Teeny Thanksgiving Apples

I saw the cutest things ever at the store.  Teeny organic Crimson Gold apples.  Grown in a micro-climate in the Cuyama Valley near Santa Barbara, CA, they are the perfect size for tiny caramel apples for Thanksgiving.  The grandkids will love them.  

This is the first year of not cooking Thanksgiving and I am thrilled.  Middle daughter is doing it at her house.  All I have to bring is homemade cranberry sauce and baked macaroni and cheese.  And, these little jewels.  Being that the plate is a butter pat, the largest apple in the bunch is the size of a small hen's eggs and the smallest maybe a nickel. 

Love to all my friends out there and have a happy Thanksgiving!

An Apple A Day

My favorite apple, the Red Rome.  I can find it at only one store nowadays.  They have replaced them with all different and new strains of apple.  They told me people want the newest ones.  Well, I want the old ones. They even have a grape scented one which does smell like grape.  Guess it is good for diversity, but I want my Red Rome back.

This tableau was a joke.  If you are old enough, you remember your grannie's Tupperware.  Don't know if it was sold anywhere besides the US, but every household had Tupperware.

I made this necklace to wear to my first visit with the cardiologist yesterday.  My sister went with me and said I couldn't wear that.  Then she dared me to.  I decided not to in case the doctor wasn't of a certain age as he wouldn't get the joke.

Well, he wasn't - a mere babe, young enough to be my child.  But, he made me feel better and scheduled a couple of tests.  Just waiting for the insurance to approve them. What I didn't tell you before, is I am at high risk for heart disease.  I have Syndrome X and am diabetic, etc.  Plus, one of my brothers had sudden cardiac death at age 45.  Another had a heart attack last month at age 49 and had stents put in.  My sister had a silent heart attack at 36 and has tachycardia.  I don't know all the abbreviations and such, but the family history is there.

Here is what was in the little tupperware bowl.  Aspirin. I thought it was funny, but now I find out that the little bowl was for pills.  Couple of things to pass on.  He told me not to take the whole 325 mg. aspirin, but a baby aspirin.  And,  the recent studies about Prilosec and heart disease in older patients is a misnomer as they still prescribe it for their patients to deal with the effects of their heart meds.  I was glad to hear that as I have been taking it for years and can't go without it.

Bribery

My friend ( Ms. Mary Kay) pointed out that I hadn't posted lately.  So, here's a twofer.  

When I want my kids to come home, I have to bribe them.  "It's too far," or "I have to work/study", and the grand kids are a handful and have stuff to do", though they love coming to the farm.  Valid reasons all, nevertheless, bribery sometimes does the trick.  In my middle child's case, a Granny Smith apple pie works some of the time.  When my sister comes, she pre orders a tart cherry pie.

My father always had to have an extra sharp cheddar cheese melted on top of his slice.  I don't know where this started, buy I did see David Letterman one night talking about his favorite apple pie with cheddar on top, so I guess we are not the only ones.  It really is good.

Mile High Apple Pie

Since it is much too hot to bake, I'll share this apple pie I made last fall.  Secrets to a good apple pie?  Granny Smith apples, lemon juice, dotted with butter and light brown sugar gives it the most flavor.

APPLE PIE

Lo and behold, it's that time of year again. Apple pickin' time is nigh. In all the grocery stores, apples of all kinds spill out of the produce bins into our baskets. This year, my twenty year old Golden Delicious apple tree is just about kaput. It has been blown over by strong storm winds then stood back up and braced. Two major ice storms have laid it down again and again only this year, half of it died. I didn't have the heart to cut it down, but I did plant three new apple trees this fall. Truth be known, I rarely ever got to eat the apples as the squirrels and deer usually got most of them. Nevertheless, this post is about apple pie - and you have to use Granny Smith apples for the best apple pie. I have tried many other kinds, including different varieties together, but always go back to Granny's. I have run this recipe previously, so type it in the upper left hand corner for the recipe. I'd also like to give a shout out to Stark Brother's Nursery. I have purchased fruit trees and berry plants from them and their quality of plants are very good.