Dashed out tw’ (desperately needed & very welcome) gentle rain showers today & found my pepper plants, removed them from their strangling mass of weeds, and planted a 2nd crop of lettuce & mesclun.

DANG that felt good(!), as did getting rid of the awful heat which I’m afraid we sent on east last night. Sorry guys.

Thanks Christy! Your “Pull Up A Chair” & other nicely timed steam-venting opportunities are welcome and downright therapeutic.

Take care, dear lady ;->

Fresh Apple Cake

This recipe ran in the Arkansas Times, originally gleaned from a 93 year old woman in Memphis.
For apples try Golden Delicious or a blend of apples. It’s best to use sweet or slightly tart apples that have a soft texture when baked. But whatever you do, use corn oil. Previous incarnations using canola or other vegetable oils were disastrous. Consider yourself warned….

1 Cup Corn Oil
2 Cups Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
5 Cups Chopped fresh Apples ( 4-5 medium)
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
1/4 Cup Pecan halves to sprinkle on top

Peel, core and chop apples. Set them aside. Beat the eggs, sugar and oil-make sure you use corn oil. Sift together the other dry ingredients and stir them into the egg, oil and sugar mixture. the batter will be fairly stiff and will turn a light brown or off white color. Fold in the apples and chopped pecans and spoon the batter into a well-greased bundt or angel food pan. If nuts always seem to sink to the bottom of your cakes and breads, warm the pecans for a few minutes in the oven before adding them to the batter.
Bake the cake at 350 for 1 hour and let it cool in the pan. To remove it from the pan, put a plate on top of the bundt or angel food pan and turn. gently lift the pan off-you may need to use a slight shimmying motion-and the cake will remain on the plate, ready for icing. The caramel icing below is easy to make and a perfect compliment to the cake, adding a hint of county-fair caramel apple flavor and just the right amount of sweetness without being overwhelming.

Easy Caramel Icing

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Stick (1/4 Cup) butter or Margarine
1/4 Cup Evaporated milk
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bean salad…. everything comes in cans or jars, no cooking required.
1 can green beans
1 can wax (yellow) beans
1 can red kidney beans, well rinsed
vinaigrette (balsamic/Italian preferred)

optional ingredients (small cans)
chickpeas/garbanzos
corn
bamboo shoots
sliced water chestnuts
mushroom slices or pieces
olive slices or pieces

Mix and let stand in fridge for several hours before serving.

I have to admit, I’ve been staying low these days. It’s all just too painful. But thank you Christy for these Saturday posts.

The heat .. had a tornado here in Maine this week, precipitated by massive thunder storms. It’s been tropical, hot & humid all day, then severe thunderstorms in the afternoons. At 430 in the afternoon on Wed. it was as black as night, my kids were freaking out. I remember having the same reaction when I was little. In Ireland, they’ve had record heat and the old folks in my mum’s nursing home are dropping like flies. Poor dears.

*IT* all feels apocryphal to me.

For keeping the heat at bay, we’ve been dipping into one of the many spring fed lakes on this dear little island. It’s helped to keep my body cool and my soul calm(er).

A tall glass of iced tea with lots of lemon helps too. And of course plain old iced H2O. Nothin’ better.

One of my favorite summer salads is this:

Wash, trim (leave a bit of a stem on), and roast a couple a bunches of beets, after cooling, peel and cut into 1/2 in.cubes
Big old bowl o’ baby spinach
2 hanfuls or more of raw walnuts
a lb or so of goats cheese, 1/2 tsps dolloped into spinach
1/4 lb or so of prosciuto in thin strips ripped up and tossed in
a simple balsamic vinaigrette

Toss it all and serve with crunchy bread. It would be yummy with beard5’s gazpacho.

RevDeb, we had an enormous gone wild patch of mint at our old house. Whenever we mowed the lawn our house would be filled with the delicious fresh scent of mint. I made lots of tabouli then. Now that’s a nice refreshing meal too.

Take care everyone and thanks.

Peace ?

NO.

1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543)

http://www.redcross.org

Thanks.

I stopped off at some friend on the way home and shared some of the great “The Kiss” buttons with them.

I find the best way to keep cool is water, whether I swim, drink, body surf or shower, water is always the best for me.

And the best lemonade I ever had was in Seattle, at this charming restaurant called Marcos. They used ginger in the simple syrup they made, and added some fresh lemons to it. A delightful combination. It went so well with the fried sage leaves, and 4 cheese ravioli.

Just another reason to reason to love Seattle.

1. Remove tee-shirt
2. Run cool water in bathroom sink
3. Dunk top half of tee-shirt in water
4. Wring out shirt
5. Put shirt back on
6. Sit in front of fan while reading FDL