{Urban Cottage Life is officially still seven years old. And summer has finally unequivocally arrived in these here parts. So it seems fitting to republish this post celebrating seven ice cream recipes.}

It’s Lucky Seven time! I started publishing this little food blog way back in August 2011, and what better way to mark the occasion than with  Seven Ice Cream Recipes Celebrating Seven Years? Ice cream is, after all, one of my favourite foods. And it just so happens that I’ve published exactly seven ice cream recipes during those seven years. Coincidence? Serendipity? Karma? … Delicious!

A Detour Down Memory Lane

There’s been a whole lot of living going on around here these past seven years. There’ve been highs and lows, chaos and calm, death and new life, love and heartache, tears and laughter, disappointment and joy, and a lot of regular life interspersed among the highlight reel clips. Over this time I’ve published about 550 blog posts, which means there’s also been lots of cooking … not so much lately, but lots of cooking nonetheless, with most of it new and original recipes.

I started blogging with no expectations about how long I’d continue and, to be honest, in the past year I’ve wondered if it was coming to a natural end. A combination of new creative interests, an upsurge in my editing business, and managing to break most of the links here (thus offending the search engine gods and tanking blog traffic) left me with little energy, time or inclination to work on this space.

But in recent months, it feels like I’ve been getting my mojo back. I’ve started posting fairly regularly again, introduced a new recipe plugin that allows you to jump directly to the recipes, and my enthusiasm has been building. Google seems to have forgiven my link transgressions and traffic has been increasing back to its usual levels (low numbers, but satisfying to me).

How long will it continue? Time only will tell.

Urban Cottage Life been a meaningful creative outlet for me, and a space I like to visit to browse and re-read my writings from the past. Sometimes I simply search for a particular term and see what comes up, revisiting recipes I’d forgotten about and rekindling memories of what was going on in my life at a particular time. Over the years I’ve debated how much of myself to reveal here in this very public forum, but it’s the posts where I share the most that are most meaningful to me. It’s a strange thing to be sharing personal stories in a public space. But, while the focus is always on the food, sometimes there simply are other words I need to speak.

Thank you to everyone who’s visited this space and given me encouragement and positive feedback. Some of you have been here from the beginning, which is a marvel to me, and for others, this may be your first time visiting. Regardless, I hope you stick around and see what happens next.

And now, ice cream … seven ice cream recipes, to be exact.

Seven Ice Cream Recipes to Celebrate Seven Years

Like many of you, I scream for ice cream. And it seems only natural that any celebration in the hot and humid month of August involve this cold and soothing treat. There’s something for everyone here … a traditional cooked custard churned ice cream, two no-churn ice creams, and four dairy-free versions. Whether you make one, or make them all, enjoy!

First published 2018 08 12
Republished 2019 07 03