How to make ice cream by camp fire

A few years ago we got an  ice cream ball maker thingy for Christmas.  Unfortunately it's been neglected on the shelf for a few years (sorry Auntie Pammy.  Your gifts are always the best, we were just a little slow on this one).  But I spotted it in the garage while packing up the car for our camping trip and threw it in.  We just can't survive an entire week without an ice cream fix.  So, here's the story of how we made ice cream in a forest in Oregon:

Behold the ice cream maker ball... The Camper's Dream.

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The indredients...whipping cream, sugar, salt, and some really good vanilla.  

...and we remembered to pack the salt.  And grabbed a bag of ice in the local shop (not pictured).

We were on this camp-out with our Seattle-based friends, Chris and Karen, and their super-cute toddler girl Kendall.  We felt totally honored and humbled that they'd even consider spending their precious vacation time with our family of craziness.  Here's Chris and his assistant, Jack, pouring the ice cream ingredients into a frying pan.  (Hey, we were camping, okay?)

Mixin' it up.  Don't you just love cream?  It reminds me of my days residing in the British isles.  Nobody does dairy like the Brits.  

So, on one side of the ice cream ball we removed the lid and poured the cream ingredients into the metal chamber that went through the center of the ball.

The we flipped the ball over to open the lid on the other side.  That's where we poured as much ice as the ball would hold, and also a whole bunch of rock salt.

Then it was just a matter of putting the lid back on.

...and giving the ball a good toss, kick and roll for about 15 minutes.  This was where Ed took over to show off his coolest-ever-dad tricks for the kiddos.  Notice Karen in the background putting another log on the fire.    She's a schooled-up camping mama.

Throughout the week Jack took advantage of every moment to show off his top-dog alpha male athletic skills.  Kendall, however, took no nonsense and held her own just fine.  Here she is preparing to show the boys how to do it.

Yep, he's a daddy's boy. I love my guys.  And Karen stokes the fire again.

So, after all that calorie burning, it was time to replenish.  Here's how it looked.

But the proof of the pudding ice cream is always in the tasting, and we were over the moon with how this batch turned out.  Seriously, I think this ball's shelf-sitting, dust-collecting days are done.