For Christmas 2006, neither my present for Brian nor his for me had arrived in time to be exchanged by the holiday itself.  So instead we snuggled by the fire at my parents' house and took turns giving the other person a letter.  I guessed after only two: "ice cream maker"!  (There really aren't that many things that start I-C- . . .)  It took him a bit longer to get "alarm clock.*

My new toy arrived mid-January, and has quite a clever design.  The wall of the bucket is filled with a substance that has a low freezing point and a high specific heat, so you don't have to worry about ice and salt; the heat is transferred from the ice cream to the bucket as it churns, thereby freezing the ice cream.  It's also driven by an electric motor, ensuring that the recipient can never draft the giver for service as crank-turner.  (He admitted this had been a consideration.)

We inaugurated it with a recipe for mocha ice cream from the dessert cookbook Khauled gave me back in college (which, incidentally, I've grown into in a big way -- when I got it, I went through bookmarking everything with less than five ingredients, but now I have no qualms about attempting the "expert only" recipes).  Not long after, I went to the Food Network website, searched for "ice cream maker," and compiled a collection of the recipes that looked most interesting.  I still have many more to try, but my testing thus far has been invaluable.

In addition, I used the ice cream maker for two other frozen treats:

• cucumber granita: I added more sugar than the recipe called for, and accidentally used allspice instead of black pepper, but I really liked the result.  You kind of have to like cucumber to appreciate it, though.
  
• Thai slush: my favorite drink ever, I was pleased to make it myself so successfully; and I even included the boba!

* When we did the spelling thing again this year, though, he guessed "slippers" right away, whereas it took me a very long time to figure out "Penabled Executive Tablet PC Pen."  (We did, in fact, have one another's gifts in hand this time; we just decided that spelling was more enjoyable than wrapping.)