Tasty Tools: Scoop
Thursday, May 8th, 2008Well, unfortunately, I’m too late to enter this food blogging event (happens too often), but I really wanted to, so I’m posting this anyway.
Tasty Tools is a monthly food photography event hosted by Joelen’s Culinary Adventures. April’s theme was scoop - use any kind of kitchen scoop and photograph it. View the entries and winners.
Lately, I’ve been eating a lot of brownie-loaded chocolate ice cream (blame Dan - he brought home the first carton, and now I’m hooked). And last fall, while visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Oak Park, IL, near Chicago, we discovered this wonderful little shop called Olive and Well. It’s a specialty shop that carries mostly olive oils, balsamic vinegars and various gourmet condiments, breads and sauces.
They have lots of small casks of olive oils (probably hold a couple of gallons) with little paper cups for tasting. We tasted almost all of them and finally settled on one. Then I noticed the vinegars - and I’m a vinegar freak, just ask Dan
- so I went over to see the flavors … and then I saw it - strawberry balsamic vinegar. I poured some into a little tasting cup and lifted it to my mouth - before I could even taste it, the aroma tingled my nose and my mouth watered instantly. I knew I was going to be buying this one
So I did.
And what goes better with chocolate than strawberries? That’s right - strawberry balsamic vinegar. Scoop out some brownie-chocolate ice cream and drizzle it with strawberry balsamic vinegar - a dessert truly to die for.

Oh, about the scoop
Years ago, when we first moved into the neighborhood and I was on the board of the Civic League, it seemed like every few months, someone was having a Pampered Chef party - I had one annually for a few years myself. This is one of the gadgets I got during those years. Works great - it has anti-freeze in the handle that flows down into the scoop when you use it, to help melt the ice cream so it scoops more easily. I love it.

Last night, Dan, Barbara, Bill and I went to see the 

There doesn’t seem to be much more to say about the