Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘apples’

Oct 14

Caramel Dutch apple pie

Did I just realize, after writing this post, that this is the third apple recipe in a row? Yes. That said: yesterday no fewer than 10 different people came into the store where I work specifically to get gear for making things with their overflowing apple stores. There were cider makers and people drying apple rings and everyone giving recommendations for apple picking places and so many conversations about apple pies that I could barely find the time to figure out what type of apple pie I was going to make upon returning home from work. It is apple season, everyone, and Wisconsin takes that seriously, and I will definitely not let you forget it (apparently). Apples apples apples.

But really, I will try to write the next post about something other than apples. Seriously. 

Caramel_apple_pie

I’ve been taking photos of food for a few years now, and for the most part it’s been going pretty well. Lumbering the tripod around the kitchen can be a bit of a hassle and the idea of taking out my camera at restaurants makes me pretty uncomfortable, so I primarily take photos only when it’s a recipe I want to document (for here or elsewhere) or when something looks particularly pretty (like the onions Brett browned today to put in the venison stew we made). I knew absolutely nothing about photography before I started this website and would only claim to know a very small amount now, but I’ve been learning a lot and it’s all worth it for that moment when a shot seems to grasp everything I wanted it to – the way the light looked, the feeling and intention I had in making and serving a dish, or the spirit of the food.  Read more

Oct 8

Fall Cocktails: The apple picker

Cocktail_ingredients

Two months in and we’re settling into our new life here in the Midwest. After a while of time with things sort of up in the air, I have my situation fairly figured out (more on that in a bit) and Brett’s pretty entrenched in his first semester of his PhD program. We’re slowly meeting people and finding folks to share our time with, and we’re trying to bite off snippets of time to go explore our new town and the surroundings.

And, it’s fall. Even in the first few days of it, it’s the sort of fall I’ve been waiting for since I left Minnesota over a decade ago. That first fall away was a big swirl of college freshman activity and I didn’t have a chance to think much about it, but by sophomore year I would catch myself lingering over photos – photos of anything, from anywhere – that somehow reminded me of the falls I was used to. This continued and intensified for years, and one time just a couple of years ago I caught myself fawning wistfully over a photo of what amounted to a fairly barren park, all leafless and windswept and well into its waning pre-winter days. I couldn’t stop looking at it and feeling nostalgic, and I knew it was time to go back. Fall is one of the things I missed most about being in California, and one of the main reasons I’m happy to be back.

It also means I can add more to the Fall Cocktails category of this website, woefully neglected amongst the palms.

Cocktail_closeup Read more

Nov 16

3 Comments

Brown sugar applesauce with bourbon and vanilla

applesauce1

Every once in a while I realize that something is easy. Unfortunately, I am particularly good at making things difficult – both in and out of the kitchen – but sometimes before I even begin to figure out how something actually works I just imagine it to be so difficult that I move no further.

Case in point: applesauce. What could be so difficult about applesauce? Answer: nothing, it turns out. I don’t know what I was so afraid of. Well, I suppose there is some peeling and chopping of apples, which can be kind of a pain, but not when there’s some good music on, or a good TV show playing in the background, or maybe a podcast, or just some good conversation. Let’s all hang out in our kitchens and drink whiskey with friends and make applesauce!

And if some of that whiskey manages to end up in the applesauce, then, OH WELL let’s go with it. Read more

Oct 31

5 Comments

Slowing down, preparing for change – Brown sugar apple crisp with rum-soaked currants

Being in the kitchen can be a great way to deal with everything else going on in your life. Need some excitement in your life? Douse something with brandy and set it on fire. Need to get out your aggression? Smash some candies for peppermint bark. Feeling disconnected or homesick? Chocolate chip cookies.

Having trouble focusing? Peel some apples. Need to slow down a bit? Soak some currants in rum for at least a day.  Feeling a little frantic? Bake them together, slowly, with crunchy bits of brown sugar crumble on top. Serve it warm, with a rather large dollop of softly whipped vanilla cream.

Apple_crisp

Read more