as cool as I am, I thought you'd know this already...
I got debboamerik an ice cream maker for her birthday. if you've talked to her in the last 10 days, you already knew that. she's been stopping random strangers on the street to tell them; I'm pretty sure she called everyone she's ever met to tell them too. it's an electric, no ice or rock-salt needed, just a freezer and the right ingredients. once the mix is made and chilled, it takes 40 minutes to make a batch of ice cream. I also got her the Ben & Jerry's ice cream and dessert cookbook to go with it, which she read cover-to-cover in two hours. then she made her inaugural batch of ice cream (the next day, the canister needed 12 hours in the freezer to prep), the ice cream flavor I've been longing for half my life; strawberry fudge swirl (I have no idea why commercial ice cream makers combine every berry except strawberry with chocolate in their ice creams; it seems like a no-brainer to me). with fresh strawberries, pure cane sugar, and real, homemade fudge. I just finished the last of it, and I'm going to have to be good and not beg her to make more (she's planning maple pecan next, I think). it's a good thing we made our weekly date night contingent on regular attendance at the gym or I'd have a serious problem.