A Bear's Favorite: Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

Source: Internet

Every bear knows that there's nothing better than a cool treat on a hot day. And because bears love honey, and we at New Avenue Crew love bears, I thought I would share my favorite cool treat with you.

Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

1 quart cream (not ultrapasteurized, preferably from grass-fed cows)
1 vanilla bean (or about 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)
5 egg yolks (preferably from pastured chickens)
1/2 cup raw honey (or high-quality maple syrup)
pinch sea salt

For the tastiest, most nutritious ice cream, use the best quality cream you can find, preferably from grass-fed cows. Never use ultrapasteurized cream.

Pour cream into a medium saucepan. Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Scrape out the vanilla bean "seeds" and add them and the vanilla bean pod to the cream in the saucepan. On medium-high heat, bring the cream to a gentle simmer/boil, stirring with a wooden spoon. Watch carefully; when the cream seems to start to foam a bit, it is done. (If you leave it longer, it can foam over the sides. Yes, that happened to me!)

Take the cream off the heat, cover, and let infuse for 25 to 30 minutes. Then remove the vanilla bean pod. (I save the pod for another batch of ice cream, 30 to 35 minutes.)

Add egg yolks to a large mixing bowl. Beat egg yolks with a wire whisk. Add honey to egg yolks and whisk to combine. Add a pinch of sea salt.

When cream is finished infusing, whisk it to break up the top layer, or remove it if you wish. If the cream is still hot, add only a little at a time to the egg yolk mixture, starting with about a tablespoon. Once you have whisked three or four tablespoons of cream into the egg yolk mixture, you can add larger amounts of cream until it is all mixed.

Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

Process in an ice cream maker (the one I use is below) according to directions, and then add to a chilled container and store in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker
Source: Amazon.com

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

By Jim Lawrence of Kootenay Reflections

(Read the article here.)

I just love this image. Perhaps this bear has a future as a wildlife photographer!

"On the Scrap Heap" Challenge

In January 2012, Paula Carter of All Bear by Paula issued a challenge on the Guild of Master Bearcrafters:

"Make a bear using reclaimed materials--no mohair, alpaca, or faux fur allowed!"

Challenge accepted! The gears in my head started turning. I had many different fabrics that were not fur, but I had always wanted to make a bear from denim. So in response to the challenge, I created my first completely furless bear from a worn, well-loved pair of my husband's Levi's blue jeans. Allow me to introduce you to Strauss:

Strauss, 12.25 inches tall, a furless Crew member 

made from my husband's well-loved Levi's jeans

The name Strauss is taken from the name of the jeans company: Levi Strauss & Co. I gave Strauss a nose, mouth, claws, and paw pads in the color of the stitching on the blue jeans. This sweet hairless bear also features black glass eyes; steel shot and polyester stuffing; and a nose, mouth, and claws embroidered in perle cotton. He wears a label from inside the jeans that says COMFORT (so appropriate for a teddy bear to wear), and his neck ruffle is made from some reclaimed furniture trim.

Imagine my delight when Paula told us that a print magazine from the United Kingdom called The Teddy Bear Annual wanted to run a feature about our Guild scrap heap challenge. What a thrill it is to see one of my bears in print! Here is Strauss pictured in the pages of the magazine:

The Teddy Bear Annual, Autumn/Winter 2012

"On the Scrapheap: Recycling with Guild of Master Bearcrafters"

Strauss is pictured on page 44.

The cover of the scrap heap challenge issue of

The Teddy Bear Annual, Autumn/Winter 2012

I ordered the issue of The Teddy Bear Annual from the UK and very much enjoyed it when it arrived. It is a very well done publication with lots of interesting features and lovely photographs.

New Avenue Crew and I have appeared in a few print and online publications, and I am always so delighted to have my creations featured in that way. You can see many of the Crew's appearances on the Published page of this site. (You can also find the navigation buttons to the site's other pages under the photo at the top of the page.)

P.S. Sweet Strauss has been adopted.

Vielen Dank! A Feature about the Crew!

I am thrilled and honored to be the featured international teddy bear artist portrait this month on the Kuscheltier News website! The article is in German, but I have added an English translation below for you. (Speaking of translations, I've also added a translation function in the right-hand sidebar of this site. Hope it helps!)

Kuscheltier News (which means Soft Animal News) also published a full-length article about me and New Avenue Crew in its June 2011 PDF magazine issue. Vielen Dank für beide Artikel (many thanks for both articles)!

Here is the international teddy bear artist portrait about me and New Avenue Crew. You can click on the pictures to see them larger.

[Translation of the article text by an online translator]

Debora Hoffmann came into the world near the Pacific coast in Southern California, and she grew up in a house with many antiques. As a child, she played with her mother's toys from the 1940 and '50s, including a big teddy bear that had presumably belonged to one of her uncles. Because her mother sewed many clothes and made various other things by hand, Debora grew up with an interest in creating. To connect her memories of her wonderful childhood with her later work as a teddy bear artist, she chose to name her bears for the street where she had grown up: New Avenue.

Debora's bears come in various shapes and sizes, depending on which ideas the artist has in her head at the time. Although most of her bears are in the traditional style (with inspiration from the Steiff and Bing teddy bears of the early 20th century), Debora has also designed and created some whimsical bears, some pandas, a few cats, and even a pig. For fur, her favorite to use is mohair, and she uses Ultrasuede for paw pads because she likes that it is so soft. She also puts alpaca, wool felt, and glass or shoe button eyes on the top of her materials list. New Avenue Crew bears should invite hugs and cuddles whether they are big or small. The bears’ appearance should provide the impression to their potential new owners that they could become their best and closest friends if they are chosen for adoption. In the course of being made, most of Debora’s bears turn out to be boys, but girls are also present every now and then.

As a 13-year-old, Debora had her first experience making teddy bears when she sewed two teddies with movable arms and legs: one from golden-brown felt, and the second from reddish-brown velour. They both originated without a pattern from her own design, and Debora would be glad to still have her first works today, but she did not keep them. Then in the middle of the '90s, she sewed three or four bears from synthetic plush using patterns from a book. At that time, the material's backing was thick and stretched in all directions when stuffed. And also, Debora couldn't achieve the results she wished using these patterns. She was frustrated with her bear making at first, until summer 1996 when she took part in a course taught by Claudia Wagner.

This took place during a teddy bear convention in Southern California. Every participant got a presewn mohair bear that they needed to finish. Debora says, "I finished this small bear and loved him. And during the work, I discovered my preference for mohair. I went home and began to sketch my first pattern. And in August of the same year, New Avenue Crew was born."

The artist especially enjoys working on her bears' faces to work out their personalities bit by bit. Although the embroidering of the noses is not easy, it is one of her favorite parts of the work. But the nicest and best part of bear making is the moment at which somebody falls in love with one of her bears and decides to give him a home.

Though New Avenue Crew bears have come as small as 6 inches (15.24 cm) tall, Debora works mainly in the range of 10 to 14 inches (25.4 to 35.5 cm). With very small bears, her eyes and hands don't seem to cooperate. Debora sews the single parts with the sewing machine, the nose is embroidered by hand, and also the stuffing and the last working steps are done by hand. The artist works on the bears personally, without exception: from the initial idea up to tying the bow around the neck of the finished bear.

More about New Avenue Crew on the internet:
http://newavenuecrew.blogspot.com

The Crew's Chief Bearcrafter (Me), Then and Now

The other day, my husband scanned a slide into his computer and sent me a JPEG of a photo I had never seen before:

Yes, it is a picture of me making a bear! I was thrilled that he had this photo. It was taken way back in 2000 when we were newlyweds. We had a second-floor apartment overlooking the Santa Ana River in Anaheim, California, the town we grew up in. The next picture below is a non-silhouetted version of my bear-making session. You can see Trudi in the foreground. I was working on Gunnison, a black-and-gold bear.

It occurred to me today that this coming weekend marks 12 years since I did my first (and only) major in-person teddy bear show, the three-day Teddy Bear Convention in historic Nevada City, California, in April 2001. Here I am with my table full of bears (and a kitty):

We had just moved from Southern California to the Seattle area to our new apartment, quite a long drive, and then got back on the road to drive south for the show. I still don't know how I managed to have a whopping 14 bears ready for that show when I struggle to find any time for bear making these days!

I do miss in-person shows, and I also enjoy participating in online shows. I have met so many lovely people in the bear world, both in person and online, particularly on Facebook, through the Guild of Master Bearcrafters, and on Teddy Talk. I'm eager to get busy again as New Avenue Crew's chief bearcrafter.

And here is a picture of me two weeks ago. Notice that I have a faux fur collar, even though I haven't been making bears lately. I am drawn to texture. In fact, maybe I should go paw through my stash of mohair again soon...