Into 2012, Hurrah!

Wrapping up the holiday posting a couple of weeks late, but that is one of my holiday traditions, I think.

I first want to send a huge THANKS! out to MIL for her generosity in having all of us out to her place in Germany, and to the family for their general awesomeness, I had such a lot of fun with all of them. The whole time there was pretty awesome, filled with feasting and other fun things, and also with enough long, brisk walks that I didn't outgrow my pants. Some of my favorite (food related) parts teaching my nephew to say "delicious," and cooking with him. We made quiche together and he insisted on having a turn cracking the eggs.

cooking with Nephew

Mmm, look at all that wurst!

Cooking with Lovemuffin and J

Mussel Mustache

I received several awesome gifts, and want to send out another huge THANK YOU! to everyone for their thoughtfulness and generosity.

"Gooey Somethings" personalized apron and hotpad, from MIL
Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer, from Dad
beautiful hand made ceramic egg separator, from Older Sister
quince balsamic vinegar and black pumpkin seed oil, also from MIL
incredibly sharp Japanese knife, from Aunt K
Immersion blender (not pictured) from Motherdear

Stay tuned for some (hopefully) exciting experiments using the new tools and ingredients!

I also have a goal to keep doing all the things that I love to do, the things that make me feel alive and happy. That includes cooking, baking, eating, and writing in this blog, and some other favorite activities, of course. In fact, a friend invited me to participate in this 50/50 challenge and so far I'm doing pretty good! I hope this new year, and all the time, sees you doing the things you love and that make you feel alive.

Apple Harvest Phase 2

I've been able to use up almost all of the apples by making applesauce (that isn't very good because some of it got burnt), dried apple slices (which we'll need more of) and a couple batches of apple muffins, recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. For the second batch of muffins, I used half apples and half carrots and made them miniature and added extra spices. I think they're pretty cute as well as delicious.

dried apples, applesauce, and the remains of the harvest

Laying out slices for drying

miniature carrot-apple muffins

I used my apple corer-peeler-slicer, which I picked up second-hand for $3 after no one got me one for Christmas several years ago, and which I think I will now call "The Spiraler" because it makes them into neat spirals. It looks like this one, but mine is silver in color, instead of red. 

The Spiraler

I saved all the peels and cores and froze them in the event that I need to make jelly. I also used "Fruit Fresh" to prevent discoloration, and it works better than lemon juice, but the price is a little steep.

no brown apple slices here!

If there is a Phase 3 to this project, it will probably be more dried apple slices, we eat a lot of dried fruit in this house.