Tiny Apple

It's the eve of apple season! On a stroll, I found a tree so laden with apple babies that I am a'feared it will knock itself down in the coming weeks.

But I sampled one, and the cherry-tomato-sized apples were wondrous. Not unbearably sour, as a usual unripe apple! So I am sticking some in my lunch for tomorrow.

And dinner tonight:

Individual mushroom and cherry tomato pizzas on Ciabatta rolls, with goat cheese. The crumbled cheese adds simply the most glorious tang to the whole meal, and I can't describe how satisfying it was!

House Dinner: Olive Bruschetta, French Toast & Eggs, and Various Grazings by Core ---

Cheddar & Apple Panini

I had resigned myself to a small dinner of oft-repeated dishes, but then Bean wished to go to the grocery store. When he bought some year-aged cheddar cheese, and Mike (who is staying with us for a while) bought some fresh dinner rolls, an idea popped! Right into my New England head. A granny smith and cheddar sandwich!

But how to make it a panini?

A small frying pan, with a small bit of olive oil (heated until I feared the fire alarms would announce themselves) did the trick! Then I plopped the sandwich in, squashed it down with a pan cover; flipped it over and repeated, and rescued it from certain danger. It was nicely scorched, but the cheese was not melted.

Into the toaster it went, adorned with beautiful burn marks. And it was delicious.

Apple Pie in an Apple

The discovery of an over-sized apple in our pantry prompted the creation of this night-time (let's call it dinner?) treat. I used a less-than-quartered pie crust recipe, so it ended up being these ingredients cut together until they were of a mealy consistency:

1/2 c. flour

2 tbsp butter

sprinkle of salt

The crust, molded into the carefully-hollowed apple, was filled with a mixture of the apple innards, cinnamon, and a bit o' sugar.

And after being neglected in the oven for the length of a Phase 10 game with Moth and Beak, it came out warm and soft and tasting of home.

Fruit of the Afternoon

Beautiful, simple snack.

apple

kiwi

raisins

raw sugar

Brush-Burning

The Brush-Burning is a "party" my family has every year in which we invite over a bunch of people, lay out a spread of sardines-cheese-crackers-coffee, and spend all day pretending to pull brush into piles and burn it. Then we go inside for a giant potluck, and play music for hours into the night. It is a joyous time, at least for me; I drove all the way home from Troy to attend the festivities, in fact. For potluck I brought this salad, which just had:

rotini

olive oil

feta cheese

basil

parsley

steamed asparagus

And then I experimented with these strange-tasting cookies, in an attempt to clear some shit out of my refrigerator:

1 c. flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 c. butter

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 c. rolled oats

1 c. apple

1/2 c. walnuts

1/2 c. chocolate-covered espresso beans

a few tsp. of Godiva cocoa powder

Prepare as usual, and bake at 350 for 15 or so minutes. They came out slightly spongy and strange, and with a lot of flavors vying for attention. I kind of liked them, though!

Tuna Misfortuna

Have you seen those fat-free tuna salads that come prepackaged with a few wimpy crackers? I think they are lovingly gobbled up by Weight Watchers members and other dieters. The ingredients list is far too long to possibly be very wholesome, too. This meal was my attempt to enjoy a can, since I had gotten a couple of them as hand-me-down Christmas presents from my sisters (from my well-meaning, stick-wrists Nana).

I opened the can, noticed the strangely sickly pink color, and went ahead with the plan of wrapping it up in a wheat wrap with spinach and Cabot sharp cheddar cheese, and putting it in the toaster.

As I waited for it to cook, I started eating an apple, and good thing too -- because that shit is disGUSTing. My mind knew precisely what the taste reminded me of, but I could not pinpoint it. Looking back, canned cat food is the closest comparison I can come up with. You can imagine the supreme salivary enjoyment! However, I had to eat it, because I am low low low on funds and have low waste-tolerance (and perhaps waist tolerance? HA!) because of it.

In short, it is not an option I would recommend.