Sunday, October 20, 2013

Second/Third Week of October: Nature and Food-- Apples and Apple Cake

So my family is a family of weavers.  It goes back many generations.  We sell our wares at my grandpa's work room, but also at many craft shows around the area.  One of my favorite ones to go to is the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival in North Wilkesboro, NC.  We always get the best NC Mountain apples when we go there.  This year I got 3 varieties:  Stayman, JonaGold, and Fuji.

A little bit about each of these types of apples....

Most people have heard of a Fuji apple.  It's very popular and commonly sold in the US.  It was first cultivated in Japan about 100 years ago.  It's a great "eating apple".

 JonaGold is a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Jonathan apple.  Golden Delicious are really sweet to me, so a JonaGold is a great way to get a crisp, sweet, juicy apple that's not quite so sweet as a Golden Delicious.

A Stayman apple is an "old timey" apple.  It's a beautiful apple, but it's not as great just eating it straight.  It has a very starchy consistency.  But, that's what makes this a phenomenal baking apple.  It's flavor is light and tart, so it takes on your cinnamon or pecans or whatever else you cook with very well.  However, when you cook it, it seems to get more "apple-y" in flavor.

My husband and I really want an apple tree, but considering we live on the boarder of a coastal plain and our soil is sandy--I just don't think it's possible.

Apples are really amazing.  They are a lot like tomatoes in the sense that an apple eaten in May is flavorless and kind of mealy.  Just like a tomato in January.  It's really one of those foods you should eat locally when they are in season.  And when they are in season?  Eat the mess out of them!!  I eat a least an apple a day (until I run out or the trees run out) in the Fall.

So now that I have these Stayman apples, and I have a bunch of them. I need to figure out what to do with them.  I've made a pie, I can stew them, I can can or preserve them.  Or....I can make an Apple Cake....

Which is what the most reasonable of these choices are!  So this is the recipe I'm going to use.  Thank you Our State Magazine!!!


  • 2 cups sugar
  • ½ cup Crisco oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup pecans
  • 1 small cup coconut
  • 3 cups tart apples, grated
  • 1 teaspoon salt
So you take some apples.  How many is really depending on the size.  You need to get 3 cups shredded.
 
We chopped them up into smaller sizes...

 ...then used my food processor to shred them.  It was so much easier than using a stand grater.  It's nice to be able to do this process quickly, or maybe even after you have done the mixing part of your baking, as our apples started to turn very quickly.  Of course in the baking process it doesn't really matter if your apples have turned brown.

You beat your sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla together pretty well. (I love my stand mixer!)


Meanwhile, you sift all your dry ingredients together. 


Then you slowly add your dry ingredients to your wet.  Remember to have your mixer on the lowest setting or you will get a facepoof of flour!


Afterward, fold in your coconut, chopped pecans (we used the food processor again to do the chopping for us) and finally the shredded apple.  Then you pour into your pan.  I used a bunt pan.


After an hour of cooking at 325 degrees, you take the cake out and let it sit in its pan until it's completely cooled.  Your house will smell like magic during all this, by the way.



Ta da!!!  It was amazing.  The recipe link says you can make a smile glaze for it, but I did not think it needed it.  I used sweetened flaked coconut, so it was plenty sweet and is perfect with a cup of coffee as breakfast!



HOORAY FOR APPLES!



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

First Week of October: Reading--Little Women PART TWO?!

After I finished Vein of Iron, I went to our library to look for another book and decided I wanted something pretty easy that could be read quickly. I remembered that the Little Women series had Little Men and Jo's Boys as well, so I picked up our copy of Alcott's collected writing to read one of those additions to the Little Women story.  I was surprised that I discovered Little Women part 2, or "Let's get them all Married so they can have babies and the story can continue". I'm not sure how I missed this--I grew up with Little Women dolls and the the book.  I was under the impression that the book ended with all of them teenagers--not 20 somethings looking for husbands!

Alcott's stories aren't the best in children's/young adult literature.  However, the charming story of the March Family is well worth reading, and if you, like me, did not realize there was a Part 2 to Little Women and have a rainy Saturday afternoon, I recommend picking it up to read.  Is it perfect? No.  Is it dull at some points?  Yes.  Does it sometimes make you roll your eyes?  Maybe.  But on the whole, you get more of the same March sister characters and get to see them become more well-rounded women.  Amy chills out and becomes less superficial, and Jo keeps her fiery spirit but learns to try to control it.  Of course, both of these characters do so through marriage--but whatever, I'm not going to get into some feminist rant, blasting Alcott for making her characters mature because of their relationships with men.  In fact, I don't think this is that bizarre or horrible--from my own experience, I became much more mature and well rounded through my relationship with my husband.

Tangent Alert! And with that, we'll say upcoming Spoiler Alerts....

The romance novelist reader in me got a little upset because of the ultimate pairings of the March Sisters.   We all hope that Laurie and Jo, being best friends and all, will grow up to be the most passionate of lovers.  But that doesn't happen, despite Laurie's multiple attempts and ultimate heartache.  Jo ends up with an old German professor and Laurie get's sloppy seconds with Amy.  Now ultimately this works out, the characters of Jo and Amy pair better with their ultimate partners, but I have to admit I was hoping for some passionate declaration of love on both Jo and Laurie's part.  This doesn't happen, and when you wake up and realize you are still reading Alcott and not Danielle Steele, you are ok.

Probably the most beautiful, if not predictable, part of the book is Beth's Death.  We all know she's too good for this earth, too sweet, too kind, too frail, too angelic in every sense of the word.  Her scare in the first part of the books was the climax and crux of the novel, and her demise and death in the second part is a growing up point for the sisters.  In a way, Beth dying is a way for them to see beyond themselves.  But Alcott's description of how Beth fades away is beautiful, peaceful, and sad--but not at all terrible or even heart wrenching.

A Note on Meg:  She is married from the beginning of the story and plays housewife.  She really becomes the "comic" relief of the novel--making us laugh with the attempts to be the perfect wife and hostess despite her inability to make something simple like preserves. See here for my attempt!

Expectations for Little Men and Jo's boys aren't high.  I'm sure the stories will be very similar to Little Women 1 & 2, and I wonder how far Alcott can take these characters and squeeze more interest out of them.

It's Fall now, so I've picked up Dickens. Updates later....