1 1/4 cups of bread crumbs

1 tbsp of very good vanilla

1/2 cup of whipping cream

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup of brandy

2 tbsp of sugar

1 1/2 cups of whole milk

Beat together the egg yolks and sugar and cook gently in a double boiler, stirring all the time until it thickens slightly. Then add the brandy. Let it cool. Whip the cream and fold it into the cooled mixture. Chill.

Crisping the bread crumbs, sprinkled with sugar, in the oven for 15 minutes. Mix together with the custard and put into an ice cream maker or freeze in the freezer,taking out every 1/2 hour to stir to break up the cristals until totally frozen.

Put the mixture into a pretty dish and serve. Servings: 4

This is an Edwardian recipe that my grandmother used to make. She was originally from Cape Town, South Africa where her father was the owner of a bookstore. She was the oldest of six children who went to England every summer and played cards all the way up and back on the ship When she was 15 her father died even though as she said, she "ran as fast as she could to get the doctor."

Her mother emigrated to Canada with the children where they settled in Vancouver. In her early 20's my grandmother eloped to marry a tall handsome Irishman who joined the Western Irish and who was later was wounded at Vimy (WW1). Not believing that anyone could take proper care of her husband she got herself across Canada and on to a troop ship (which was practically unheard of) and arrived in England where he was in hospital. She brought him home where he died of his wound two years later.

This tiny determined woman brought up her son (my dad) trying to keep him "in line" all the while adoring him and watching him proudly forge ahead. When he moved to Toronto she reluctantly "came East" to be with her grandchildren, leaving behind the mountains of Vancouver for the flat landscape of Ontario. When I was in grade school she and I had lunch together twice a week and as I remember those lunches - she loved to play cards and didn't much like to cook, but she did have a few special recipes: curry from The Cape, Jell-o in contrasting colours and this ice cream recipe.