1 Vanilla Bean

My bro reminded me on Sunday that I have not yet made ice-cream for him with my new ice-cream maker. (Well, not new; it was a Christmas gift from FBIL.) I completely forgot! I bragged about how I (only) make mint oreo ice-cream and then I asked him what flavor he wanted. "I want real vanilla bean ice-cream."

So today, as I planned my errands list, I IM'd one of my classmates -- who just got engaged on Sunday! Congrats to Yoyce! -- where does one find one vanilla bean? We both thought that it wasn't a common supermarket item, so she suggested I try Gelson's or Whole Foods.

Instead, I stopped by Pavilions (conveniently located next to a Rite-Aid I went to) and I asked the clerk, "Excuse me; can you please help me find a vanilla bean?" She asked me about 2-3 times, is it just like a bean? Yes, I think so (imagining they look like coffee beans). She kindly went to inquire about it and came back to the spice section and said that another clerk confirmed that it should be there. We looked and I found it in alphabetical order under "Vanilla."

I picked it up and asked in astonishment, "This is it?"
Apparently so! The girl busted up and said, "You told me it looked like a bean!" "That's what I thought it looked like!" We were both laughing. :)

I walked down the aisle gingerly carrying this one expensive vanilla bean. This ice-cream better taste really good.


**Update: I sent the recipe to my bro and he exclaimed, "5 eggs? Gross!" So I'm not sure what the status of the ice-cream making will be.