Beet Ice Cream

It never feels like summer until July, when the midwest gets hit with the first dangerous heat wave and the humidity becomes overwhelming. Everyone likes to complain about it, including me, but I secretly appreciate the extreme temperatures that mark our seasons in this region. When I lived in Oregon, I was always felt a bit melancholy when fall, winter, and spring would blend together into one entirely tolerable season.

I recently spent a nice weekend in Milwaukee with part of Nick’s family. I always forget how different Lake Michigan looks further north. It appears more accessible, without a messy Navy Pier and fewer people.

I’ve been traveling non-stop this summer (usually only as far as Chicago, thankfully). Between the beginning of May and the end of August, I’ll have spent only three weekends here, and one of those was to move. I’m lucky to be so busy, but I hardly know what to do with myself when I don’t have to scramble to catch a train on a Friday these days.

My weekend plans include a bike tune-up, a visit to the Urbana Farmers Market, and a long run. I’ll also be finishing off a batch of Beet Ice Cream as the next heat wave rolls in. I used this recipe from Serious Eats (omitting the chocolate), but next time I am going to try Thomas Keller’s. The Serious Eats recipe was nice, but it didn’t end up as creamy as I’d hoped. (For those of you questioning whether beets and ice cream should be paired, let me assure you that while it is different, I think it is delicious. There is a natural sweetness to beets, of course, and the earthiness mellows out the rest of the sugar in the recipe.)