So yesterday was our 9-year wedding anniversary. Normally we don't do much on our anniversary except go out to a nice dinner. No cards or presents. At least we really haven't the past few years since having kids. But of course I had to get wifey something she's been craving for months... a Cuisinart Soft Ice Cream Maker! Her birthday's not until August but I figured I'd give it now as an anniversary present so she could really enjoy it this summer. Needless to say it was a big hit (and miss of sorts) with her and the boys.

The neat thing about it is besides making soft ice cream that comes pouring out of the machine just like at your local Carvel's (and tastes just like it too!), you can add a number of toppings directly into your ice cream. Through 3 tubes on the side of the machine, you can put in sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc. and as you pour your ice cream into a bowl, the toppings come out of the same tube. But Cuisinart really needs to put a warning on this thing... DO NOT USE NON-PARELLS! You know, those tiny little candy balls (the white dots on Sno-Caps candy). My wife does a lot of cookie decorating so she has an arsenal of sprinkles, sugar things, non-parells, you name it. Since they were tiny and colorful and my kids loved em, she figured she'd put them in. That didn't go over too well, as they're round. And round things tend to bounce. So while some went into the ice cream, a lot of them just bounced off the bowl and onto the table. Didn't help any when she took the tube off the side, put it on the table and my 4-year-old proceeded to accidentally knock it over, spilling the little balls... well, EVERYWHERE. Vacuum was nearly useless as these were sooo tiny. We literally sat on the floor with a dustbuster, sucking up each and every ball individually. Sigh. Live and learn.

Anyways, next time we'll know to just use sprinkles (which worked great)! We'll try again this weekend. But despite the mess, this machine rules. It's always fun getting your own soft-serve ice cream, and the actual making of the ice cream was fairly quick and painless.

Personally, I picked up the machine at my local Bed, Bath & Beyond, using a 20% off coupon they had mailed to me. Base price was $99, so I got it for only $80. Not bad at all. It seems to be $99 pretty much everywhere, so I suggest finding a coupon for BB&B and hitting there. But if you really want to order online, I found a decent coupon for Chef's Catalog:

Shop at CHEFS Catalog through Shop.com and save:
$5 off a purchase of $50+ with coupon code SHOP5.
$10 off a purchase of $100+ with coupon code SHOP10.
$25 off a purchase of $250+ with coupon code SHOP25.
Do not use Guest Checkout if you want to use a coupon!
Valid through: August 31, 2007
You MUST use this link to use the coupon. It will NOT work at ChefsCatalog.com.