The summer Edible Austin is available at news stands around town

The new Summer 2010 issue of Edible Austin is out and I wrote my column on the thing that I think of most when it is hotter than hell outside. Most of you are probably thinking "Air Conditioning," but this is a publication about food, not HVAC. Ice--air conditioning for you mouth--is the stuff of summer. It is also the stuff of much contemplation, and no small amount of journalism, lately.

The Macallan has taken the lead from the Japanese and started to issue the ice ball maker, for the whisky drinker who likes the cold of ice, but not the dilution

As soon as I received my advanced copy of the book I realized that I left out a crucial part about ice: clarity. I was certain that my colleagues, having seen the big but opaque ice in the image above, would be calling and texting about my having reached a new level of hackery. Instead they just expressed jealousy that I had the ice ball maker and they didn't. (For the record, I had to send the machine back to the Macallan folks.)
Fortunately Camper English at Alcademics has recently written a concise guide to addressing the opacity issue, so that I don't have to. Hackery (mine) restored.

Thanks to Jenna Lane of Edible Austin for her fab photog