Fall Harvest : Apple-Picking Time!

Our "Little Apple Tree" has apples this year! They are beautiful from the top-side. We are so excited--this is the first year the tree is bearing fruit (after about 5 years of anticipation!) We got about 45 apples from this first harvest. Delicious!

We didn't spray or douse the tree with any chemicals or clay, or whatever. My husband is Mr. Organic is not a fan of "better living through chemistry." (Neither am I, really.) We do have some worms--so next year, we'll study up on what needs to be done. I don't really want to share these beauties with the worms, but I guess having to cut out 1 section of apple isn't so bad. The worms like these apples, too.

It was a slow start for this little tree. 5 years ago, our friend Kevin Bradley (of Edible Forest Nursery) gave us a sapling to plant. We planted it in the back yard. I put the white plastic around the truck to keep the winter sun from splitting th bark. I thought that would be enough to keep the rabbits away from it, but the critters managed to "ring" the bark. That first little tree died. Sigh! We got a second one soon after, and planted it--and fortified it. Around this little tree is a 4-foot fence to keep the dogs out. This spring, Maggie (the 85-lb Newfie) was jumping up to break off apple branch sticks to chew on! Not a good idea, Mags!

Here's the report from the Minnesota Extention Office on Honey Crisp. I think this variety was developed in Minnesota to do well in the colder climes.

Again, the season seems to be ahead of other years. Honey Crisp are considered a September apple. The color and sweetness are just about perfect NOW, and it's still August. It's got to be Global Warming ...

Made from Scratch - Bohemian Plum Dumplings

Riding bike through town recently, I passed a beautiful plum tree full of ripe luscious plums. Damson plums, or Italian Prune Plums : They're smaller than the regular plums you see in the grocery stores. They also have thicker skins.

I'd include a photo of that tree, here, but I haven't been able to find it again ... Sigh!

Here's a picture of the plums we purchased :
You can only get these in the fall. Most other years, we have plum dumplings in September. But things seem to be about 2 weeks early this year ... Global Warming?

Plum Dumplings in the fall is a family tradition for me. It's one of those recipes handed down by doing--no one really ever wrote it down. Gramma Pickles finally bought me a little cookbook from their Bohemian Life Insurance Group that had similar traditional recipes in it (Recipes that used "oleo" instead of butter or margarine.)

Here's the recipe :

Plum Dumplings (Sveskove Knedleky)
2 c. flour
dash of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
14-16 Stanley prune plums

Toppings :
Cottage Cheese
Melted Butter
Cinnamon and Sugar

Mix ingredients together to make dough that will handle easily. Wrap around fruit, covering all holes. Roll into balls. Drop into boiling water and boil 12-15 minutes. When they rise, turn them over in the boiling water. Serve topped with cottage cheese, yogurt, melted butter, and cinnamon sugar.
Here are the dumplings awaiting the boiling water (above).

Here are the plum dumplings in the boiling water. "Look, Ma! No sinkers!"

You just hope you don't have any "sinkers" when you put the dumplings into the boiling water. You want all of your dumplings to float. If you get one that doesn't float, you probably don't want to eat it--it'll be that heavy in your gut, too. When they're done, dinner is served! We eat them with cottage cheese or yogurt, plenty of melted butter, cinnamon and sugar :

Plum Dumplings are the ultimate in comfort food! Bet you wish your computer had smell-o-vision about now, don't you!

We'd have contests to see who could eat the most--evidenced by how many prune pits were left on a person's plate. The winner got a new car--well, not really, but that's what we always said. Usually, it was Grappa ate the most.

1886 Treadle Sewing Machine

I made a purchase this weekend : an antique treadle sewing machine in a 5-drawer cabinet. Nostalgia got the best of me. I've been thinking about Great Gramma's old machine that was around when I was a kid, but has since disappeared. That machine was the neatest thing to me as a kid :
* The treasures in the drawers (including Juicy Fruit Gum)
* Various and very strange feet
* The Treadle, moving parts
* The machine appearing and disappearing into the cabinet--like MAGIC

I'm not the only one fascinated with the mechanisms of this machinery : Oliver has also taken an interest in helping me oil and polish it. He also thinks it's pretty cool to open the lid and see that machine appear and retreat--not to mention working the treadle!

Sue Breier (The It's-a-Wrap Lady) is in my Quilt Guild. She just bought a Featherwight. She happened to mention to me that one of the local antique stores had an old treadle machine ... So I went to take a look, went home and slept on it, tried to figure out where I'd put it in our packed house. I went back the next day to purchase it. Sometimes, you just have to ask yourself, "Would I feel bad about letting this get away?" Yes, I decided ... I wanted to have a treadle in my life again.

I don't expect to actually use this old machine. I've got it too good with the modern sewing machines with auto tension, etc. I suspect, I'd be pretty frustrated with this puppy as a working sewing machine (Yeah--ask me about it when the lights go out!) It does need a drive belt, but other than that, the parts seem to be in decent working order, running smoothly. Maybe I'll try a small project--just to say that I did it!

At first, I thought it might be a Singer (They were everywhere, right?), but I need to do a little more research on the make and model. Although it had most of a manual, it was missing a few pages. Though it has beautiful decals, there doesn't seem to be a manuafacturer on it where the "Singer" always sits across the top ... Is this a copy of the Singer VS#2?

Nice decals around the base ... This is the view from the top

It's a beauty! Anybody know what I've got?
Here's what I know so far (testament to watching Antiques Road Show and History Detectives on PBS) :
National Sewing Company used to make generic machines that anyone could slap a brand onto (Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc.) That might explain why there is a noticeable LACK of a label or decal across the top.

The removable bobbin plate cover says "Patented November 30, 1886" but it doesn't say by who ...
Under the bobbin plate is what may be a serial number : 1287755
It seems to be a vibrating shuttle #2 type of machine. It has a long bobbin.

If you know anything about this machine, please leave a comment ...

Angels Among Us : An Encounter

When I was 23, or so, just out of college, I was trying to find my place in the world. It was a stressful time for me, and that stress was coming out as pretty severe acne on my face. For a while, my face looked like hamburger. My self-esteem was as low as it had ever been ... I was "frump girl."

Things were beginning to look up, though. I found a "stable" job with health insurance. With the steady income, I would treat myself to a new music CD on pay day. This meant walking down Madison's State St. through the record stores on Friday evening after work.

State St. is always filled with characters. It's a great place for people-watching.

This particular evening, I saw a 1950s throwback. Even on State St., he looked out of place. He looked like James Dean with dark hair, wearing jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket, with hair greased back. Cool, man. Out of the blue, he said to me : "You're prettier than you think." I said, "Thanks" and kept walking. When I looked back, he was gone.

He wasn't trying to pick me up, or buy me a drink, or anything. He didn't want anything in return. It was just the simple gift of encouragement said to a complete stranger. That was just what I needed to hear at that point to lift my spirits and start healing ... I haven't forgotten him--whoever he was.

We can be Angels for someone else who might need a little lift, a word of encouragement. We can make the world a better place that way ... Were you somebody's Angel today?

Other Angels
Iris video by The Goo Goo Dolls from the movie soundtrack City of Angels.

Wish I Had a Picture ... of Maggie with a Bird on her Nose

On our dog walk the other day, a fledgling bird flew up from the ground and landed on Maggie's nose. It stayed there a few seconds before realizing Maggie's nose probably wasn't the safest place to be.

This picture is only an approximation of what happened ...

Maggie is such a softie, a nurturer, from her years in the puppy mill. She never tried to bite it. She raised her head up higher as if to encourage this little bird to fly. And it did fly off ... Purty , on the other hand, would have chomped it. Only Maggie!!!

Laundry Day : Making Memories

Carol Suto's quilt "Monday Morning 1955" was featured in the 2005 I Remember Mama Exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston TX.

When I do my laundry, my 6-year old likes to roll in the light-medium-dark piles sorted on the floor. At first, I thought this was kind of strange--until he said he likes the smell of me.

That gave me pause, and I realized, this is one of HIS memories in the making : The smell of his Sweet Mumma. How do you put that into a bottle? I can't even tell you what that smell is--I'm too close to it. But he knows ...

Years from now, after I'm gone, he'll remember that scent, and think of me.

********************************

Another time, Oliver wanted me to stand in a certain place in the sun; I wanted to stay in the shade. I finally relented and went where he wanted me to go. He stood back and brought a pretend camera to his eyes and "clicked" the shutter to take a photo of me with his mind's eye. Another Memory.

********************************

One of our jobs as parents is to help make memories for our kids. But it's not the huge expensive trips or toys that they'll remember most after we're gone. It's the little things : a taste, a smell, an image, a story, a laugh, a word of encouragement ...

What memories are you making?
What memories do you have of your parents?

Water-logged Dragonfly

On the dog walk last night, I found this majestic beauty stuck fast to the wet and rainy sidewalk. I suspect it's wings just got too heavy and cold with the rain to fly. So I brought it home to dry off in safety and peace.

I think it's a Green Darner, very common in Wisconsin. Sandy, my Naturalist Friend would know for sure ... Somewhere, we have a little book called Dragonflies of Wisconsin (with color pictures), but I can't seem to locate it now.

Once when Sandy and I were canoeing Cherokee Marsh, we found a dragonfly whose wings were stuck fast to the surface of the lake. We scooped it out, and let it dry in the sun on one of our paddles. We took the opportunity to get a close-up look at this creature. We were also honored and amazed to be so close to this living, struggling, gorgeous creature. In a little while, it came to life and flew off--no doubt grateful for our intervention that day. What a gift that encounter was!

Taste a Little of the Summer

I love blueberries! My grocery store had a great sale on blueberries (from Canada) this week, so I bought 6 pints : 1 to eat now, and 5 to freeze for blueberry pancakes and smoothies all year. Yum!


Here's the Summer Fruit Tart I made this weekend. Easy and delicious! (It has a puff pastry crust courtesy of Pepperidge Farm).

It's true that now we can get just about anything we want at any time of the year ... Frozen blueberries and peaches at the grocery store; fresh fruit from around the world because it's always in season somewhere ... My family tries to eat foods grown locally and in season, but that's not always possible. It's back to the Global Village idea again.

Greg Brown has a wonderful song called "Canned Goods."
Lyrics (Janna--you'll appreciate this song!)

Live Performance on YouTube

"Peaches on the shelf, potatoes in the bin
Supper's ready, everybody come on in.
Taste a little of the summer ...
My Gramma put it all in jars"

Someday, I'll do a quilt on this theme ...

What are your favorite tastes of summer?

"I'm Here" Vietnamese Cuisine

[Photo of I'm Here Sign]

Suong Tran's "I'm Here" was a greasy spoon Vietnamese restaurant in Madison, WI. The menu was legendary with over 500 items. We even kept a menu with annotations, so we could keep track of what we had tried, and what we liked.

Photo [above] sampling of I'm Here's Legendary Menu. Look for #22! {Feel fre to click on it for a closer look!]


In the 1990s, I'm Here had a food cart on Capital Square. [The food cart still seems to be operating. Hurray!] I used to get lunch from her regularly. She had the absolute BEST fresh-squeezed lemonade! And I liked her fried rice. Back then I wasn't adventuresome enough to try other dishes.

Later, when my future husband and I went on our first "not-a-date," we discovered that we both appreciated the cuisine of I'm Here. He knew of it as the restaurant on Park St., and had never seen the food cart. He's the one who introduced me to #22, Bun Bi Cha Gio, which soon became my all-time favorite item on the menu. It's a Vietnamese salad of julienned cucumber and thick (beefy) soy bean sprouts topped with rice noodles and a vegetarian egg roll cut into 3/4-inch rounds with tofu bits and toasted peanuts on top with fresh mint and basil. All this is accompanied by a mystery dipping sauce. It's the perfect combination of hot and cold, sweet and salty, light and fresh.

Back to the story ... Christian and I went to I'm Here quite often. We loved the food and the ambiance. It was never crowded. In Winter, the heat was seldom on (Woe to the diner who had to expose bare skin in that frigid bathroom!). The front of the restaurant was piled high with storage items : fortune cookies, little jello-like desserts, a huge old industrial type microwave bought at auction and in need of repair. The service was even rude at times. Most of their business was take-out, so they didn't bother much with housekeeping. Most people did not dine-in there. We were unusual ...

Because we kept coming back, the Trans came to trust us as friends. My husband grew up speaking French (that's another story), the colonial language of Vietnam. The Trans were more comfortable speaking French than English, even after living in the US for 20 years. So that helped to foster communication. Suong would be trying new recipes in the kitchen and test them out on us when no one else was around. We felt really honored!

We asked her one night why the restaurant had such an unusual name. She said, "When you're hungry, I want the food to say, 'I'm Here!'" Simple as that.

One night they told us the story of how they left Vietnam all those years ago on a boat (I can't remember the details now, but it was harrowing) ... eventually, they came to the US. Dak (Mr. Tran) had been an engineer in Vietnam, an educated and professional person. But when he came to the US, the language was a barrier. He couldn't find a job. Then it hit me : how hard it is for many immigrants coming to the US--to be a bright, capable person where you came from, to suddenly held back by the language barrier. People can't see your intelligence or the depths of your soul because you can't speak their language ... Suong Tran's family came from a part of Vietnam where vegetarian dishes were common -- or was it her family's religion that offered such variety in vegetarian dishes (apparently not so common in the rest of Vietnam, or in the Vietnamese Cookbooks I've checked). So she opened the restaurant ... That was something they could do with minimal English skills.

One night, we brought my parents there for dinner. This seemed really important because my Dad is a Vietnam Vet. The Trans really wanted to meet him, too. I remember it just seemed like there was a lot of history, gratitude, emotion, smiles and STUFF to air out between them (they'd never met before) with that traumatic history even 25 years later ... The Trans brought our food. I think they wanted to sit down and really talk with all of us, but it was a Saturday night and they had other customers to attend to. I should ask my dad if he remembers that encounter ... I felt like something really important and healing had happened that night, even though I don't recall anymore what we talked about.

Other dishes we loved :
Red Bean Smoothie
Doesn't sound like much, but these beans are sweet. This was more like a dessert, or a milkshake. We would get one and share it with two straws, back in the days of young love. One night, I had really been looking forward to Red Bean Smoothie, and while CL was telling a story (or maybe he was just reading the Isthmus) and I'd been staring into his eyes, I had slurped up almost all of the R-B Smoothie. He was not happy about that, but we worked through it with a wink and a nod. ;-)

Unfortunately, I'm Here is closed down as a restaurant now. No more of that delicious food, unless we try to make it ourselves. Sigh! Here's my first attempt at making my own #22 :

Ready to serve with dipping sauce at the side. This is the recipe I worked from, slightly modified. Dipping Sauce Recipe.

Here's another shot, lest you think it's all noodles and egg roll. The greens and veggies are underneath the noodles.

How did it taste? Good enough to quench my hunger. Sort of like Suong Tran's ... but not quite.

I didn't even try to make the egg rolls. The farmer's market in Oshkosh now has 2 stands where they sell Hmong egg rolls. (For those of you who don't know, the Hmong people helped the US during the Vietnam War. After the war, many Hmong people settled in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California where they could find good farmland. Today, about 1/3 of the farmers at our market are Hmong.) So a Hmong egg roll IS a type of Vietnamese egg roll. It is much easier to purchase these little gems than to make them from scratch ... They are similar, but not exactly the same as Suong Tran's ...

I'll just have to seek out her cart the next time we're in Madison. That's all there is to it!

The Global Village

It amazes me that I know people or people who know people near the places of recent disasters in the news.
* Earthquake in Peru
* Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis
* Events in N. Iraq

I know people in these places. If I don't know them personally, I know people who know people there and are concerned. I, too, worry that they are okay, or lived through these catastrophic events. So you can sort of "see" how people's thoughts encircle the world and bind it together ...

I knew Sinden was in Madison at the time of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, so I wasn't too worried about her life and limb. What I didn't know was that the bridge that collapsed was very near her condo. She's on that ramp every day she's in her car ... Sheesh!

I emailed Diane to make sure she was okay, too. With a toddler now, she needs to stick around to see that child grow and mature. Thankfully, she (and her family) was all right. She even helped with the recovery effort at her hospital.

Kevin's wife Elena is from Peru. I hope that her loved ones are okay after the earthquake this week.

One of my volunteers is a Khurdish woman from Northern Iraq. She is a Muslim woman volunteering in a Catholic Hospital (Doesn't that make you think!). She is very kind, gentle, wants to do a good job with her volunteer tasks. She is a good worker, and we want her to come back safe and sound. Her family had to leave her homeland about 10 years ago, as she says, "Because Saddam was so crazy." This summer, she went back (at great expense) to visit her mother and family. She assured me that things were quiet and peaceful in Northern Iraq. Before she left, I had given her 2 pieces of Turquoise which is supposed to protect travelers (my version of a St. Christopher's medal). I sincerely hope that she and her family are all right. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to see your homeland in such turmoil--with family and friends still there in the thick of it. Those are the ties that bind--Her family is still there : A mother longing to see her daughter again, and her growing grandchildren.

On the other hand, when disasters strike--as with Hurricane Katrina, I thought (with the distance of an optimist), "Wow, here's a community that has a tremendous opportunity to come together and rebuild." With the Global Village, there was a great outpouring of aid and help from regular people. This was too big a job for government to handle. People from my workplace went down to help care for people displaced. My "church" sent a crew down to help clean-up and rebuild. Granted, I know there's still a lot of work to do in New Orleans ... the scale of this man-made disaster cannot be recovered overnight. I hope better planning goes into the reconstruction and city planning.

Life in A Northern Town

Why is it that in the height of summer's heat and humidity, my dreams are haunted with images of deepest winter?

• The frozen palace in Dr. Zhivago
• An album cover (LP) for The Music of Russia on a clear, bright, crisp and cold winter's day
• Andreas Viestad's Kitchen of Light - Cooking at the Arctic Circle in a portable kitchen
• Reading a book next to a cheery fire in the woodstove
• The music and dance of Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, Scotland - northern climes
• Dream Academy's song, Life in a Northern Town
• George Vukelich's North Country Notebook
• The Star Wars movie (which one was it?) where Luke Skywalker gets caught in a snowstorm, and Han Solo treks out to find him, and cuts open the belly of a beast to keep Luke from freezing to death
• Watching Lawrence of Arabia while a blizzard raged outside when I was a kid (swirling/whirling sand and snow have a lot in common--still I prefer the snow)
• Northern Exposure (tv show)
• A cold day snow-shoeing with Sandy out at Cherokee Marsh


• A day "studying" at SLIS with an incomparable view of Lake Mendota, with Christian and Keba (my dog) trekking across that frozen lake
  

I do not dream of the desert, or the tropics, but of ice and snow. I am a Child of the North!

On Christmas Day, my nuclear family has developed a tradition of cross country skiing in effort to ward off the lethargy of a heavy holiday meal. Unfortunately, only 1 winter in the last 5 has offered decent snow on December 25 in Northern Wisconsin. I don't know how anyone can deny Global Warming with clear evidence like that. Most years, we've had to settle for hiking instead of skiing. I will miss the snow when it's gone. I can do without the icy roads, though ...

In winter, it's so much easier to put on another sweater. In summer, there's only so much you can peel off before you're down to bare skin. No, we don't have air conditioning at my house. Just a ceiling fan in the living room and a cool glass of lemonade with feel in a bucket of cold water ...

Snow season--long nights are not so dark. They are lit with the twinkling lights of stars, northern lights, and electric lights.


Here I am trying out my new (to me) snow shoes, back when we had enough snow to use them (about 1995, or so). Yes, that's a fur-lined bomber cap. I don't give a rip how goofy it looks--It is an absolute necessity on the coldest days when I still have to go out and walk the dogs. I'm glad to have it then!

Summer of Adventure

This is my buddy, Janna the Pilot. She's working on becoming a Wildlife Biologist with her own plane. Cool!

In July, she flew herself from Rhode Island (East Coast, USA) to Oshkosh, WI (Midwest) in a little Cessna for the annual EAA Convention.

What an accomplishment! What an adventure for her! I'm just so darned proud of her for following this dream she's had to fly since high school!

One of the days she was visiting in July, she flew me down to Kenosha so we could attend the Bristol Renaissance Faire. What a treat--not having to wrestle with traffic, or the heat of the roads in July. It's a lot cooler at 3,000 feet (or whatever we were at).

[Edit : Here's a short flight video in 2008 to give you an idea of what it's like to fly in a little two-seater plane. It's up at Taunton, MA (TAN) on the gravel strip. ]

Even more impressive was seeing Janna fly that plane with confidence. She knew what all the dials were telling her; She could even understand what the control towers were saying (That's a secret language in itself!).

Another thing that amazes me is the Trust Culture of fliers : When we landed in Kenosha, we asked about getting a cab to take us the 5 miles to the Ren Faire. Without batting an eye, or even asking our names, the attendant said, :"You can take the crew (courtesy) car. I'll give you the keys. Just fill it up with gas before you come back." Of course, he had J's plane as collatoral. So for $5 in gas, we got a ride down to the Ren Faire and back.

Can you imagine a bus station, or a train station where they'd tell you, "Oh, just take the crew car ..." Aviation is a whole different world!

Recipes - More than Food!

I was looking through my recipe box this weekend. I don't cook very often anymore--my husband is the chef at our house, and I try to stay out of his way in the kitchen.

It seemed with many of the tired, warn, food-stained cards, I would get "warm fuzzies" as I remembered the time, the place, laughter, friendships, and even a few regrets over these recipes. And I realized that Food is much more than sustenance to me.

One in particular was written in the script of a dear friend, now gone : Sandy's Lentil-Bulger Salad.

I've never been able to do right by bulger (and everyone says it's so easy!), so I don't get dish very often these days. It was a rare treat to see her hand-writing alive and well in among my recipes. Even after 6 years, I still miss her and think of her often. Sigh!


Summit Ave. Coop, early 1990s (pre-restoration)

A few years ago, I was craving a certain Chocolate Zuchinni Cake that Kelly McVittie used to make at Summit Ave Coop, where we lived with 17 other people in Madison, WI. I hadn't taken the recipe with me, because I knew it would always be there at the Coop. You see, I had started a blank book entitled "Favorite Recipes of Summit Coop." It was the ugliest blank book with a teddy bear on the the cover : Hello Kitty Cute. (There was a reason for that : If it was cute and ugly, it would be less likely to be stolen, right?) New Coop Cooks needed some help and guidance in preparing a meal for 18 people. The purpose of the cookbook was to help with proper proportions for this size crowd, and recipes that seemed to please the house members and stayed within the $26 per meal budget guidelines. I knew Kelly's recipe would still be in that homegrown cookbook. So I called the house and asked for the recipe ... To my horror, the poor soul who answered the phone said that the House Cookbook had disappeared, probably the result of a hate crime against one of the remaining members : A former house member was trying to get back at another house mate for whatever reason ... It was gone. Those recipes were GONE!

Even though I haven't lived at Summit Coop since 1998, I felt violated, too. I started that cookbook. It belonged to me as much as to every other member of the House. It was full of Summit lore and culture built up over the years. Recipes that I knew and loved gone down the memory hole as people moved on and moved out of Summit. Fortunately, I still have many of those recipes from people I met at the Coop ...

Mr. Wang's Stir Fry #1 and #2
Mr. Qu's Kung Pao Chicken
Danielle's Korma
Anything by LeeAnne or Linda Kinney
Sinden's Souffle
Susan's Curried Carrots with Raisin & Lentils
Susan's Greek Garlic Soup
Susan's Rhubarb Crisp
Ling's Spicy Eggplant
Wei Ching's Winter Ginger Chicken Soup
Duane's Burrito Pie
Miriam's Great Aunt Catherine's Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Not all my recipes have ties to Summit. There was life and food before Summit (BS) : The comfort foods of eggs and milk ...

Gramma Matucheski's Egg Nog (There was never a written recipe for this. And my mom who is Director of Public Health in her county would have a heart attack if she knew I still ate raw eggs in this recipe ... She's investigated enough food poisonings cases to require me to cook the eggs.)

Heidi's Gramma's Bread Pudding brings back memories of Monday nights at Heidi and Beth's apartment where we'd watch Northern Exposure every week.

Another curious thing about my recipes is that they usually have a name attached to them. I used to file them according to the person who gave me the recipe. For example, "Susan's Rhubarb Crisp" would file under S. This system made perfect sense to me because they were all much more than recipes to me : They were memories! But this system never worked for my husband, so now, we file them under the food name, not by the maker. For example, "Susan's Rhubarb Crisp" is now filed under "R" for "Rhubarb Crisp." Although, we tend to use it more for Apple Crisp, so it could as also be found under "A" for Apple Crisp. (The organization of information is an art, not a science.)

Makes me wonder if some of the recipes I made at the Coop were remembered so fondly by other members? Refried Beans for tacos/burritoes, black bean soup, crab puffs ...

Joys of Summer

I don't have anything blooming in my own garden at present, so it's a perfect excuse to buy a bouquet at the local farmer's market.