Making chai ice cream from scratch is not for the faint of heart.

Really good homemade chai requires a rainbow of flavorful and fragrant whole spices–and if you don’t have any of them, the grocery bill is eye-popping. For the tea, I selected Darjeeling 2nd Flush 2006, a tea with quintessential Indian tea flavor.

The spices smelled divine!

Making the ice cream also required a good chunk of free time, ample counter space, more bowls than I have, and four hands. The recipe I used called for heating the milk and spices for an hour, then steeping the tea, straining the mixture, returning it to the saucepan, whisking the eggs, cooking the eggs, straining again, and stirring it in an ice bath until it cools. Well worth it, I tell you. The ice bath step is crucial–you don’t want to put a warm mixture in the fridge to cool because condensation will form inside the bowl. And water in mixture = ICY DEATH for ice cream!

Mmm, smooth and rich!

Perfect on grilled cardamom-scented pineapples!

I bet this would make a killer milkshake too.

While I was making chai ice cream for our IT Dinner two nights ago, I discovered that with the addition of six new bottles, my spices have outgrown their little basket. It just won’t do anymore!

There’s got to be something around the house that could corral these bottles in an organized fashion.

Why, hello!

A simple cutlery tray purchased from IKEA before I found out that it was too wide for the kitchen drawers.

It’s perfect! It even holds the spice sachets from Spice Merchants in Kerrytown. Yay!

Guess who I met over the weekend?

Why, that’s General George Armstrong Custer! Also known as Steve Alexander, recognized by the U.S. Congress and the Michigan and Ohio senates as the foremost living re-enactor of Custer himself. He even lives with his wife in Custer’s old house in Monroe, Michigan! I attended a presentation where he related his life (that is, Custer’s) and how the press helped accelerate his career. He was an engaging storyteller and remained in character the entire time.

It’s a nifty coincidence that this talk occurred the day before we held a similar presentation in our Second Life sim. Our event was called “How the West was Worded,” featuring talks by Wild Bill Hickok and Doc Holliday (played by our usual members using new avatars) and a presentation by our in-world librarian and editor about how the concept of truth changed during the evolution of newspapers in the 19th century. It was well-attended with over 40 people, almost hitting the maximum number of players on a server. Success! It’s so awesome that we have all these smart folks in our online community that are passionate about these things and want to share their knowledge with others. Can’t wait for the next one!

FestiFools, Ann Arbor
April 5th, 2009

T-Rex Puppet:

Jellyfish:

Nicole’s pink alien:

Robots from the Liberty Robot Supply Store:

And the best one there:

The little robot kid stood like a robot the whole time! So cute!

Need a moment to catch my breath.

What a hectic past three weeks! Suddenly I found myself thrust into all these social events and networks — meeting new people, attending dinners, organizing field trips, building online communities. It’s been one activity after another and with different groups.

It’s been a 6 days since my last outing and I am still recuperating.

Though it was fun! Seeing how I participated in them (read: I have a habit of volunteering for everything), I’m in it for the long haul.

Hmm, maybe I should throw a debut party to officially launch this new social life. Ha!