It’s a good thing this recipe finishes up the last of the fresh, juicy peaches given to us by a friend of our youngest son because I was running out of clever headlines using peaches. Ha!

We had about 6-7 peaches left and Yes!Chef! said we needed (I use the term, “We”, loosely because Yes!Chef! does not make desserts) to make one more dessert with the remaining peaches. What else to make with a bunch of peaches but ice cream?  I love ice cream.  But this time I wanted to do something a little different, so I made gelato.

But this was not ordinary fresh peach gelato.  Being that I was heavily influenced by the last two peach recipes we made, I added thyme because thyme is wonderful with peaches.  There wasn’t a heavy taste of thyme, it was very subtle.  In fact, it was so subtle, that I mixed in a few thyme leaves into the mix before I froze it.  I sprinkled a little thyme on the finished product, also.

A few taste testers stopped by, so I asked for their reactions:

One tester said she liked it and ate the whole thing.  The other tester said she liked it but there was grass in her teeth.  (Well, I asked for their unvarnished opinions.)  I assured her that it was’t grass, but it was a great herb called Thyme.  “Tastes like grass”, she emphasized. Then she ate the whole thing and they promptly went into the other room with Obie T. Dogg and fell into a Spongebob Squarepants Coma.

Clouds were beginning to form around the lake, so after my testers left, Obie T. Dogg and I hopped into the car and drove around to the East Shore of Lake Tahoe.  I thought I would go to Sand Harbor to get some shots of the setting sun, but after driving an hour to get there, I spied a huge sign at the entrance that said:  NO DOGS!

Since I am a law-abiding citizen, we turned around and headed back down the shoreline where I saw another spot that might be good for viewing.

We were in luck.  Because of an approaching storm and the time of day (around 5:45) there weren’t many people at this location.

We walked around a little so that Obie could explore.  I thought about walking down to the beach, but it was a long ways down (and even longer back up) and with the storm coming, we decided to hang around on the rocks above.  A darling couple asked me to take their picture in front of the lake and then they went down to enjoy the sunset…

until they felt the first few drops of rain. Then, they were out of there.   I was sitting on a little bench behind them also waiting for the sun to set.  I didn’t mind the few drops of rain too much because I saw this (click for larger view):

I know, right?  I took a lot of pictures that evening.  Within 5-10 minutes the sky looked like this (click for larger view):

Obie T. heard thunder and began to whine.  He hates thunder.  So, I put him in the car and tried to brave the storm.

We said goodbye to Chimney Beach and headed south hoping to beat the rain before the sun went down.

We ended up at Cave Rock Boat Launch right around 6:40 p.m.  There was still a guy in the toll booth, and even though the boat launch closed at 7:00, he still charged me “$2.00 for 15 minutes”.  I think the day rate is only $8.00, but I wasn’t going to argue because I wanted to get down to lake level before the storm arrived, the area closed and the sun set.

I left Obie in the car because I was already feeling a few drops of rain and there was thunder in the distance.  He was okay with that deal.

Since my 15 minutes was up, and it was beginning to rain pretty hard, I hopped back in the car and thought I would race down to South Lake Tahoe.  I didn’t think I could make it before the sun went down, but sometimes the most spectacular things happen in the sky after the sun goes down.  Then I drove by Zephyr Cove.  I made a snap decision to drive in, even though there was another sign that said;  NO DOGS.  I left the dog in the car and headed down to the beach.  It began to rain as I hit the sand.  There were several other brave souls on the beach with their camera phones and point and shoots and some had DSLR’s, like mine.  We were all in awe of what was happening in the sky.  The people began to scurry away as they felt more and more raindrops.  But, it was just so beautiful, that I had a hard time tearing myself away.

And the sky really was this color.

This orange/red sky lasted about 5-6 minutes and then it was gone.  It really started raining pretty hard.  I ran for the car,  hiding my camera under my sweatshirt, hopped in the car and headed home.  It was a great adventure.

Speaking of Orange, what about the Peach and Thyme Gelato?

Here’s the recipe:

Peach and Thyme Gelato

Yield:Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 Pound Very Ripe Peaches
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 1 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 7 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions:

1. Slice the peaches in half and remove the pits.
2. Coarsely chop the peaches.  Put them in a medium saucepan with the water and sugar and 5 sprigs of thyme.
3. Heat over medium heat until soft, about 10-15 minutes.  Stir occasionally.
4. When soft, remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
5. Remove the thyme sprigs and puree in food processor until smooth.
6. Strain and press thru sieve to remove any skin, leaves, etc.
7. Remove leaves from remaining springs of thyme by running your thumb and pointer finger down the stem.
8. Add the thyme leaves, cream and lemon juice.
9. Chill thoroughly in the fridge for several hours
10. Freeze in ice cream maker according to directions from manufacturer (or if you are like me and can’t find them, then look it up on the internet.)
11. Store in airtight container in freezer until the proper consistency.
12. Scoop it up.  Put it in a little bowl (or waffle cups) and top with a few leaves of thyme, if desired

Recipe Was Adapted From David Lebovitz’s Book The Perfect Scoop