Ok thank you all for being patient. I thought there was going to be a riot with pitchforks and everything...
I was only slightly disappointed to find you were not rowdy while I was at work.
Butter Pecan Ice Cream
4 tbsp butter
1 cup pecan pieces (if you don't like it really nutty I'd cut this down)
1 tsp kosher salt
2 1/4 cup whole milk
2 1/4 cup heavy cream
1-3 whole vanilla beans (and/or some vanilla extract) to taste - I did 1 bean and 1 tsp of vanilla extract
4 large eggs (DUCK!)
2 large egg yolks (DUCK!)
1 1/8 cup sugar
Melt the butter. Add pecans and kosher salt. Cook over medium/low until pecans are toasted and gold, stirring frequently. Takes about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, strain and reserve the nuts for later/chill in refrigerator while waiting.
Combine milk and cream in saucepan. Split and scrape vanilla bean pods if using them, put scrapings and the used pod(s) in the milk/cream. Bring to a slow boil over medium heat, then reduce to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Make sure to watch this. It has a tendency to boil over, quickly if unwatched. Keep stirring to avoid scorching. Remove bean pods at end. Remove from heat for now.
Combine eggs, yolks and sugar in a bowl (and liquid vanilla extract if using that) and mix on medium for 3-5 minutes until thick.
Measure out a cup of the milk/cream/vanilla mixture and put into the egg/sugar mixture very slowly while mixing.
Combine both your mixtures into a saucepan and stir to combine. Cook on medium/low while stirring constantly until the mixture is thick and coats the back of your spoon. This takes 5 to 10 minutes and is a very visible, quick change in thickness.
Cool this mixture, covered, in the refrigerator for a few hours until cooled or until you just can't stand it anymore.
Pour out the cooled custard into your ice cream maker for 20-25 minutes or so (mine took 30 and was still pretty liquidy but I didn't chill the custard completely because I couldn't wait any longer). When there's 5 minutes left add the pecans.
Enjoy.
I was only slightly disappointed to find you were not rowdy while I was at work.
Butter Pecan Ice Cream
4 tbsp butter
1 cup pecan pieces (if you don't like it really nutty I'd cut this down)
1 tsp kosher salt
2 1/4 cup whole milk
2 1/4 cup heavy cream
1-3 whole vanilla beans (and/or some vanilla extract) to taste - I did 1 bean and 1 tsp of vanilla extract
4 large eggs (DUCK!)
2 large egg yolks (DUCK!)
1 1/8 cup sugar
Melt the butter. Add pecans and kosher salt. Cook over medium/low until pecans are toasted and gold, stirring frequently. Takes about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, strain and reserve the nuts for later/chill in refrigerator while waiting.
Combine milk and cream in saucepan. Split and scrape vanilla bean pods if using them, put scrapings and the used pod(s) in the milk/cream. Bring to a slow boil over medium heat, then reduce to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Make sure to watch this. It has a tendency to boil over, quickly if unwatched. Keep stirring to avoid scorching. Remove bean pods at end. Remove from heat for now.
Combine eggs, yolks and sugar in a bowl (and liquid vanilla extract if using that) and mix on medium for 3-5 minutes until thick.
Measure out a cup of the milk/cream/vanilla mixture and put into the egg/sugar mixture very slowly while mixing.
Combine both your mixtures into a saucepan and stir to combine. Cook on medium/low while stirring constantly until the mixture is thick and coats the back of your spoon. This takes 5 to 10 minutes and is a very visible, quick change in thickness.
Cool this mixture, covered, in the refrigerator for a few hours until cooled or until you just can't stand it anymore.
Pour out the cooled custard into your ice cream maker for 20-25 minutes or so (mine took 30 and was still pretty liquidy but I didn't chill the custard completely because I couldn't wait any longer). When there's 5 minutes left add the pecans.
Enjoy.
At first, the photos were of him and myself when he was younger. I have some great newspaper clippings. 
I think he's done pretty well considering. He started walking with a walker at around the age of 3. Really couldn't get to work on that walking thing because he was in a body cast a few times..hip work. Then he went to arm crutches later, and now is in a wheelchair. He is so much more self dependent in the chair. He gets around much easier. His back was not straight enough to be able to stay up on crutches. Well, there is some of it. You asked. 
I get going when it comes to answering questions on Spina Bifida. Have gone to many a class room with him at the start of a school year to explain what he has to the kids so they could understand what was up with Richard, and I've gone to a college to speak in a class. To answer questions. Thankful we had that little man, what a darling baby he was, and a handsome young man today. A good person to boot. 
Quirkier than most. His first day at work, he rolled in and stopped at the horizontal coat rack attached to the wall in the Break Room. He removed his jacket and tossed it up at one of the hooks, but missed. His jacket fell to the floor. "This needs to be lowered," he said. "I don't know how Tori can possibly reach this." (Tori was 4'11".) He drove a Mustang with hand controls. One night before his shift, he was checking out new cars in an Auto Canter and got stopped going a wee bit too fast through the complex. For weeks, we got the giggles remembering his encounter with the police officer who stopped him. Yes, the cop approached him and actually snarked, "Got a lead foot?". Michael looked up at him, back to his 'Stang's hand controls, and replied, "No, I don't think so.". That night, out of sheer perversity, I assigned him to work the position handling that police department. (The 9-1-1 center serviced 7 law enforcement agencies, four ambulance companies and 18 fire departments.). His first radio exchange with the officer who had encountered him began, "602, thanks for not making me late." The Comm Center was in the basement of the county courthouse annex. We all parked behind the building, entering through a doorway servicing the courthouse cafeteria, which was only open during regular courthouse business hours. Every weekday morning around five am, one of us would have to let the donut delivery guy in with the cafeteria's daily assortment of sweet pastry items. (Then wait two more hours to buy any!) Michael always parked his hot Mustang in the handicapped spot adjacent to the loading zone. One morning, the facility maintenance guy - a long-time employee and disgruntled fellow who was seldom happy about any task - came into the CommCenter around 7 am to announce "Whoever drives that Mustang needs to move out of the handicapped spot so we can get some supplies delivered." We were busy. I kinda snapped, "It's Michael, he's busy and he's handicapped, Frank." Michael was at the far end of the row of dispatch consoles, seated in his wheelchair, of course. "Well, he's got to move his car. He can park in the delivery zone." :/ "Are you KIDDING me?!?!? Look, he gets off in an hour...". Frank kept coming back to see how long it would be. I was resolute. When Michael got off duty, we walked out together, he on his arm crutches. His shriveled legs dangled, not touching the floor, swinging back and forth as he stilt-walked across the shiny linoleum surface. I punched the auto-door opener (Michael didn't have a free hand, y'know) and he swung his way to his car. Frank stood next to the delivery truck parked directly behind the blue Mustang in the handicapped spot, his arms akimbo. The annoyed driver sat in the cab of his truck. I waved to him to move it; his and Frank's faces absolutely paled at the sight of Michael stumping down the courthouse back steps. (Much more effective than merely rolling in a wheelchair down the ramp.) After the truck backed up, Michael peeled out of that parking lot, burning rubber. He did indicate how first rate the driver had been with a single finger. We worked together for about three years. He was a great dispatcher and lots of fun. I learned a lot about Spina Bifida from him. So I was reminded of Michael Matteson when reading your son's story. 
