Ice Cream under the Influence
Ice Cream under the Influence is a friendly compendium of ice cream drinks for playful home mixologists.
Becky Rasmussen’s brief recipe book Ice Cream under the Influence contains simple instructions for making ice cream drinks, with alcohol or without.
With basic ice cream drink recipes that require minimal use of standard kitchen equipment and photographs of the finished drinks, this book is small enough to fit in a liquor cabinet. Its tone is lighthearted and friendly. It is bright and cheerful from the cover on, and its presentation is accessible throughout. There are familiar combinations, as with the Yes, I Like Pina Coladas, as well as less predictable ones, as with the Salty Pirate, featuring coconut rum and salted caramel Irish cream.
The book’s four topical sections cover chocolate drinks, fruit-based ones, other indulgences, and alcohol-free offerings. “Delicious Indulgences” is the least informative heading of the four—a catchall section into which any recipe from the other sections could be incorporated. Further, the book’s initial bold colors and pictures become less crisp as the book continues.
The ingredient lists appear in two-column, spreadsheet-evocative tables—usefully separated for those planning large batches versus small ones. Each recipe also has a box that lists garnish ideas. Less novel is the clip art that appears on some pages, as with images of bananas on the “Let’s Go Bananas” page. Further, not every drink is photographed, and the photographs that are included are low resolution, tightly cropped, and lit with interior household lighting.
The recipes themselves provide an idea of what the completed drink should be like, but the language in the instructions deviates from standard recipe-writing conventions such as describing flavor profiles and using correct terminology. In the case of a mint drink, for example, how strong the mint profile should be is not described. “Blend until smooth” is shared without precise information about the duration and speed of the proposed blend, while “mixing” is used to mean blending throughout the text. And although the inclusion of alcohol is implied by “under the influence,” the alcoholic content of each drink is not shared, nor are the recommended serving sizes.
The context behind the drinks is absent within the text itself, which is short on general authority. However, the book’s dedication shares a bit about the project’s impetus—and its compelling basis in, and hope to nurture in others, moments of friendship and camaraderie.
Ice Cream under the Influence is a friendly compendium of ice cream drinks for playful home mixologists.
Reviewed by
Debbie McCarthy
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
