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Jamieforrest... the grainy texture is likely from too large a ice crystal... or potentially not enough fat in the base. To avoid the salt crystal issue, you want your ice cream as cold as possible before you make it. This means you might want to refridgerate your base overnight. If you are in a hurry, go to the freezer for at least a couple hours. If that doesn't work, you should make sure you are using enough heavy cream. It's the back bone of the soft feel. Gelato doesn't use it the same way, but I would make sure you check your ratios. I could go on about this topic for hours, but if you want a simple custard recipe that I use... you can likely find me by looking at my profile.

I get the idea of appellation control for products for assurance of quality. I get the idea of preserving culinary history. But I think what makes me laugh a little at the quote is the 'ancient' part of that statement. Perhaps there is something lost in translation, but the word ancient seems a bit hyperbolic.

I mean if we've got to use the tomato, a new world fruit, how ancient can it be? Or even more on that point, how ancient can a tomato variety that has developed a regional character be? Or even how ancient is Pizza Margherita, which I heard rumor was born of a Queen visit during the second half of the 19th century?

Anyway, go them! I love eating at 2 Amy's here in DC with its official Italian designation. God save the slice! And the men (or women) bound to protect it!

I lived right around the corner until recently. I never minded the crowds. I mean its an event and think this is perhaps a bit of a harshness. The whole success of the market is because those people you don't appear to like want to show up, buy somethings that are over priced. It encourages it to be the place to sell high end, natural foods. As for going during the week, I pretty much feel its the only good time to go anyway. The vendors work with you more, and you can be in and out in no time. I used to go right when it opened and I was coming home from the gym.

I would say that there is one place to go with our 14th month old, 2 Amys. It is extremely delicious, special in what they put on the plate, and there are plenty of other kids. It gets even a bit noisy as they move into prime dinner service. However, no reservations so if you don't time it well, it could be standing around for a bit.

However, when our son was that age we'd take him to nicer places that you wouldn't think would be good. Mostly because at that age they are so small, and sleep so much they are hard to notice. Pick a place that is relatively noisy, go relatively early, and places like Central, Brasserie Beck, or the like and it wouldn't matter much. We even went to Central two weeks ago with our son and they were happy to have us--or at least pretended to be since there were 8 of us.

We have a new little one in our house (9 weeks). We are unabashed meat eaters. And for those who go on about 'breast feeding' as if its something easy and obvious that you will feed your child it.

I can just say you either haven't had children or have those rare high volume producing breasts. You can say what you want, but when that kid is born and still hungry and your choice is between your veganism and formula (soy or otherwise)... I think you'll chose the milk. There are real issues with the soy stuff.

More importnatly, erhaps we should get over being preachy about this sort of thing, and realize that we have the eyes in the front of our head because we are designed to eat animal protiens to at least some extent over our life time.

I want to emphasize that the "batter" should be as cold as possible before putting in the maker or else it just won't freeze (unless you have a maker with a freezer). If you're in a hurry, put the batter in a metal bowl or pot in an ice bath and mix it around. However, I've heard that ice cream is best if you can 'age' it overnight in the refrigerator. I think I heard this from a NYC pastry chef on WOR Food Talk.

My homemade ice cream melts very quickly after serving (much quicker than commercial ice cream). Is there any way to stabilize it?

Any hints about how to know when it is churned enough? I've sometimes gone too far and ended up with a buttery texture which is awful. But I'm afraid to stop too soon and end up with ice crystals. Any thoughts?

_greenbean: coconut milk. elise used agar flakes as a thickening agent but i've used arrowroot (which is easier) with good results.

If you leave your apartment for any reason on a Saturday afternoon, you'll find the city unbearable. It's New York, that can't be helped. Even on the non-greenmarket days, Union Square is tough to walk through.

If I want fresh produce on the weekends, I either drag myself out of bed early or resolve to be patient with the Union Square crowds. It's MUCH easier to get there early than be patient, though.