grapefruit sorbet

i recently got myself an ice-cream maker for free, from amazon.com, with points i've racked up over the past three years using lexis-nexis for research during law school. yes, i sided with them in their never-ending blood feud with westlaw, and this is my reward. i think it's a pretty good deal.

the ice-cream maker is really cute, and seems to work great. the first thing i tried to make was grapefruit sorbet, because i love grapefruit juice (and we have an awesome juicer), and because the recipe was really simple - sugar, water, zest, and juice. but the first batch that i made came out pretty inedible. it's way, way too sugary - like eating spoonfuls of straight sugar. ick. perhaps i should have found a recipe other than the one that came in the cuisinart instruction manual/recipe booklet?

anyway i'm starting over today, cutting the amount of sugar in half. i'm a little nervous - like, does the sugar serve some essential purpose in creating the proper consistency, other than just sweetening? - but it's kind of fun to experiment. it's an excellent procrastination device: i'm doing something important! i'm contributing to science! er...yeah.