Do we even have to tell you at this point that Hilde Soliani is the undisputed Queen of Gourmand? If there's even a shred of doubt left in your mind, we urge you to indulge in Avatar, Hilde's latest and greatest, which pulls off the wonderful trick of re-creating the exact smell the moment you walk into an ice cream store. We bet you can picture it just from reading the words- the sweet, mouthwatering aroma of cream and sugar diffused into the crisp snap of cold, with the subtly savory crunch of waffle cone ever present in the background. It's that simple but oh so nostalgic tableau that Hilde has created with Avatar, inspired by Paolo Brunelli, proprietor of Compagnia Gelatieri, and as with all of her marvelous gourmands, the magic isn't in unnecessary embellishments or needless complication, but in the sheer alchemy of how perfect the facsimile is- the milky, sugary, crisply cool ice cream is pitch perfect, evoking immediate memories of childhood summers and palaces of frozen delight. The Queen of Gourmand has done it again.
