Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I love pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and I will eat butternut squash right out of the rind once it's roasted. I bake pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie in autumn, not really for the holidays so much. I generally love squash. I once made pies from a squash in Peru just because it was a novelty. These squashes/gourds are so big it takes two people to carry one. It's important to remember that pies aren't just a desert - they are often the main course, filled with meats, vegetables, and spices. My family usually has pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we also get tired of traditional holiday foods. Frequently, for Thanksgiving or Christmas, we will decide to have something different at the table. Last year we had an incredible Italian dish that my father prepared for Christmas, and I smoked chicken and baby back ribs for Thanksgiving. It didn't change the spirit of the holidays at all for us. So, I guess the important thing is that you enjoy what you cook and eat during the holidays.

im also a very huge fan of pink ice cream, too, as well.

Just googled and it said closed December 2007 :(

I have been searching all over trying to find where to get a coconut custard pie in NYC. You mention it above but then decline to name a place! please help!

I haven't swooned over pumpkin pie yet, but I sure do like it served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I want to swoon over it, though.

@Lippy: I must find that Beard pumpkin pie recipe with preserved ginger and brandy. I've got some Raynal V.S.O.P that needs a job.

I'm a big fan of CI and ATK. (Though I do agree with some poters in another thread about Cook's Country being just ATK on a different set)
What Kimball and his team do is so informative and unbiased. The hows and whys of each recipe are explained in plain language; I learn something from each article. And the absence of advertising is so refreshing. Have you read a Bon Appetit lately? It's got more ads than Glamour! And some of the articles? Rich beautiful people in lavish home eat gorgeous food with rich beautiful friends. Please! It's not just food porn, it's lifestyle porn!!

I am a lover of chocolate or mint chip almost always when it comes to ice cream. However, yesterday in the extreme humidity of NYC we went out for some gelato, went over to the little stand outside Eli's on Third Avenue, ridiculously expensive, I know, and lo and behold I ordered the strawberry. It just looked so strawberry-y and good and refreshing. And it was. I am a convert. But I'll still order chocolate or mint chip 9 times out of 10.

My new favorite Strawberry Ice Cream (as of last year when I threw some lavender in for the first time from my backyard garden), when strawberries are in season, is Strawberry Lavender. Lavender, in moderation, adds a complementary depth to strawberry that cannot be fucking beatin'. Mine is made with half of one whole vanilla bean. I have a recipe if you are interested. Mine is the best I've tasted so far and yes, I can put my money where my mouth is.

For you who mentioned Graeter's, you might be in Columbus. If you are, you should check out Jeni's Ice Creams in the North Market, on High Street or in Grandview. If you aren't from there, just GOOGLE Jeni's Ice Cream and try (as quickly as you can possibly get it) her Strawberry Rose seasonal flavor. If is the very last word on strawberry ice cream. It lacks the graininess of Graeters (which I still like) from the over developed ice crystals. In addition, it has just a whisper of rose flavor. Can you think of anything prettier than a strawberry rose?

@Wally East: Strawberry mint?!?!?!??!?!

I will devoted this weekend to find this in Manhattan.

One of my favorite things is combining fruit ice cream like strawberry or cherry with chocolate. When I worked at a Haagen Dazs back in the 80's, I'd make myself strawberry shakes with chocolate syrup. B&J has since created Cherry Garcia, but the chunks get caught in the straw.

I used to despise strawberry ice cream because of the artificial flavor and the odd bits of alleged fruit which usually seemed gummy to me. Blech. But that was usually part of the tricolor "that way everyone will get what they like" cheap ice cream that tasted more like the carton than like a flavor you'd want to eat.

Then I made my own strawberry ice cream, carefully straining out the seed and odd bits. And it was like eating fresh strawberries with whipped cream. Oh, yum.

Is there a premium brand that is that good? I don't know. Don't need to know. More fun to make my own.

I bought some Breyer's strawberry recently and it's good, but doesn't have an intense strawberry flavor as I hoped. I have access to Graeter's at a local grocery store, so that brand is next. They do make wonderful ice cream, but if you are near Columbus, Ohio try "Jeni's Ice Cream". She specializes in unique combinations and one of her current seasonal flavors is 'Strawberry Rose Petal'. Her 'Lemon Blueberry' is one of the best lemon flavored ice creams I've ever had, but is not on her current menu. 'Riesling Poached Pear Sorbet' is really good too.

She also does mail order, but it is $70 for six quarts. Too bad it too far a drive for me!