I just bought a new ice cream maker, a Cuisinart ICE-20 on sale at Amazon for $50. It had gotten mixed reviews, many people were complaining that the ice cream didn't really get too thick and was more like soft-serve. But most of them liked it and the complaints seemed generalized to all ice cream makers.
It arrived last night and I quickly put the bowl in the freezer and couldn't wait to make ice cream. I made some today following the most simple recipe from its manual, and so far so good. The ice cream (cookies n'cream) was soft but firmer than I expected it to be. It's now firming up in the fridge. It tasted very much like Dreyer's. I bet Mika will be happy to have some when she gets home.
I'm already re-freezing the bowl to make some more tomorrow, I'm thinking of strawberry sorbet!