Sunny Delight

"Isn't it delightful, sitting in the sun like this?" I said to Bob - and suddenly remembered Sunny Delight orange drink. It was so popular in the 90s - "Do they still sell it?" I mused "And didn't a boy in Wales go orange after drinking too much?"

So of course I looked it up - yes they do still sell it, [in Tesco, Asda and Iceland] reformulated and rebranded as SunnyD and focussing on its healthy Vitamin D content. And yes sales took a massive hit after a four year old girl turned orange. You can also get  SunnyD "blue raspberry", which has Brilliant Blue FCF colouring [a synthetic dye with dubious side effects]

But enough of that - the food I am more interested in was in the two books I was enjoying, both very appropriate for delightful sunshine

Frozen Yogurt is by Constance and Mathilde Lorenzi, two sisters who started a chain of food outlets in Paris and elsewhere called It Mylk selling Frozen Yogurt, about 10 years ago. Sadly these have all closed now, or I should be eating in one this week! But as I make my own yogurt, and want to avoid UPF supermarket icecream, I thought this CS bargain might help me with this. They have two basic recipes - using 'whole' or 'fat-free' milk for their end product.

Also there are instructions for those with an ice cream maker, and those [like me] without this gadget. The book gives the basic recipes, recipes for flavoured ices, and recipes for 'extras' - milkshakes, gateaux, cookies, toppings etc. It makes your mouth water! I decided to try one recipe out, but realised I did not have any single cream to hand, even though I had plenty of yogurt.

I cheated, and used a can of evaporated milk to make the 'salidou' salted caramel version. It was OK, although it taste a little of evap. I think I will definitely try these recipes again, using proper cream. You have to beat the freezing mixture every hour for four hours, to break up the ice crystals. After the final beating, I poured it into individual plastic tubs, so It was [a] easer to portion, and [b] thawed a little to a softer consistency for eating quickly. Please note artistic strawberry garnish.*****

My second sunshine read was "Taste- my life through food" by actor Stanley Tucci. I love this clever and funny guy. He has been in so many films - my favourite is Julie and Julia, where he stars opposite Meryl Streep as the husband of Julia Child. There is a lot of food in that film! Tucci is of Italian Heritage, and has recently done some TV shows where he goes to Italy, in search of his roots, and eating the local foods. 

Jay Rayner describes the book as "A delicious story of appetite, family and pasta...the ever tasteful Tucci invites us to his table, and feeds us all the good stuff."

Lots of great Italian recipes, mostly meat based, plus some cocktails, I looked up hopefully at my tomato plants, willing them to produce lush crimson globes so I could make the ragu, timpano, tropiano sauce and more. 

The book is full of anecdotes, the story of his life, his first wife [who sadly died of cancer] and his second very happy marriage.

But I am only giving this one **** - partly because he uses the f-word far too much, and quite unnecessarily [being American is no excuse] and secondly, there is no index for the recipes, they are dotted about through the book and not easy to locate [and have no pictures either] 

But definitely two delightful books to read in the sunshine.

A final thought - do you think Donald Trump drank too much SunnyD and that is why he is that absurd orange colour?