Mr Pigglesworth and the Pigglesworth family were big fans of ice cream (well, technically frozen yoghurt) and often frequented a number of the local berry farms to sample their wares. Whilst there were the dramas with the Pigglesworth children (cone or no cone, their one is bigger, I want to play on the playground first) it was usually an outing all would enjoy. Except the Pigglesworth piggy bank. These frozen treats were certainly a luxury (somedays a necessity) however they came at a cost, and not a cost you would want to repeat too often. Mr Pigglesworth decided he was going to take a different approach, and it was time to get the kids involved and have a go at making their own.
With the appropriate outlay for the ice cream maker (technically, it will be making frozen yoghurt) and the procurement of the required ingredients, it was time to begin. Thankfully, it had also been a productive fruiting season so frozen berries were already waiting and ready to chopped and added to the mix. The bowl for the ice cream maker (technically, well you get the idea) had been appropriate frozen in the freezer for six hours, just as the recipe had stated. Oh wait, no, it was mean to be 24 hours! Hmmm, surely that wouldn't matter too much. Extra fruit in the mixture would surely boost the flavours and the Pigglesworth children certainly didn't need that much sugar. This was going to be cheaper and healthier than the alternative. The churning began and the anticipation grew. A quick taste for the Pigglesworth children and a solid nod of approval was given. Excellent. Now it was time for it to head to the freezer to finish it off.
And was it the perfect first start? Well, not quite. It was certainly a frozen treat and the children were enjoying it. But was he? It lacked a certain creaminess (maybe swapping the milk for trim milk wasn't the smart choice that was anticipated), and it was certainly fruity but missed some sweetness and a little je ne sais qois. There was a little element of disappointment to this, as it seemed to have all the makings of something delicious that was sure to hit the spot. Mr Pigglesworth felt a familiar feeling, the one where his aspirations didn't quite meet the reality. Each mouthful served as another reminder that this wasn't the experience he was searching for. Not to worry, there would be time to try again. He simply needed to review his decisions and check that he managed these a little better next time.
The frozen treat disappeared bit by bit and the plan was hatched for Round Two. Of course, now came the next problem that the request from the Pigglesworth children was for ICE CREAM (technically, well, actually it was going to be ice cream). This meant there wasn't the same opportunity to hold on to these learnings for the next round although a much closer adherence to the recipe would be on the cards. And this had Mr Pigglesworth thinking...
There is something you need to know about Mr Pigglesworth. He likes to use recipes as a guide and improvise his own way to what he imagines the outcome will be. However, there is often a bit of a gap between these things and it's not fun to follow recipes all of the time (although perhaps he should be persuaded it's good to start out this way). BUT, there was a very important learning here for Mr Pigglesworth as to why a recipe is constructed the way it is. A bit like when Mr Pigglesworth grew tomatoes for the first time, deciding that a small temporary structure would be adequate only to find the garden overwhelmed by these unrelenting plants that grabbed every piece of real estate that that they could lay those extending green tendrils into. Or the time Mr Pigglesworth decided to build a tree house (beside the tree, and that still counts as a tree house no matter what those naysayers say) that ended up a little misshapen after the initial foundations were a little wonky from trying to avoid tree roots (maybe it would have been better in the tree?).
Mr Pigglesworth knew that he had succeeded but that there was room for improvement. He also wanted to repeat the making of this particular berry frozen yoghurt to see if he could right the wrongs, or if it was something else that was a foot (or a trot) in this case. For now, the second instalment would have to wait. Hopefully he would remember not to make the same mistakes again. In the meantime, it was time to practice those drums!