>> coming up on "california

country": think this sweet treat just cab't get any better? think again. >> oh, my! it's ready. >> it's ready? >> it's ready. >> then find out why this meal was 52 weeks in the making. >> i would like you to know that this morning at the farmers' market, we purchased everything that you're gonna have for dinner tonight. >> next, learn the hidden ranching roots behind hearst castle. and they're a summertime favorite--see what you can do with some of the season's best frtit. it's all ahead, and it starts now. [captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] >> ♪ la la la la la la da da da da... ♪ >> here at birk's restaurant in santa clara, they're known for being a south bay institution. since 1989, plate after heaping

plate has been served up to a pretty discriminating crowd. and no matter how full they are, most leave room for dessert, desserts that are almost too pretty to eat--almost. >> here we have the orange- creamsicle-flavored ice cream. it sits on a carved-out half of a navel orange. so here is our desserts for our v.i.p. table, special guests, of course. >> chef maurice dissels believes in keeping the menu as unique as possible, and for his desserts, he relies on a local girl done good--sheri tate. >> she brought a sample of her ice creams and sorbets, and as they say, the rest was history. >> it comes as no surprise, really, that ice cream has been called the great american dessert for a reason. each american consumes an average of 23 quarts of ice cream, ice milk, sherbert, and other commercially processed frozen dairy products a year. but even the gre@t american

dessert can get a makeover every now and then, and that's where sheri tate comes in. she came up with an idea to combine two of her favorite dessert staples: ice cream and liqueur. >> as a kid, my parents made liqueur-infused ice cream with their friends, so they made something called "grasshoppers," which is similar to the cream de mint we made today, and it was a blended ice cream drink with cream de mint liqueur. and i think that's probably where i got the idea. >> so sheri left her desk job in the silicon valley to pursue her dessert dream, and thus silver moon ice cream was created. it is the first artisan liqueur-infused ice cream and sorbet company on the market. she now has 18 flavors, from orange creamsicle, made with bitter orange; to coffee with brownie bits, made with coffee liqueur; to praline and irish

cream. and no matter what flavor you pick, they're all equally unique and delicious here, and each one starts out the same. >> we sample a lot of things, but usually i'm inspired by either a popular drink--so, for example, our pomegranate martini or the mojito ice, those are pretty popular drinks in bars, and then i'll try to emulate something like that in a frozen dessert. >> ok, so we are in--what is this? it looks like a big liquor cabinet to me, right? what is this? >> well, this is our ingredients storage room, but, yes, this is where all the magic happens for silver moon. >> mm-hmm. >> these are all the liquors that we infuse our product with. and these are really the secret sauce of silver moon. >> the secret ingredients, right? >> exactly. >> so what do we have here? >> so this is a strawberry daiquiri. it's about half frozen right now, and we'll just do a little