Self-imposed isolation, day 32

I seem to lack inspiration to write today. Actually, I seem to lack inspiration to do anything today. Or perhaps it’s just hard to concentrate. I managed the chores this morning, some errands (messages and the like), then started translating but mostly ended up doing… not much. The highlight today was the food delivery by my DH! 😄 Chocolate and cookies (and chocolate cookies) included. 😍

 

 

Self-imposed isolation, day 28

One day after the covid vaccine. My arm is slightly sore, though only if I touch it. I felt a little tired and weak yesterday afternoon, but rest and some water remedied that. Otherwise, nothing to report.

Today was sunny and warm, so I met my family outdoors. We walked, we talked… and my daughter’s Swedish homework was to make these no-bake chocolate treats (typical in Sweden). So we set up a baking station out on the patio. DD did all the work, I just told her which ingredients she needed and how much and helped her measure some of them. She didn't need much assistance, though, she’s always been into cooking and baking, and I try to encourage that. My mother was the same with me, and that is one of the skills that has actually turned out to be useful nearly every day. 💙

 

We modified the recipe by adding a bit of rum (DD asked: ”How much though? Like one deciliter?” 😄) and we may have used some more cocoa powder than the recipe called for. And we used an ice-cream scoop to shape the treats so no need to touch the batter with your hands. And they were delicious! We’ll certainly ask her to make these again! 😋

 

Self-imposed isolation, day 21

Not so much isolation today! It was a sunny, fairly warm day (considering this is Finland in early April) and it being Easter, we decided to spend the afternoon together (just us three). We met outdoors, wore our masks and kept our distances. We even organised an Easter egg hunt for our daughter! For about a dozen years now, I’ve hidden the eggs around our house, I’ve even once (a long time ago) hidden Easter eggs in an elementary school classroom in Vancouver, Canada – but I’ve never hidden them outdoors before! There’s usually still snow around Easter, so it’s not customary to do the egg hunt outdoos, but now we did. I also have this habit of forgetting where I’ve hidden them, which means in the end we’re all looking for one or two missing ones... 😄

 

(Interestingly enough, when I was little, it was the Easter Rooster that brought the eggs, but we seem to have adopted the Easter Bunny custom.)

We also went for a walk in the woods and around the neighbourhood, then just sat on the patio, eating some Easter eggs. My DH kept asking if we’d like one more, my DD and I kept pretending to think about it, then said, ”Well, it is Easter.” ”And it is not Easter every day, is it?” It is not! 😄 We talked a lot, laughed a lot – it’s wonderful how much fun the three of us have together. 💓

Self-imposed isolation, day 19

What was it I said in my previous post about not much happening to one in isolation? I’ll take that back.

When you live like a hermit, you look like a hermit. I haven’t much looked in the mirror in nearly three weeks. Nor should I, for one glance was quite horrifying. Mostly I’ve grown hairier. No moustache or beard yet, which is too bad – stroking your beard while looking all mysterious/devious/contemplative looks like so much fun, at least judging from how much my DH likes to engage in such behaviour. I am on my way to an impressive unibrow though! And while I never brush or comb my hair – simply running my fingers through it is sufficient – maybe I should do something about it before next I venture out, or the birds will mistake it for their nest.

I will not post pictures. Well, maybe something much cuter and even somewhat furrier.

 

Self-imposed isolation, day 17

Not much to report today (not that there usually is). I cleaned, I cooked, I… don’t know what I did. So I’m just going to post a picture of an Easter egg – I favour the ones with fillings, not the surprise eggs where the chocolate is… not sure you can even call it chocolate. But we sometimes buy these Moomin Easter eggs, because, well, they’re Moomins!

 

I keep the Groke (Mörkö, on the left) by my bed here, because Mörkö doesn’t just appear in the Moomin stories, it is a sort of bogeyman, the creature that children are afraid of in the dark (”Mum, dad, there’s a Mörkö under my bed!”). So, surely having a Mörkö guarding me while I sleep will drive all the other Mörkös away. 😄

 

Self-imposed isolation, day 14

 Today I have

- had too much coffee (two large cups in the morning – daylight saving)

- cooked (sweet & sour chicken for tomorrow)

- had three video chats with family (one more coming up later!)

- talked to dear friends (OK, wrote messages)

- read (when do I not?)

- done some writing (a story I’m really not supposed to be writing, so no more about that)

- read about Victorian fashion, particularly about popular colours (research! And yes, related to that-which-should-not-be-written… sigh…)

- eaten a solid chocolate nougat egg that comes in a real egg shell (Mignon by Fazer)

- named a character in a story my daughter is writing (just a casual suggestion, which, to my surprise, was accepted – if you know teenagers, you know that your suggestion being accepted is kind of a big deal! 😀 Also very proud of my daughter writing a story.)

 

 

Self-imposed isolation, day 12

Not much going on today. My daughter came to see me after school, we stood outside in the sun and talked. That was lovely. And hey, Easter is coming…

 

Self-imposed isolation, day 5

The definite highlight of today: food delivery! My DH brought me a big box of supplies, and he had thrown in chocolate! Lots of chocolate! I also got to see him and our daughter (from a safe distance) as they dropped off the provisions.

 

It is almost weekend. We have this habit of celebrating the weekend on Friday evenings. I usually bake something, then we watch a movie and eat ice cream. When our daughter was little, she used to tell everyone that we have a party every Friday! Well, true, only it’s a very small party. 😄 This time will be different, but we’re doing our best to stick to the traditions, perhaps to give us some feeling of normalcy in this weird situation. We will have a video chat, and we even have some Carelian pies (though not home-made, from the store).

 

Review: Fazer Milk Chocolate and Honey Roasted Almonds

This is the latest addition to Fazer’s large (200 g) milk chocolate bars: a milk chocolate bar flavoured with honey-roasted almonds!

The wrapping is the typical, classic blue of the Fazer milk chocolates, with a picture of (rather deliciously looking) roasted almonds and pieces of chocolate.

The scent has the sweetness of milk chocolate with the equally sweet, warm undertones of honey.

The milk chocolate itself is of the Fazer quality – my favourite milk chocolate in fact, smooth, not too sweet or sugary (they use fresh milk rather than dried or condensed milk). The honey roasted almonds come in fairly large fragments, crispy and crunchy and not too hard. There is the sunny sweetness of honey and the lovely toasted aroma of roasted almonds. I also detect a hint of salt – salt is mentioned among the ingredients but not among of the flavourings on the front of the wrapping... but I’ve seen this chocolate marketed as “with a touch of salt”. Either way, I like that bit of saltiness and might even have wished it to be more pronounced.

So far, my favourite among flavoured milk chocolates from Fazer has been the sea salt and caramel, but, while I still adore the flavour, my teeth are not too happy with the hard caramel granules. This might be a good alternative; gentler for your teeth and absolutely delicious!

Review: Marabou Oreo Filled

  

Now, just in my previous post I wondered whether I should stop writing chocolate reviews, but here I am with yet another one… but my DH brought two bars of Marabou Oreo Filled chocolate from the grocery store just so that I could write a review! After such a thoughtful gesture, who am I to say no? ;)

Now, these bars have the traditional Marabou yellow-and-red look with a picture of Oreo filled chocolate. However, they are considerably heftier than your usual Marabou milk chocolate bar (320g vs 185g), which means they’re big and thick – and I do love a big and thick bar!

Um. Where was I? Right, the chocolate looks like this:

The scent is very sweet. There’s the fairly mild aroma of milk chocolate and maybe a bit of vanilla.

The milk chocolate is the typical Marabou milk chocolate. It’s very sweet and smooth – not my favourite because of the sweetness, but not bad at all. The chocolate encases a white filling, which is also very sweet and has a creamy, almost buttery flavour. It’s a little like the filling in Oreos, but I don’t think it’s exactly the same stuff although I could be wrong. Inside the filling nestles the Oreo part, which is a nice, solid layer of that dark chocolate cookie. It is crispy and crunchy and has the typical Oreo taste. Unlike I expected, it actually balances the flavours of the otherwise very sweet chocolate – and in terms of texture makes this chocolate more interesting.

This is a very sweet bar – not intended for sophisticated nibbling but rather something from which you want to break a piece after piece and just stuff your face with those deliciously thick fragments. I don’t really mind all that sweetness… and, oddly enough, lately I’ve suffered from sudden, inexplicable cravings for Oreos! 😨 So this chocolate definitely worked for me.

Blog Birthday!

It has been three years since I started this blog! It does not feel that long! (Add all the other usual exclamations about how time passes so quickly.)

In three years, I’ve written 191 posts. No, I’ve published 191 posts; there is a number of never published drivels that are better left forgotten.

The most popular posts have been… who would have guessed… chocolate reviews! Very funny, considering this was never meant to be a chocolate review blog, it was a joke from a friend that inspired the very first review! But, apparently, people do read such things – and who can blame them? Chocolate is good. (Chocolate is food of the gods!) The most popular chocolate post is this multi-bar review of Fazer’s Travel chocolates.

The most popular posts that are not about chocolate are a review of Manda Scott’s novel “Hen’s Teeth”, a post about the costumes for the movie “The Girl King” (17^th century!), a review of Kelly Gardiner’s “Goddess” (17^th century!), my favourite books in 2015, and our visit to the Heavy Metal exhibition hosted by the Häme Castle. It also seems that my travel tales (especially ones about chocolate and cafés) have been popular as well as the little stories about seasonal celebrations (Halloween, Valentine’s Day etc.). Readers are also interested in writing, especially the science fiction anthology “Synthesis” and our werewolf novella “Musta Susi”.

After three years, I can't quite decide what to do about this blog. My DH and I recently signed a publishing contract for our debut novel. What can I say? It’s something I’ve been daydreaming about since I was quite small. I learned to read when I was about four or five years old (I’ve been told; I can’t remember) and since then have loved reading passionately. I wasn’t even at school yet, but I still remember very vividly the first time I realised that people actually have to write all the books (I even remember exactly where I sat… with a book open before me, of course). So... someone gets to write books! I knew that was what I wanted to do, and although that dream was buried many times, for years and years, and very, very deep, and mountains of dirt was packed on top of it with a heavy shovel... I could never quite get over it.

So now that the revision process of our manuscript is in full swing, I wonder if there’ll be much time for blogging – and, considering that the novel will be published in Finnish, perhaps I should also blog in Finnish. Furthermore, should I blog about more important topics? Stop with the chocolate reviews and other frivolous matters already and become a more… um, all right, somehow I have a hard time imagining myself as a serious blogger! 😁

Review: Chocolate Tree Whisky Nibs

I never win anything! I don’t consider myself particularly lucky, nor do I entirely trust all those Facebook giveaways… yet I guess I must be a positive person after all, for I always think it might be worth a try - and now it really was! I entered a giveaway organised by a Finnish company Laatusuklaa (Quality Chocolate) who import and sell some of the finest chocolates available in Finland.

And I won!!! 😊

I won a bar of Chocolate Tree’s dark chocolate with whisky nibs. Actually, the winner could choose between this and a milk chocolate bar, also from Chocolate Tree, but this sounded like an interesting combination… and I don’t even like whisky! I chose it just because it sounded different and I wanted to be adventurous!

The chocolate arrived about a week ago (right on International Women’s Day, as it happened!), and I must say that the people at Laatusuklaa had done a perfect job in packaging it. The bar was wrapped in several layers of protective materials, and the box was filled with foam peanuts to ensure that the bar would not break! Now that’s what I call fabulous service.

The pretty, colourful wrapping informs me that this chocolate has won an award. Interesting! Inside are two bars wrapped in silver foil. The bars are long and narrow, with one side patterned with leaf and floral motives. I really like the look of them! Here, almost too pretty to eat...

The chocolate is dark with a 69 % cocoa content, and the whisky comes in the form of cocoa nibs that have been soaked in Scottish single malt whisky. In case you’re wondering, the whisky content is 6 %.

The scent is lovely. I detect the darker, earthier notes of cocoa and something sweet, fruity or even floral – can that really be the whisky?

The texture is smooth - apart from the cocoa nibs, which are actually softer than in other chocolates I've nibbled before. And the taste? It’s fascinating - on the first taste, I found the same fruitiness that was present in the scent... but on the second, there was a definite smoky flavour! I must admit that I just can’t identify the whisky - apart from that smokiness, which is very pleasant - but then, I’ve only tasted whisky a couple of times. My DH, who has a little more experience, says it’s clearly there. Sometimes chocolates that include alcohol have a boozy aroma that is simply too strong for my taste, but this is not the case here.

At first, I did not quite know what I thought about this, but the more bites I had, the more I liked it! I imagine this could be a lovely, warming treat on cold winter days...

Fazer Visitor Centre – a visit to chocolate company!

As it was my birthday last week, we celebrated on weekend, and on Saturday my DH and daughter took me to Fazer visitor centre. Fazer is the most well-known chocolate manufacturer in Finland, but the company also makes other sweets, cookies, bread, muesli etc. and has bakeries and cafés in various cities and towns. They opened a new visitor centre just last autumn, and since then, I’ve been looking forward to a visit there!

We’d booked a guided tour, which lasted for about an hour. It started in a small tropical garden where we were shown cocoa trees with cocoa fruit and other tropical plants. On a cold winter day, the warm, humid garden was a particularly lovely spot.

The tour itself didn’t focus much on chocolate making or history of chocolate but rather on Fazer as a company; their history, products etc. The exhibition featured, among other things, a giant bunny made of egg shells:

Old confectionary equipment:

And a great number of old wrappings, boxes and other containers for sweets. These were very beautiful and truly charming!

There were interactive parts in the tour; you could, e.g., smell ingredients used in sweets (cocoa mass, cocoa powder, liquorice powder, spices...) and visit Fazer factories wearing VR headsets.

And of course, visitors were invited to sample some of the products: individually wrapped pieces of chocolate as well as chocolate and liquorice bars. A "chocolate tree":

Although it is every chocoholic’s dream to devour unlimited amounts of chocolate, I was careful and only sampled a bit – we were going to an Indian restaurant afterwards, and it would have been a shame to spoil my appetite! Still, I did get a bite of all my favourites as well as a chance to taste something new, such as these Dumle lime chocolates, which are chocolate covered lime flavoured soft, chewy caramels. I was a little suspicious about the lime thing, but these are actually delicious!

 

After the tour, visitors were given goodie bags containing some new or limited edition products... and there is a shop in the premises where we bought a big bag full of treats. For the most part, the selection did not differ from what you find in supermarkets and grocery stores, but there were some novelties we haven’t yet spotted anywhere else, such as these chocolate eggs. They are like our favourite chocolate eggs, Mignons: solid almond nougat eggs in real egg shells (and one of Fazer’s oldest products still in the market). These, however, are slightly larger than the normal Mignons and come in brown egg shells. Aren’t they beautiful? These would make a perfect little Easter/spring time gift!

In addition, there is a café where you can sample some of Fazer’s cafeteria products. The cakes looked utterly delicious! Since we had other plans, we didn’t indulge in these treats – but immediately decided to make another visit one day...

A chocolate feast - Valentine's Day 2017

Every year, I prepare a Valentine’s Day dinner for my DH and, these days, also our daughter. I try to pick a different theme each year (although the favourites, such as ancient Rome, have to be repeated occasionally because of popular demand). I’ve previously blogged about our Game of Thrones dinner and our Musketeer party.

This year, the theme was chocolate. This wasn’t simply because I love chocolate but mainly because my daughter once said we should have a meal where we just ate “chocolate foods”… so I decided to plan a menu where all courses included chocolate.

First I wrote a short text about why chocolate is an appropriate choice for Valentine's Day:

The ancient Aztecs regarded cocoa as food of the gods. Both the Mayans and Aztecs believed the cacao bean had magical or divine properties; it was used in the most sacred rituals of birth, marriage and death. Cocoa was used to make a drink xocoatl, considered a health elixir, with spices such as cinnamon or hot chili peppers.

The Aztec ruler Montezuma reportedly consumed cocoa elixir before heading off to his harem. He also welcomed the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez with a drink of chocolate, having mistaken the conquering invader for a reincarnated deity. Cortez brought cacao beans to the Spanish court where the pepper was replaced with sugar.

By the 17th century, chocolate was a fashionable drink throughout Europe, believed to have nutritious, medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. Rumour has it that Casanova, the legendary lover, was especially fond of chocolate.

Today, the aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate are ascribed to tryptophan, a building block of serotonin, a brain chemical involved in sexual arousal, and phenylethylamine, a stimulant released in the brain when we fall in love. Whether even hard-core chocoholics can consume enough chocolate to cause a significant rise in those chemicals is debatable... but either way, chocolate is sweet and delicious and an ever-popular gift among lovers.

For appetisers, I served white chocolate and olive bruschettas. I chose these because the combination of flavours sounds rather unusual. In addition, I wanted to have at least one dish with white chocolate. You can see the recipe I used for inspiration here. Somewhat surprisingly, this was very good! The white chocolate and mozzarella melted into a delicious, creamy sauce, and while white chocolate is very sweet, olives are salty, and all the flavours just worked together wonderfully. I was told I have to start making these regularly!

The main course was chicken with chocolate mole sauce. I am aware that there are much more authentic recipes, but to save time, I referred to this and this. I have to say that this smelled divine as it cooked! It tasted delicious, too; the chocolate and nuts gave it a robust, earthy flavour. Very different from anything we’ve ever eaten, but we definitely enjoyed it. It was also a surprisingly sturdy, filling dish.

With the chicken, I served fresh bread and a salad with lettuce, oranges and dark chocolate shavings. Oranges and chocolate is a classic combination, after all (although not one I particularly enjoy…). I didn’t use any recipe for this, just tossed those ingredients together.

The dessert was the hardest choice for there were so many things I wanted to make! Finally I decided on cheesecake brownies, because I’ve always wanted to make them and also because it’s been years since I last made a batch of brownies. I used this recipe (in Finnish) and this (in English) and just sort of combined, tweaked, modified, adjusted… I was pretty sure I’d mess up the marble pattern… but it’s also something I’ve always wanted to try. And it wasn’t that difficult after all, or at least it worked out all right this time. Cake still in the pan:

This was pretty much what I expected: very chocolaty, with cake-like edges and a more molten core. My daughter told me it was “the best cake ever!” but then she went on to list just about every cake I’ve made in the past 18 months and they were all also “best cakes ever”, so…clearly, she likes cake.

This was a fun Valentine’s Day and it definitely included a lot of chocolate! Of course, that wasn’t quite enough for us, and once we’d put our daughter to bed, we finished the evening with these (and an episode of House, M.D. – how romantic! 😀).

Review: Leader Raw Choco Winter Favourites (Blueberry & Lingonberry, Apple & Caramelized Almond, Orange & Season's Spices)

These three bars are “Winter Favourites” or “Season Editions” from Leader. I’ve previously reviewed some of their other raw chocolate bars and was keen to sample these new season flavours.

The wrappers are pretty and seasonal, and the bars themselves have a lovely pattern on one side and additions/flavourings on the other. I particularly like the look of blueberry and lingonberry bar! Here from left to right: Blueberry & Lingonberry, Apple & Caramelized Almond and Orange & Season's Spices.

These are raw chocolate with cocoa content of at least 70 %. The chocolate is made of organic, unroasted cocoa beans and cane sugar. Though dark, it is not at all bitter but it does have an intense flavour, which I gather is typical of raw chocolate.

In Blueberry & Lingonberry, there are bits of blueberry and lingonberry in the chocolate. Some are bigger, some tiny – more like powdered, dried berries. The taste of berries isn’t very strong, but it does give the chocolate a nice, fresh tang which forms a lovely counterpoint to the rich chocolate.

Apple & Caramelized Almond comes with dried apple pieces and bits of caramelized almonds. The almonds are more noticeable of the two. I couldn’t quite detect the caramelisation, but the almonds give the chocolate a nice crunch. The apple pieces are juicy and tart – I only wished there were more of them!

Orange & Season's Spices does not contain actual orange but orange oil. The “season's spices” are cinnamon, clove and ginger, which form a gentle, barely-there note. The orange oil can be detected in the scent already and its taste is stronger than that of the spices. To be honest, chocolate and orange was never my favourite combination, but together with the spices, orange gives this chocolate an enticing, exotic air.

After the first taste, I would perhaps name the Blueberry & Lingonberry my favourite. Or maybe the Apple & Almonds... no, I can’t decide! They’re all good... and an ideal choice if you’re looking for a slightly healthier option to satisfy your chocolate craving.

Holiday preparations

It’s that time of the year again, with Winter Solstice only two days away, and preparations are under way... or should be; sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed (can you be “a little overwhelmed”?) by everything that needs to be done, but then I remind myself that we have our daughter’s gifts sorted out, we have bought lots of chocolate, and I know which books I’m going to read during the holidays. The rest is just... details. :)

I’ve mentioned before that I tend to be rather particular about my holiday reads, and this goes especially for Yule, because, well, spending lots of time reading books and eating chocolate is just what we do then (it may be the best part about the holidays, if you ask me or my DH).

This year, I chose “Children of Earth and Sky”, the latest by Guy Gavriel Kay, who, these days, is about the only fantasy author whose books I still read (and re-read). It is a nice, thick tome, but it will not be enough, of course, so I picked one of the Medieval adventures by Kaari Utrio as well – this one is set in the 14^th century. Neither of these is a re-read, and I’m really looking forward to the day when I can start celebrating (= open the first book).

Review: Milka Toffee Whole Nuts

This isn't exactly new, but Toffee Whole Nuts from Milka is one of my favourites, so I wanted to introduce it here. Well, you might guess it's a favourite of mine: after all, it's milk chocolate with hazelnuts, ”caramel flavoured filling” and actual caramel! Sounds good, doesn't it?

It is also a rare treat; I haven't been able to find Milka Toffee Whole Nuts anywhere in the shops and supermarkets in this part of the world, only in tax-free shops, which I don't often have a chance to visit. That is really too bad... but every time I get to buy some, I do! Last time, I only bought three bars (300 g each) – it seemed like a lot at the time, but now I regret not listening to my DH who wisely asked, ”Are you sure that's enough?” It was not.

Now, this is one of Milka chocolates, so the wrapping is the typical bluish colour with the milky Milka logo (and the cow). The picture of the bar on the wrapping gives you a fairly good idea of what's inside. The bar itself is divided into smallish squares, like this:

You can't see the toffee in the picture, but trust me, it's there.

The scent of chocolate is fairly mild, as is typical of milk chocolates. There are, however, definite warm, sweet notes of caramel in there.

And the taste! The milk chocolate is pretty good, very milky, smooth and sweet. Every square contains a whole hazelnut. To be honest, I could do without them, but they do add a nice crunch and balance the flavours by reducing the overall sweetness of the bar. For, in addition to chocolate, there is a white, creamy layer of that caramel flavoured filling, which is sweet and milky and melts in your mouth. And to further add to the sweetness, there's golden caramel. It's sweet and buttery, not too runny and not too sticky. Delicious!

This is a very sweet chocolate, so if you're not into that sort of thing, this might not be for you. For me, however, this is close to perfection!

Food and cakes in Tallinn

Have you had enough of my travel tales from Tallinn yet? No? Good, because here’s another one (a little late, I’ll admit, but health and other issues have kept me from blogging about it). Previously, I blogged about Olde Hansa, and this time I’d like to introduce a restaurant called Le Château. It is a 17th century themed restaurant that we once came across while exploring the old town of Tallinn. 17th century! Musketeers! We had to go in! We dined there on our 10th wedding anniversary in 2013 (a lovely setting!) and now we wanted to go back.

Le Château is located in a cellar of an old house. It has vaulted ceilings, there are candles, music suitable for the setting etc. A great atmosphere. And the food, inspired by the French cuisine in the era of the musketeers, is delicious! They also have lovely, lovely desserts...

Viking raids and going Medieval tend to give one a ravenous appetite, as we discovered during autumn holiday... luckily, Tallinn has numerous wonderful cafés. The only problem is that it's hard to pick just one. Our old favourite is Maiasmokk, a café that has stood in the same place in the old town since 1864 and is actually the oldest still operational café in Tallinn. It does have that 19th century charm! And delicious cakes!

There is also a marzipan museum in the same premises, which we did not visit, but we did stop by in their chocolate and marzipan shop, where there happened to be a marzipan artist at work, painting the products! 

A café I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time now was Kehrwieder cellar café in the old town, and this time we made it there. With its vaulted ceilings, mismatched sofas and colourful cushions it has a certain bohemian air which I love. It is also a perfect place to find shelter from cold weather if you’re visiting Tallinn in winter. The cakes are not the cheapest, but very good. (I just learned that they have delicious hot spiced wine and chocolates – next time, we’ll have to try them!)

During this visit, we discovered a gelateria called Cortile. Actually, my daughter pointed it out and asked if we could go and have some ice cream... well, it’s impossible to say no to ice cream, and I’m glad we didn’t! The portions of freshly made Italian ice cream are generous and they taste absolutely divine!