Look guys you’ll never see my living room on a design blog. As pretty as the landlord-chosen pale beige walls are as handsome as this coffee table once was (before the finish on the top chipped and we decided to ignore it until it fixed itself) and as charming as the explosion of half-deflated balloons overturned fire trucks and other toys (some of which aren’t even wooden organic or in keeping with our decorating scheme which by the way doesn’t exist) may be this is hardly the stuff of Pinners’ Envy. Our parties are similarly uncoordinated. There are no Mason jar cocktails laced with homemade bitters table runners made from flour sacks or bowls strewn with fresh herbs from our windowsill garden (which uh also doesn’t exist although if you saw the dirt accumulating on our windowsills from the lane below you might thank us). We’ve never sent guests home with a thank-you gift except for a hangover and we usually forget to make coffee at brunch. Our poor toddler has been left out of any organized birthday parties so far as I was secretly hoping to stick to family brunches and homemade cakes (of course) until he showed even the slightest interest in a more elaborate affair. (Although he has made his intentions clear this year: "Jacob is turning three. With cake. And a guitar. And cake." Noted!)
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
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 KQED Food | 2023-08-02 22:20:00 |  4,855 Views |
We Make an It's-It Ice Cream Sandwich at Home | KQED No Crumbs
But I also have moments of extreme obsession like my years-long affair with making homemade versions of things you can buy at the grocery store whether they’re Oreos Goldfish crackers graham crackers fudge popsicles Pop Tarts or marshmallows. I can’t help it; the homemade versions always taste a million times better and don’t involve any mystery ingredients. So when I saw a recipe for ice cream sandwiches in a new book about parties even I knew I’d probably never make the golden cookies Oscar statuettes Walk of Fame brownie stars or shiny gold curtains in the chapter that focuses on creating an old-fashioned Hollywood-style movie night party there was no way they wouldn’t be in my freezer that same weekend.
The book is by Amy Atlas a New York City-based party planner known for her stunning party spreads that execute a theme down to the tiniest detail. Her book is spectacular 15 chapters of everything from table settings to instructions on how to do all that pesky stuff (spreading fondant dousing sugar cookies in decorative icing securing a cake etc.) that seemed really intimidating before she walked you through it and you realized it could be a piece of cake. But lest you think the book is all pretty pictures and ambitious parties these sandwiches will correct you in a single bite: they are perfect. If store-bought ice cream sandwiches tasted half as good they'd be dangerous. Luckily there's no way to keep them long enough to do any significant damage — especially if you're taking them to a (themed of course) rooftop barbecue like I did Saturday night.
One year ago: Crispy potato roast and sour cream cornbread with Aleppo Two years ago: Blue cheese-scallion-liquorice cookies and creamy Swiss chard and scallions Three years ago: Buttermilk ice cream Four years ago: Almond cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote and cauliflower bean and feta salad Five years ago: Black bean confetti salad
