Week 3: Chocolate + Beer

Doing good on the diet, still mediocre on the gym/training. I'm struggling because my over-invested "must-meet-expectations" anxiety is still lurking. More on that later.

I'm getting the hang of this diet...as long as I log my calories/points every day, I stay on track. Even the weekly public shaming (weigh-in) isn't so bad.

Training this week: today. 3 miles on the bike, 10 minutes on the elliptical (um, wow...so out of shape), 1.5 miles on the treadmill. My timing to re-enter the training game is just like me too...I head to Arizona on Wednesday for work stuff, which means another disruption to my routine. SIGH. At least I have no plans on the weekend (other than football Sunday night), so if only I can find the motivation to crawl back to the gym next Saturday, I just might be able to get this into a healthy habit too.

Made some ice cream today...ice cream that is meant for sharing with folks at work and not keeping for myself. Turned out pretty good, so I'll share the details:

Guinness-Chocolate Ice Cream
(from The Perfect Scoop)

Makes about 1 quart. I have a 1.5 quart maker, and the frozen result was to the top, so it was a perfect amount. If you want the exact recipe, let me know...not sure if posting it violates copyright laws.

It called for milk chocolate, and the author advocates chocolate baking bars that are finely chopped into the desired quantity. I couldn't find this, so I bought Ghiradelli chocolate chips and then spent about 20 minutes chasing them around the cutting board as I tried to create what I think is supposed to be "finely chopped." I think they might have melted on their own without the added stress.

Making the custard mixture was interesting. Pour warmed mixture into egg yolks while whisking the entire time...what defines warm? I chose to use a thermometer and started the custard making process around 115 degrees. Instead of "ladling" the warmed sugar milk into my whisking bowl, I just just slowly dripped/tilted the pan so that it streamed in. But apparently, I was only half-way finished...I still needed to turn it into custard over medium heat without turning it into scrambled eggs. I continued to use the thermometer, and I started on low heat adding a tad more every 10 degrees or so. This proved successful. At 175, I poured it through a mesh strainer into the chocolate...once melted and smoothed, I started the ice bath and added the cream, beer, and vanilla.

I really wanted to finish this tonight, so I transferred the whole ice bath and mixture to the fridge to speed up the chilling process. Within an hour, it was down to 48 degrees and perfect for ice cream making. I transferred to 3 portable containers and will share with the beer-loving guys at work tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a Walking Group training day...yikes.