It’s summertime in the city and the streets are melting in a blaze of shimmering heat, smoggy air is clogging your throat, and every step outside your air-conditioned environs brings you closer to Dante’s Inferno.

Unless, of course, you live in a rural area where the burning sun shines down from a bright, cloudless sky, parching your lips and causing the rain-starved dirt at your feet to crumble with your every step, revenging itself by rising up and enveloping you in a cloud of acrid dust.

Ah, Summertime… doesn’t it just make you… well, enough with the bad hyperbole and runaway sentences (this is why everyone starts looking nervous when I take pen in hand). I think probably I’ve gotten my point across: it’s hot here.

Perfect time to think of things cool, creamy and refreshing.and surprisingly simple to make.

For example: ice cream.

I’m tempted to rhapsodize about that first heat quenching mouthful; the smooth, creamy burst of flavor hitting your taste buds, transporting you instantly to. however, I will spare you more of my nattering on and transport you instead to the recipes.

These two recipes were contributed by a friend of mine in Australia where, funnily enough, it is winter now. Luckily, there are no laws against making and eating homemade ice cream even when it’s cold outside.

Easy (no cooking required) Ice Cream

If you have a freezer setting, turn it to coldest.

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
1/2 pint cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Suggested Flavourings

a few drops vanilla or peppermint essence or,
2 teaspoons coffee essence or,
1/2 cup crushed fruit or,
1 tbsp powdered chocolate or,
1/2 cup jam, omitting the powdered sugar.

Beat egg whites until stiff, whip cream very lightly. add sugar and flavouring to crea, gently fold in egg whites, pour into refrigerator tray and freeze.

For fluffier ice cream, you can open the freezer and stir the mixture every half hour or so (which also gives you a great excuse to cool off even more) but it’s not necessary.

Still Easy (tiny bit of cooking required) Ice Cream

Ingredients

14 1/2 oz tin evaporated milk, not sweetened condensed
1 1/2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence (or other)
1 tsp gelatine
1 tbsp boiling water

Add sugar and vanilla to milk. Dissolve gelatine in water and while still hot stir into milk. Freeze until ice crystals form. Remove to chilled bowl and beat until stiff. Return to refrigerator tray and freeze.

See how (almost) effortless it can be? My kind of cooking. Enjoy.

[Editors note- Australian to American translation: castor sugar is sold as “superfine sugar” in the U.S.]