Another Gloomy Day

Nope, I'm not depressed by the dawning of another soggy, sunless day.  I've my choice of more than enough interesting things to do.

 

Yesterday my daughter, who's on a cleaning, sorting, organizing binge, gave me this attractive (and substantial as I think it may weigh 'bout the same as I do) basket.  She used to keep folded quilts in it when she had a larger living space.

 

It will go into my quilt room and perhaps hold some of the overflow of quilts I'm currently trying to store in my coffee table.  Or maybe I'll put all my unfinished projects in it along with a trip alarm that will guilt me every time I walk past it.

 

She also gave her dad and me a box of her DVDs to look through and borrow any that we might like to watch.  I now have a stack of those that appeal to me and Papa Pea has a similar stack of his own.  (Ne'er the choice of movies will meet?)  I made the comment that I wished it was winter time so I could snuggle on the couch with a quilt to watch all the ones that I chose.  Then I brought myself up short realizing that if I'm going to continue to work toward more of a balanced life, there's no reason to not take/make and enjoy the time to do so even during this busy spring/summer/fall season.  Right?  Right!

 

All of you who have read my blog over the years know that I'm a big fan of rhubarb.  I check those gorgeous red stalks nearly every day now eagerly waiting for them to be ready to harvest.  What will I make with them first off?  Most likely my very favorite cake.  If you love rhubarb the way I do, you can find the recipe here.

 

Well, this damp, cool weather is wonderful for growing grass and even the hardy dandelions are starting to pop out within our mowed areas.  And mowing is what we may have to do soon (if it ever dries up enough) as the length and lushness of the grass continues to thrive.

 

In the meantime, I'm patiently (ha!) waiting for sunshine, warmth and my trusty Mantis tiller's return.  It's currently ailing and in the shop of a talented small engine repair guy/friend who has promised to get it back up and running as soon as possible.  As often happens, I didn't truly realize how much I use it until I didn't have it to use.  Goes to show I need to be consciously more appreciative of all I have to appreciate in my life! 

A Hum-Drum Post?

I realize my blog posts have been infrequent.  Don't have an explanation for it, but it seems to be affecting many bloggers at this point in time.  Kudos to those of you who haven't fallen into this abyss and are still posting regularly.  Your posts are enjoyed.

 

I've been watching my divided and transplanted rhubarb but haven't wanted to take a first harvest from it yet.  For a rhubarb lover as I am, it's been hard.  Bless her, our daughter stopped in last night after her work day and plopped a bagful of lovely red stalks down on my counter.  The household where she nannies has an abundance of rhubarb, and I was quick to make a 9 x 13 pan of our favorite rhubarb cake almost as soon as she left.  Can hardly wait to cut into it today.

 

Our strawberry plants are looking good with lots of lovely white blossoms.  Last year's harvest wasn't great but we're crossing our fingers for this year.  All the more so as I don't hold out much hope for our blueberries.  Sad to say, most of our bushes seem to have given up the battle with Witches Broom and I'm afraid we're going to lose them.  Now I'm concerned for the eight new bushes we planted in the plot this spring.  Is the Witches Broom a cyclical thing?  I haven't found more evidence of it on the bushes since winter time.  Nor have we ever seen it before in fifty-some years of gardening. 

 

We ordered a batch of little bantam chicks that arrived a week ago.  The only chicken variety that we've ever had successfully hatch out new chicks here on the homestead were bantams so we were hoping to raise some up that would do so again.  Unfortunately, the shipment of the little guys got "delayed" in the U.S. postal system and were not in good shape when they arrived.  To date, we've lost all but three of the fifteen.  Papa Pea contacted the hatchery yesterday just to let them know of the slow delivery time table, and they couldn't have been nicer.  They offered us a complete refund or a replacement shipment of chicks.  We chose the replacement which was shipped yesterday.  Let's hope they make it through the mail in a timely manner.

 

We're still lacking rainfall.  I can't remember a year when I've watered the garden more so early in the season.  Our temperatures haven't been hot (which is good considering) but the soil is dry.  Difficult for transplants taking hold and emerging seeds.

 

There's still too much for both of us to do in a day's time and our efforts to gain a more balanced life have been frustrating.  The items to cut out on the To Do List almost seem an impossibility at this time of year.  Staying positive, grateful for all we have (including good health!) and much appreciation of our lives here is a good thing.  A very good thing.

Where Is Summer?

There were frost warnings out for last night up here in the north woods.  And also for tonight again.  Our low temp this morning on the thermometer showed 39°.  Well, no frost at least.

Needless to say, I've been covering and uncovering the some of the plants in the garden.  As for the warm weather loving seeds and plants, I haven't even dared to allow them outside residence yet.  What can one do?  It's just a month when June is cold, cold, cold.

We have had a bit of much needed rain, I think about an inch and a half total, so that's a good thing.  Apparently, the trees are loving this weather as I can't remember ever noticing them to be such a lush, beautiful green.  The coloring is just lovely.

How's our wood stacking going?  Good.  Nope, not all six cords of what was delivered is in the wood shed, but we're routinely working on it.  We put an hour or so each day on the project and some days it feels like we are really gaining on it.  On others we wonder if those pieces still on the ground outside the shed are somehow multiplying over night.  I am eternally grateful my better half has insisted on helping me with the job because if I were doing it myself . . . oh, I don't even want to think of it.  Methinks he's smart enough to know that by helping, I'm still able to get good food on the table and he has clean underwear in his drawer.

We've had tremendous winds the last two or so days.  Gusts almost reaching 50 mph.  It keeps any and all bugs from being bothersome, but we've come to realize that being outside most of the day in those winds tends to take the stuffings right out of a body.  We come in for our 4:30 p.m. second meal of the day, then go back out for a couple/few hours and then when finally being "done" for the day, we settle on the couch for some conversation, reading or handwork and find ourselves yawning and with eyes tearing to the extent that we're usually in bed shortly after nine.  I often find myself saying I simply must go to bed . . . and it's only 8:30 or 8:45.

First thing this morning (even before my latte --gads!), I mixed up and put a Rhubarb Upside Down Cake in the oven.  I thought that might warm up the house a titch.  (If you should be interested in the recipe for the cake, I posted it way back in 2009, and you can find it here.)

I also built a small fire in the kitchen wood stove to cozy things up this morn.  I know summer will actually arrive here one of these days and we'll be bemoaning it's so hot out we're uncomfortable.  Until then we'll continue to put a down vest on under our hooded sweatshirts and go back out into the cool (teeth-chattering) air.

 

Finally Sunshine!

As usual this time of year, I'm going a little overboard baking with rhubarb now that it's available in the garden.  (I do love rhubarb!)

Made my favorite rhubarb cake day before yesterday and Papa Pea ate the last piece with some milk after a hearty breakfast this morning. 

We had a visit today with the four-year old twins my daughter has every Saturday.  The little guy loves stalks of rhubarb dipped in sugar, but Chicken Mama gave him a small dish of honey to dip into today, and he thought that was pretty good.  The little gal suggested I should bake a strawberry pie when I told her I was going to bake our (calorie-laden) Rhubarb Cream Pie.  (She's not a rhubarb fan.)  She's gonna have to wait another month or so for any strawberries from this garden.

And I did get that pie baked but not until late this afternoon.  Now it's cooling in the refridge and won't be sampled until tomorrow.  Can hardly wait.

We had more gray, drippiness until mid-afternoon when the sun broke through the clouds and our temperature soared into the high 60s.  Our warmest temp so far this spring, I think.

Tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be sunny so with the help of my Under Gardener (that's Papa Pea), I'll be getting the recently received fifty new strawberry plants in the ground.  And lots of emerging weeds out of the ground.

Still waiting for the planted onions, radishes and Sweet Peas to show their little green sprouts.  They've had plenty of moisture now so with a bit of warm weather, they may make an appearance.

Hope you're all having a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Short Garden Tour

This tour will be relatively short because there's not much happenin' out in the garden yet.

We've had two days of rain now and a layer of fog was heavy when we got up this morning.  Now about two hours later, the fog has mostly lifted but a mist is still falling.

We had our first meal of asparagus night before last.  Wahoo!  More will be on the plate tonight.

I wanted a dousing of rain on my chives before I started prepping them for the freezer.  Got that.  Now I need to wait until they dry before cutting.  But they're certainly ready.

This is the bottom half of my two remaining strawberry rows.  (I'm standing about halfway down the rows.)  The Cavendish plants I ordered to replace the Earliglows I tore out last fall were shipped yesterday.  They will go in a row to the right of the rows showing.

I've read for best flavor you should not cut your rhubarb stalks until they are 12" long.  After this rain, there will be rhubarb cake on our table very soon.

The garlic is coming along nicely.  If you look at the bed to the right of the garlic bed and off the far corner of it, you can see (almost) what's left of the blueberry bushes after I took out all the Witches' Broom fungus.  The remaining bushes have slight buds showing, but no leaves so far.

The haskap bushes are leafing out like crazy.  That's one of the two Borealis bushes in the foreground and a Berry Smart Blue behind it which is now over five feet tall.

Looks as though this will be another inside day, but that's fine.  We did need the rain.  Our temp was 43° first thing this morning.  Not warm, but better than in the 30s as we have been having so it's all good.

"Step Away From The Cake" Recipe

Here's the recipe for the best rhubarb cake ever made (in my humble rhubarb-loving opinion) per a request made by a reader to a recent posting of mine.

This recipe was printed a couple of years ago by a gal who writes a food column for our local newspaper.  I changed the name and made slight modifications to the recipe, but owe its lusciousness to her originally shared recipe.

I don't usually enjoy or make cakes because about 98% of them seem too dry to me.  This cake is not dry in the least and is my go-to cake whenever rhubarb is in season.  Here goes:

Step Away from the (Rhubarb) Cake

Sift into a large mixing bowl:
    1 cup sugar
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 cups flour

Then add and mix well until batter is fairly smooth:
    2 beaten eggs
    1 cup plain yogurt

Next fold in:
    4 cups diced rhubarb 

Batter will be very thick.  Put it into a greased and floured 9" x 13" pan and smooth it out with a spatula.

For the topping, in a small bowl combine:
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1/4 cup flour
    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cut in 1/4 cup butter until thoroughly combined.

Sprinkle topping mixture evenly over top of the cake.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Four people did this much damage to the cake in one day.  (Is that a bad thing?)

I may have under-baked the cake a smidge bit this time around as it usually rises a little higher, but the flavor was not hurt one iota.

Every time I make this cake, I get a good chuckle reading the last line the author put at the bottom of the printed recipe.  After the baking instructions, she wrote: 

"Eat every last crumb then make a second

cake for your family and friends."

Yes, the cake is that good!

Feeling Less Behind and Happy at Home

Whew, we've had a couple of really nice days (not always sunny, but if there's no rain, I label them nice) lately, and I've been able to get a lot done in the garden.

Rain was forecast for all day today, but when we got up and there was no evidence of moisture, I didn't even stop for breakfast but headed right out to the garden.  I did have to stop for lunch around 11:30 (much to my also hungry husband's delight) because I was so hungry I was starting to feel nauseated.  But then right back out again and all was well until 3 p.m. when the intermittent raindrops became more steady than intermittent, and I had to call it a day.

Our asparagus continues to be bountiful . . . and we're succeeding in eating all of it fresh.  I haven't frozen any at all yet, and you would think we'd be tired of it as it appears on our table at least once and sometimes twice a day.  But, nope, we're both still exclaiming how wonderful it tastes.  (Can you break out in hives from eating too much asparagus as some people do when eating too many strawberries?  If so, we're in trouble.)

I took the first cutting of rhubarb today.  Seems the stems shot up from 6" long to a foot long nearly overnight.  Soon as I finish with this post, I'm mixing up a favorite rhubarb cake recipe for tomorrow.

Another milestone today . . . Papa Pea decided it was time to integrate Mama Duck and her brood into the big poultry yard and pond.  I was nervous as to how the geese would react, but any fears turned out to be unwarranted.  The big, ol', clumsy geese exhibited a little curiosity which then quickly turned into boredom and by afternoon all the poultry was co-mingling without any problem.  Mama Duck continues to be a good mother and is keeping the little ones close.  They have all gone down to the pond several times and although Mama Duck goes right in, her offspring have (so far) stayed near the shore with short (very short) forays into the water.  You can almost hear them saying, "Wow, this is one BIG water pan!"

I'll try to get some pictures to post soon.

The chicks we ordered from the hatchery several weeks ago are still corralled in their chicken tractor with an additional small pen attached to it.  They'll be let in with the rest of the whole feathered flock probably sometime this coming week.

We're spending the Memorial Day Weekend at home which to my mind is not a bad thing.  I went into town yesterday and the traffic on the roads was heavy.  Cars and trucks and trailers and campers and boats, oh my.  Papa Pea never fails to reminisce about when we were still living in Illinois and decided to go to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky over a Memorial Day Weekend.  Coming home it was bumper to bumper the whole way home, and we didn't pull into our driveway until the wee hours of the morning.  Nope, we're not fighting traffic anymore in this phase of our lives.  We're happy, happy, happy celebrating most holidays right here at home.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend in whatever way you choose to spend it!

Another Glorious Day

Our weather has been cool to start in the morning, warming up to shirt sleeves mid-day, and then back to cool 'round about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.  In short, perfect for working in the garden.  The very best part?  NO BUGS, yet!

I've got five cold frames filled.  (One in the picture above is still empty.)  Two hold broccoli and cauliflower I've planted out early.  They wouldn't need the cold frames except for the cold nights.  I don't think the plants would actually be hurt because the temp hasn't gone down to freezing, but I don't want to stress them either while they're so small and tender.

Yesterday I planted a bed (the seeds) of slicing cukes.  Those want to be kept as toasty as possible so I only crack the cold frames open enough during the day to introduce a little circulation of fresh air.  Then I cross my fingers that the soil doesn't cool down too much over night.

My bed of salad greens has sprouted and probably won't need the cold frame over it for much longer.

A good friend gifted me with many tomato plants (Big Boy and Brandywine) and several pepper plants (same ones as I've got started on my seedling rack -- California Wonder) but I don't have a cold frame or makeshift greenhouse, row cover, hoop house or whatever big enough for the tomatoes so I potted them (and the pepper plants) and have the pots set on the soil of a raised bed with a cold frame over them.  Where I'll put them when they grow big and it's warm enough to plant them in the ground, I don't know yet.  Will have to figure that out.  I've never any success growing full-size tomatoes because they need some kind of extra protection for the warmth they require.

I have about half the blueberry patch weeded and got a start on the strawberries today.  We're in need of rain and the soil in the strawberries where I'm trying to dig out weeds is like cement.  If we get the rain predicted over night, that should help.

We were planning on mowing the lawn for the first time tomorrow, but now realize it may be too wet if the rain materializes.  We really do need the rain as the fire danger is listed as High right now.

Our asparagus is coming along, just not fast enough for our taste buds that are all set for it.  The rhubarb, of course, is shooting right up.  I finally found a wonderful rhubarb cake recipe last year, and I fear as soon as the rhubarb is ready, I may break our rule of trying to avoid desserts!

I'm still working at getting all the quack grass out of the as-of-yet unplanted raised beds . . . and I think I may be gaining on it.

I was feeling pretty cocky yesterday thinking I was ahead of the game this year . . . until I checked my records and found I had all my potatoes and peas planted by May 10th last year.  I never should have checked.

Not a very exciting post, I realize, but good as record keeping for me.

Hope the weather in your part of the world is cooperating and your gardening season is starting out really well.

Bread, Rhubarb and Eggs

Two loaves of French bread and a rhubarb pie were baked today.

Hmmm, looks like someone just couldn't help but take a sampling of the bread.  (But who can resist bread fresh out of the oven?)

The pie was cool enough to cut into for afternoon coffee break.  Papa Pea, Chicken Mama and her fella deemed it down right edible (!), but I was still too full from lunch to taste it.

It's a wonder I resisted because, oh, how I do love rhubarb!  Rhubarb anything.  I hold fast to the old wives' tale that rhubarb is a spring tonic and I eat as much of it as I can especially when it's in season.  

I make it a point to stop harvesting anything from my rhubarb plant by July 4th (mid-summer) because I read it needs the last half of the summer to put its energy into the plant itself for the next year's crop.  This seems to work for me (and my rhubarb plant) because I've had the same plant in the same spot for close to twenty years now and it gives me a beautiful crop each year.

I've never had any luck freezing stalks (cut up) of rhubarb over winter.  When defrosted they always come out extremely watery and mushy.  I'd like to have some for use during the winter for making rhubarb muffins, cake and cobbler but have learned to settle for those goodies during the spring and summer when I can use it fresh.  I do, however, make up several packages of rhubarb pie filling (as I used today) and stow them away in the freezer to use to make pies during the winter months.  This works out really well.  I see by my notes that I put by eight packages of pie filling last summer.  This might have been a little overkill 'cause after using the one today, I still have three in the freezer.  Since fresh rhubarb should be available in the garden in a couple of months . . . yep, I might have been a little over exuberant last year.

All the poultry, the chickens, ducks and geese are producing eggs like crazy so I need to concentrate on making meals using our abundant supply.  So far today we've had fried eggs for breakfast, Pancake Fluff (kind of a puff pancake) for lunch (which used six eggs), and now for dinner . . . what?  How 'bout something with eggs?  (We're gonna start cackling soon.)  But this is lots better than a couple of months ago when I was avoiding cooking anything with eggs because of the production lull of all the birds! 

I'm thinking of baking more bread tomorrow. Aha, how about Egg Bread?

Mishmash

Yesterday was spent in the garden again although I don't feel as if I got a lot done.  (I told hubby a couple of weeks ago I was not going to panic -- my usual mode of operation this time of year -- until the first of June.  Hmmm, methinks that date is drawing close purdy darn fast.)  Because our soil and air temp is never consistently warm enough for some transplants and seeds to go into the ground until the first part of June, I never planned on having everything done in the garden by June 1st, but I wanted to feel at least "on top" of it by then.

So what did I accomplish yesterday?  Got our red and green cabbages set out and 75' of potatoes planted.  And that took ALL DAY?  Yep.  But I did come in a smidge before 11 a.m. to make a nice lunch as B was here helping Papa Pea with a special project, and it was 1 p.m. before I got back outside again.

Speaking of our friend B, she gave me an amaryllis bulb last fall with instructions to let it sleep all winter in our basement.  I've never had one before and had no idea how to handle it.  'Round about the end of March, she said it was time to bring it upstairs and put it in a sunny window.

It was very slow to bloom, and just finally popped out the first flower this past Monday perhaps because it didn't get quite as much sun as it would have liked through the window where I had it.

Sure does make an impressive plant (over two feet tall) in a relatively short time.  Now to see if I can (with B's help and guidance) do what needs to be done to keep it going to bloom again next year.

We polished off the pan of Rhubarb Crunch I made in short order, and being the crazy rhubarb-craving gal I am, I made a Rhubarb Upsidedown Cake last night before bed.  Recipe is here if you're interested.

After getting the cake in the oven (and me in the shower), I was too pooped to process the rest I had harvested, but I'll make more rhubarb pie filling for the freezer with the remaining stalks today.

Sending congratulations out to my brother and sister-in-law on the birth of their second little granddaughter yesterday.  My nephew is proud as punch and his wife and 8 pound-plus little babe are doing fine.  This baby has a "big" sister, just two years older than she, to grow up with.

I know it's hard to believe after having our massive snow melt this spring, but our conditions here are now dry and the fire danger is listed as high.  But rain is a possibility (our ever-accurate [ahem] weather forecasters say) for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.  Let's hope moisture does fall down upon us and soak everything so the threatening fire danger will be no more.  Plus, if it does rain, I'll be forced to spend time inside to clean and catch up on many other tasks which have fallen by the wayside while I've been concentrating my efforts outside.  Isn't it amazing how quickly a household can fall apart if no one is available to keep it all under control?  Yep, just amazing. 

I've Got This Thing For Rhubarb

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I really love rhubarb in most any edible size, shape or form.

I came across this "Ode to Rhubarb" blurb on a cooking site and got a bang out of it because it so describes how I feel about that much misunderstood fruit . . . which is technically classified as a vegetable, but we won't get into that.

Here's the quote:

ODE TO RHUBARB

Rhubarb!  You lovely, stringy red stlak!  How maligned you

are for your sourness, but how much the

better you are for it!

How often are you ruined, senselessly

with the addition of strawberries, as though you

were just a filler, or were unable to

stand up on your own.

How you remind us that nothing can

ever truly be sweet without being sour!

How you keep us from lazier, sweet cherry-laden desserts!

How do I love thee, rhubarb?

Truly, I am unable to count the ways.

Hee-hee.  Yup, that pretty well describes my feeling about rhubarb.

I have just one rhubarb plant in my garden but it serves me well.  So far (I first harvested some on May 29th this year and that was rushing it, but I simply couldn't wait any longer), I've made two pies, one pan of Rhubarb Crunch, one Rhubarb Upside Down Cake and put four containers of rhubarb sauce in the freezer.  (We like it during the winter on our oatmeal, or over a dollop of vanilla ice cream on a slice of pound cake.)  Also stashed in the freezer are the ready-to-go bagged up fillings for four pies we'll enjoy this winter.  I guess I'd have to say that my current very favorite rhubarb dessert is Rhubarb Cream Pie.  I've yet to make it this year, but I know I will before the season is over.

I can't think of rhubarb without fond memories of Rosie's Cafe, a small family owned restaurant Papa Pea and I frequented in the early years of our marriage.  I wrote a post about Rosie's (and rhubarb and pie crust) back when I first started blogging in 2008.  If I don't come up with anything stupendously interesting (ha!) about which to blog tomorrow, I'll repost it.

Red, Ruby 'Barb

I still haven't gotten my fill of the stuff. Made a Rhubarb Upside Down Cake last night. Here's the recipe in case you're like me and think you still need some rhubarb as a spring (summer?) tonic.

RHUBARB UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

In the bottom of an 8 x 8" pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Combine 3-1/2 cups sliced rhubarb with 2/3 cups sugar in a mixing bowl and then place rhubarb/sugarmixture on top of butter in pan. Set aside.

For the cake batter, mix 3 (more) tablespoons softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 egg. Then add 1-1/2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup milk. Mix well. This will make a stiff batter.

Spread the batter over topping in pan. (Distribute blobs of the batter as evenly as you can over the rhubarb and then smooth it out . . . without making yourself crazy.)

If it looks something like this, you're doing fine.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate.

The cake part is very flavorful, so moist! Pieces are great as is or in a bowl with milk or whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (yeah!) which makes it quite the treat.

I went to a meeting last week at a gal's home in town. She had rhubarb plants in her backyard like I have never seen before. There must have been 100 or 150 of 'em. (Well, at least fifteen or twenty. Really.) They were as tall as I am. (Okay, so I am slightly vertically challenged . . . but still.) I commented that I'd never seen rhubarb like that. She said she didn't think of them as rhubarb plants but rather as a privacy fence!

This is my one, lonely, but lovely rhubarb plant, just after I nearly snatched it bald this morning. It was grown out on both sides way over the marigolds on the left and strawberry plants on the right. (Last time I planted new strawberry plants, I had these few left over and [foolishly?] stuck them in the rhubarb bed.) Also pulled stalks that were hanging into the walkways, front and back, because my weed-whipper man couldn't get near the sides of the garden bed.

Ah, yes, if only ALL crops would grow as easily and plentifully as good ol' rhubarb. Time to get some put by in our freezer for winter usage. Nuthin' like a little spring tonic in January or February.

Pie-O-My

I love baking pies. I love eating pies. I could live on pies. (I once worked with a gal who was a tad overweight and she decided to go on a [yet another] diet. But this time she made the decision to restrict her eating to something she really liked so she could stick with her diet. You guessed it. Pie. I know it sounds crazy [and I truly don't recommend it . . . or do I? Hmmm . . . ] but she ate nothing but pie for a month and lost weight. Then she died. I'm kidding! About the dying part.)

I first dipped my fingers into the food business by making pies for a good friend at her restaurant. I would get up at 4 a.m. each morning, drive 15 miles into town, and bake pies before the restaurant opened. After I owned my own restaurant, I incorporated pies into my menu there. The best sellers? Raspberry-Cranberry and Chocolate Velvet, closely followed by Bittersweet Chocolate.

Our daughter tells a good story of going to school (she was in her early teens at the time) and complaining bitterly to her friends regarding the fact that she and her dad had had to sample three more pies the night before because of the constant experimenting with new recipes I was doing. Her friends looked at her as if she had a screw loose. Having to sample pies day after day? Omigod, what a cruel and evil mother she had!

What's my favorite pie? How long do you have? I guess it would have to be a fruit pie. (If I rule out Banana Cream Pie first which my daughter always makes me for my requested birthday "cake.") Rhubarb. Cherry. Raspberry. PEACH! Our good neighbors gave us some frozen peaches (from friends of theirs out of the area) last winter and I made a peach pie that was UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE! It wasn't my pie baking skills but rather those sent-from-heaven peaches. Mmm, mmm. Just thinking about them. 'Scuse me while I gain control of myself.

But, bottom line, can you beat a good, old-fashioned apple pie? Come fall each year, I get such a hankering for apple pie I can hardly stand it. I've been waiting for some newly harvested organic apples to come in at our local whole foods co-op and when I popped in there this last weekend, a friend and clerk alerted me to some with just the right amount of tang (we sampled one on the spot) for baking.

Here's what I baked with those apples this morning. And unless somebody drops in, Roy and I are going to eat the whole thing ourselves. Yessiree, we are.