Ice Cream Machines

[lackenstrand]

Do I need an ice cream machine? Do they work or will it be another gadget in the back of the cupboard?

I have one from M&S - we have used it once - it is at the back of the cupboard.

You can buy really good quality ice cream much cheaper that you can make it. Although, the kids enjoyed making it.

Mine was bottom of the range and died within a ridiculously short time. It is fun to use, and you can experiment (my clove and marscapone icecream was a triumph) but you can buy such high quality ice-cream now that it did seem a bit pointless. And you can't be spontaneous - it has to be in the freezer for several hours before you can use it.

Not all of them need to be in the freezer - ours freezes as it churns - it is fecking huge though!

The Phillips one is fab-had excellent reviews on here, as well as from Which etc. You only need to keep a disk bit in the freezer, so I just keep it in there all teh time, then you can knock up icecream in about half an hour.

This is it:

www.lakeland.co.uk/philips-delizia-ice-cream-maker/F/keyword/ice+cream+maker/product/11506

You'll be needing this too:

www.amazon.co.uk/Jerrys-Homemade-Cream-Dessert-Book/dp/0894803123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=124 0913094&sr=8-1

I don't really like shop icecream, but with this can make lots of really fruity ones, which I love. Probably no cheaper that buying posh icecream, but fun to do, and DD loves it.

Ok Great. Another useless impulse buy avoided. How about this dilemma: I have twin girls (almost 6) who started school last September. One of them hates change. She also hates my leaving her. Recently, the routine of dropping her off in her room (where there had been no problem) has changed to lining up outside with the rest of the school. She now refuses to get in line with her non-plussed sister and has to be dragged, crying, into the classroom by her teacher. She's fine a few seconds later and is not isolated or being bullied. In her previous montessori school, she would sometimes cling on, but they had a barrier so I could make a quick escape without her following me and she would calm down then. Star chart was started today but made no difference this morning. Do I go down the road of no chocolates or treats? It's doing my head in.......