second chakra, the chakra of baptism, or of rebirth, or of destruction – whatever the consensus of the baptism may be.”

– Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga

Jung’s interpretation is even more interesting if considered with regard to creativity.  Think about the fear that can accompany your desire to express yourself creatively.  For example, I have a lot of fear concerning writing these posts about chakras.  I have fear every time I get ready to start a new creative project. Is this going to be too hard?  Am I going to be able to make something good enough? Do I have what I need (either the experience or the materials) to complete this?  The fear keeps me from starting.  But at some point, I have to take a deep breath and dive in.  Face the monster and come out the other side with the satisfaction of knowing that the idea inside of me has been released into the world. 

Think about it like going for a swim in the ocean.  You can stand near the shore and keep getting pounded by the break or you can take a deep breath and dive in, and when you come out on the back side of the waves, you realize how much easier it was to act than to let your fear keep you stuck where you were.

Next week we will talk about manipura – where you arrive when you are reborn after your symbolic death.

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No-Bake Cookie Adventures

When I was visiting my friend in Arizona we wound up in Flagstaff for lunch.  The place that we went had a big assortment of yummy, vegan sweets and K stocked up.  Her favorite of the assortment was a no-bake, vegan, peanut butter cookie.  She found a recipe online for a three-ingredient version that we decided that we had to try out.

Three Ingredient, No-Bake, Vegan Cookies

  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter (recipe calls for natural, unsalted)
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • 2 cups rolled oats

Combine the peanut butter and maple syrup in a bowl.  Microwave in 20 second increments, whisk in-between until it is well combined.  Continue to microwave in 20 second increments until the mixture begins to dry out (4-7 times). Add the oats, form into cookies, freeze to harden.

For an added peanut butter cookie touch, we used a fork to flatten the cookies (cute right?).

I love how simple these cookies were to make.  I love that you didn’t even need the stove, you just use the microwave to do your “cooking.”  They were pretty yummy, but I do think the “dough” tasted better when it was warm.  If you are vegan and you are looking for something for your sweet tooth, this might be a good option for you.

I was interested to know what other no-bake vegan cookie recipes might entail, so I did a little googling and found this!

Peanut Butter-Chocolate No Bake Cookies

This is a chocolate/peanut butter cookie (click header for link).  It has coco powder, so you still get the gluten free thing, but you get a little bit of the body that you would get from a cookie that has flour in it.  You also use a little bit of coconut oil and some solid chocolate, which both add a bit of fat and I would think create a creamier texture.

I found about four variations on this same recipe, some used sugar instead of maple syrup, and one used coconut milk instead of almond (or other non-dairy milk).  I can see myself trying this out in some form.

No-Bake, Not-Vegan Cookies?

So, then I started to wonder (as one would) what a non-vegan no-bake cookie would entail.  Spoilers:  the recipes that I found were pretty much the same as the vegan cookies but included some form of milk and/or butter.  So whatever kind of milk you decide to use (or skip) and whatever kind of fat would be the variables between a vegan and a non-vegan cookie.  But all the no-bake cookie recipes that I looked at omitted eggs and flour (no surprise there!).

Since it’s starting to warm up, this may be a fun area of sweets-making to explore without having to turn on the oven (when it isn’t an ice cream experiment day at least).

Has anyone else tried any no-bake vegan baking?  Do you have a favorite recipe or trick?

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An Intro to Chakras – Muladhara

“By meditating thus on her who shines within the muladhara chakra, with the luster of ten million suns, a man becomes lord of speech and king among men, and an adept in all kinds of learning.  He becomes ever free from all diseases, and his inmost spirit becomes full of great gladness. Pure of disposition by his deep and musical words, he serves the foremost of the devas (divine beings).”

Description of the Six Centres, Verse 13

Muladhara – The Root Chakra

The first chakra, the lowest chakra, is muladhara – the root.  Think about it like you are sitting on the ground, cross-legged, like the guy in the picture.  You can feel your “sit” bones (the official name for these bones are the ischium) against the ground.  Muladhara is not in contact with the ground (also remember that it doesn’t physically exist) but energetically, it is creating a connection to the earth.  You are “grounded.”

For Jung all of the chakras are symbols, right?  So muladhara, being the root, is a symbolic representation of our conscious world, of our everyday existence.  The mandala of muladhara contains multiple symbols of earth: the yellow square symbolizes the four corners of this earth, the Sanskrit syllable “LAM” relates to the earth, and the elephant is the largest land animal.

The Chopra Center describes muladhara as the chakra that relates to the things that ground you and create stability for you in your daily life, things like food, water, and shelter.  These are also the elements of the first level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – the physiological needs.

For Maslow, the needs of one level must be met for an individual to have the motivation to pursue the elements of the next level much in the same way that Kundalini ascends sequentially as the chakras are activated and aligned.

According to Jung, we all exist within muladhara, although we may not be conscious of it.  What does that mean?  Here’s what I think it means: there was a period of time where I was existing in the world and going about my life, but in a very unconscious way.  I would go to work, come home late, go to bed and then wake up the next day and do it again.  I was “busy” and tended to react to things around me.  I was so busy doing that I didn’t take time for learning (research, reading, whatever) or physical activity, much less reflection.  I felt like things were happening to me.  I didn’t exist beyond being busy doing.  A Kundalini practitioner might say that I had a blockage in muladhara.

In Kundalini lingo, when muladhara is “activated” you become aware of yourself as an entity distinct from the world around you.  You become aware that things are happening around you, not to you. You have some psychical distance between yourself and your environment.  It is the first, baby step toward individuation, the attainment of self-realization that is the goal of Jungian psychology.  To me, another parallel of muladhara being activated, is this fundamental tenant of Stoic philosophy: you cannot control what happens, you can only control how you react. 

I realize that today’s post is a bit of a potpourri of philosophy, but I find the parallels fascinating.  Maybe it just reinforces Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious.

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Sedona Dreaming

Recently, I went to Arizona to visit my dear friend K again.  I knew that I hadn’t trained quite enough to keep up with her, but not being quite prepared enough for something generally doesn’t stop me from showing up and giving it a shot and like I’ve said before, she is very tolerant.

The weather was gorgeous.  It was a treat to be there when it was in the mid-70’s to 80’s (and a bit of a relief to not have to worry about overheating while we were out adventuring).  I didn’t know exactly what we would get up to, but I knew that it would include some outdoor activities.

K took it easy on me on day one.  For day two she asked if I would want to take a drive up to Sedona to go hiking.  YES!  Sedona is a bucket list destination for me, and I was so excited to go there.

I generally have a very peaceful feeling in Arizona and in Sedona it was even stronger. Driving into town made me think of that animated movie (was it Cars?) and maybe a Willie Coyote cartoon.  The landscape is so iconic, it felt very familiar. One thing that was unexpected though was how it was so dessert and so lush at the same time.

We pulled into the parking lot at one trailhead, no parking spot, wasn’t meant to be (in Sedona you have to really be open to the signs that the universe sends you).  So, we went to the next trailhead and there was our parking spot!  This was the trail that we were meant to hike.

We set off on the Little Horse Trail.  Rather than deciding our whole route at the beginning, we decided which way to go until we got to the next fork, then we would make our next decision.  At one trail map, I made the mistake of looking at the trail difficulty ratings and got intimidated that one of our options was rated as “advanced”.  We wound up taking that trail anyway and even though it was advanced, all it took was a little bit of encouragement from my friend for me to make it to the end.

My biggest problem with hiking is that I have to really watch where I’m putting my feet.  I feel that I miss out on some of the vistas because I am trying to make sure I don’t slip or twist an ankle.  But this hike had some great scenery at ground-level that I got to enjoy.  I think K said that she counted ten different kinds of flowers, but I was trying to not stop too often so I only got photos of four.

Eventually we wound up at the church rock (someone built a big church coming out of this rock.  When we got to the end of the trail, rather than going to church, we decided to walk back to the car through the neighborhood and check out all the cool Sedona houses.

After a four-mile loop, we were back at the car and ready for to find somewhere for lunch.

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Sally Snuggles

Yesterday, I had been in-and-out of the house all day.  The kittens (oh, excuse me, now they are cats) had followed me around all morning. We had a little bit of kitten snuggle time and we even had a very productive session with the brush. But eventually they settled in for their mid-day naps and I went about my puttering.

Around five-thirty, I sat down in the front room.  I was going to catch up on Instagram, then come in here and do some writing.  Sally had other plans for me.  He hopped up on the chair, climbed into my lap and settled in for some snuggles and tummy rubs.  Now, this is unusual.  Yes, he is a sweetie who likes his belly rubbed and he will let me pick him up and hold him like a baby, but he doesn’t really ever seek me out for cuddle time.

So, I flipped on the TV and enjoyed having an armful of purring pussycat.  Two hours later (yes, TWO HOURS!) I was starting to get hungry.    It was way past his dinner time and even Anabel had emerged from her don’t bother me spot looking for something to eat.  But I couldn’t get up. I didn’t want to break whatever magic spell got me such a substantial kitty cuddle session.

Eventually he did wake up and let me escape (so that I could give them their dinner).  It was almost eight o’clock.

Even though I didn’t get any writing done, it sure was a good way for me to spend some time.  I may try to only watch TV while I have snuggling kitties on my lap, that way there is some redeeming aspect to my trashy reality-show obsession.

Now if I can only get Anabel to sit with me…

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An Intro to Chakras – Overview

Today I am going to give a quick overview of the six chakras and sahasrara (the crown chakra) and then beginning June 3rd (we’ll take Memorial Day off) will begin going through each chakra one at a time.

In last week’s post I mentioned that Kundalini sleeps at the base of the tailbone and that when the chakras are activated, she rises, ultimately reaching the crown of the head.  It follows that the chakras are discussed from the bottom up.

The mandala of each chakra contains several elements:

  • One central Sanskrit syllable (or mantra) at the center and a varying number of lotus petals around the perimeter, each containing the symbol of a Sanskrit syllable.
  • A geometric shape representing an element.
  • The representation of an animal.
  • The representation of deities.
  • Various colors.  There are different interpretations of the colors of the chakras.  In the older works (Serpent Power, Jung’s lectures, etc.) the colors are very complex (ex: within one mandala one part is vermillion, another part is a smoky color and the animal is black) but in our modern interpretations they have been simplified into basic rainbow colors.

Today I will explain the location of each chakra with relation to the physical body and give a few key components of the symbolism of each.

Muladhara – the root chakra

Muladhara is referred to as the root chakra as it grounds us to our physical reality.  Its location in the subtle body is near the base of the tailbone – Kundalini sleeps below muladhara.  The element of the chakra is earth (grounding, foundation, root).  The mandala of muladhara includes a yellow square (symbolizing earth), an elephant, the syllable lam, and is surrounded by four petals. 

Svadhisthana – the chakra of creativity

The next chakra, Svadhisthana is found in the region of the reproductive organs and is considered the chakra of creativity (consider the proximity to where life is created).  Its mandala has six petals.  An eight-petaled lotus inside the mandala with a white crescent moon symbolizes water.  The mandala also contains a sea monster (sometimes referred to as an alligator) and the syllable vam.  This chakra is associated with unconsciousness and emotion and is closely connected to muladhara.

Manipura – the solar plexus chakra

Above svadhisthana is the power chakra of manipura.  Manipura is located in the solar plexus region (above the navel but below the diaphragm).  Manipura means “lustrous gem” and this chakra is associated with the element of fire. The mandala is surrounded by ten petals and contains a triangle shape (representing fire) as well as both the syllable ram, and a representation of a ram.

Anahata – the heart chakra

The word translates to “unstruck” which relates to the sounds of the celestial realm where there are no hard sounds, as well as “pure” referring to the state we achieve when we are able to become detached by activating this chakra.  It is associated with balance, calmness, and serenity. The anahata mandala is surrounded by twelve petals.  Inside, it contains two triangles creating a six-pointed star, the syllable yam, and an antelope.  The element of this chakra is air.

Vishuddha – the throat chakra

Vishuddha chakra is located in the region of the thyroid gland.  Sixteen petals surround this chakra’s mandala and within it is a sky-blue, downward pointing triangle that contains a white circle (representation of the full moon), symbolizing the element ether.  The mandala also contains a white elephant and the syllable ham.  Stress caused by the fear of speaking up can affect this chakra.

Ajna – the third eye

Associated with the pineal gland, the ajna chakra serves as our link to the subconscious and the brahman (the ultimate reality underlying everything).  Activating this chakra connects a person to her intuition. The ajna mandala is surrounded by two petals.  The seed syllable contained within this mandala is om, the primordial sound and most sacred of all syllables.  There is no element connected with this chakra, because by this point corporeal reality has been transcended.

Bonus chakra content: Sahasrara – the crown chakra (thousand-petaled lotus)

Sahasrara is included in the Description of the Six Centres, and in some interpretations is referred to as the seventh chakra.  This is the point at which Kundalini connects to the energy of the universe and pure consciousness is achieved.  Sahasrara is described as a 1,000 petaled lotus flower.  The petals are arranged 20 rows of 50 petals, so all of the 50 syllables of Sanskrit are repeated 20 times.

In the coming weeks, I will go through each chakra in more detail and get into Jung’s interpretations of the symbols in terms of archetypes.  I’m also going to work on finding some images of the mandalas that I can share with you.

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Banana Ice Cream, Part II

Its been a while since I wrote about my experiments in homemade ice cream and I’m sure that you’ve been dying for an update.  Even if you haven’t, I have one for you anyway.

Banana Ice Cream, versions 2 and 3

My second attempt at banana ice cream was an optimistic exercise.  I used three bananas, two cups of whole milk, ¼ cup of brown sugar (why not!), and one teaspoon of vanilla.  The result had a good flavor, but a not so good texture; it was pretty grainy.  Ok, so probably whole milk only doesn’t have enough fat.  Let’s try again!

Maybe the third time’s a charm?  So, I tried three bananas, two cups of heavy cream (might as well go big), ¼ cup of granulated sugar, and one teaspoon of vanilla. This had a better texture, but it was a little too fatty for me (like licking butter).  Maybe it was time to try something else and come back to banana ice cream later.

Coconut Ice Cream, version 1

I was rummaging around in the cupboard and got the idea to try making coconut ice cream. After some Pinterest research, I decided to use: one can of coconut milk, one can of coconut cream, half a cup of sugar (we started with ¼ cup, but it needed a bit more), and a splash of vanilla. 

First, I dumped the contents of both cans in the blender and gave them a whirl to smooth everything out (it had been cold, so the coconut fat was separated and solid).  Then I added the sugar and the vanilla and dumped the whole concoction in the ice cream maker.  After about 15 minutes, I added about a cup of sweetened, shredded coconut.  I ran the machine for 20 minutes total before transferring the mixture to a container so that it could harden in the freezer.  This was delicious, the problem that it was super rock hard.  It would be great for popsicles though.  I decided to try again with half coconut milk and half whole milk, hopeful that will come out scoop-able.

Coconut Ice Cream, version 2

For my next coconut ice cream experiment, I tried one can of coconut milk, then the same amount of whole milk, half a of cup sugar, and a splash of vanilla.  It came out of the ice cream maker so yummy and it seemed like the consistency would be perfect.  But after it spent overnight in the freezer, it was rock-hard too.

I started to think that I need to go back to sweetened, condensed milk or bite the bullet and make a proper custard…