Ben and Jerry are giving America some food for thought, literally. Their limited edition ice cream, a brown sugar flavored ice cream with apples and pie crust pieces called American Pie, is packaged in a pint with a pie chart that represents the federal discretionary budget on the lid. Sitting on the couch with a spoon in hand, it is impossible not to notice the big red slice of the pie goes to nuclear weapons programs, and compare it to the sliver dedicated to children's health care costs.

Damn you, New York Times Dining In! Did you have to tell me about Sheer Bliss? Florence Fabricant describes this new ice cream bar in delectable detail in Wednesday’s Food Stuff column:

“Sheer Bliss, an ice cream company in Hallandale Beach, Fla., now enrobes its ultra-rich pomegranate ice cream in good dark chocolate and sells these confections-on-a-stick in boxes of three. The somewhat tart flavor of the ice cream is perfectly balanced by its dark cloak.”

Homemade ice cream is a piece of cake to make if you’ve got the right machine. We lucked out a few years back and found a secondhand Italian gelato machine with a built-in compressor; you don’t have to keep it in the freezer, and it makes perfect ice cream every time. Best $60 we ever spent (they cost about $400 new, unfortunately; it will be a tragic day if I ever burn out the motor with my incessant ice-cream making.)