I have just returned from a work trip to Newfoundland. Newfoundland is a wonderful place... that I do not want to ever permanently inhabit. Beautiful, expansive, sparse, rugged and ceaselessly windy - it's no wonder the people are so wonderful. When I say wonderful I really do mean wonderful. Warm, open and friendly to a fault. So much so that I almost got tired of saying hello or good day to passersby. Fortunately, I didn't have much time to interact with locals due to the fact that I was in St John's with about 140 of my favourite students - singing in St John's and many more remote locales on the island.

Some of my favourites

Some more of my favourites

Lighthouse at the eastern edge of north america

Beautiful window

My brain is still in the tour bubble a little - such a hard thing to describe. Let's just say that going home after a long day at work seems like a faraway luxury when you are on tour. Going back to a room that is not your home, taping kids in each night, getting woken up by a sick kid (homesick or otherwise), waking them all up the next morning, dealing with spats and drama, organizing rehearsals and concerts, getting back on the bus... again and getting left behind, soaking wet, when the ferry rolls out... is all nothing like going home after a hard, long day at work (please don't feel for one second that I am minimizing a long, hard day at work) It was wonderful and terrible and I am happy I was there and so happy that it's over.

Basilica of St John the Baptist

Gotta get some 5 pin bowling in... cause bowling

Signal Hill - cause you have to do Signal Hill

Here are a few of the 400 kids assembled for one of our concert rehearsals

Who doesn't love a selfie - some of the fantastic kids that we performed with in St John's

Soaking wet and left behind - we were obviously the best chaperones.

I'm back in Toronto now where it's relatively warm and essentially gust free (my hair is thankful). My kids are thankful and we've fallen immediately back into our routine. Even though it's in desperate need of a cleaning (aren't we all really?) I love my couch to bits. I love being able to drink a beer on that same couch and I love being in contact with the actual skin of another human being.
I made this cake before I left to mediocre fanfare. I'm not sure what to feed everyone at home anymore. D is not a big sweets person outside of ice cream. I have perfected my chocolate ice cream recipe just for him but now he seems to be getting more and more lactose intolerant - lactaid to the rescue I guess. Kids seem to be favouring anything that is either all chocolate - entirely 120% chocolate, all nutella (isn't that really just chocolate?) or not made by me. I think that microwave popcorn is at the top of the most-eaten list these days.
I want to care but really don't.
That said, this cake had a lovely crumb and both of my parents enjoyed it - at least that's what they said but it's possible they were just being nice cause they knew I made it.



Sour cream coffee cake with chocolate adapted from food52

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp (heaping) sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup (approx) walnuts, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 egg whites or two lg eggs

1 cup sour cream
1 cup dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375°F
Butter and flour a bundt or angel food cake pan and set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
Combine the 2 tbsp sugar, cinnamon and nuts together. Mix and set aside.
Combine the 1 1/2 cups sugar and butter. Beat together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until fluffy and/or frothy and liquid.
Add the flour and sour cream alternately in three additions - begin and end with the flour. The batter should be smooth and easy to stir.
Sprinkle half of the walnut mixture into the bottom of the baking pan. Add half of the cake batter to the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the walnut mixture over the batter. Sprinkle all of the chocolate evenly over the batter. Add the remaining cake batter to the pan and spread evenly.
Bake for about 40 min. or until the cake is golden on top and pulling away from the sides of the pan.
Cool for about 15 minutes before turning out onto a serving dish.

True Story:
I had a small epiphany at work the other day.  It was a personal epiphany as opposed to a work related epiphany.  I'm not even sure that's a thing.  Sometimes I think about things other than work while at work... it's a bad habit and I'm working on it.  So, I have a colleague who loves to come to my office about 10 minutes before I'm planning to leave.  He comes in, plops himself down and sets in for a nice ole chat.  Since he's probably the sweetest person on the planet, I tell myself that it's ok.  Even though I'm super busy trying to wrap things up and get out the door so that I can pick my kid up from school.  It's ok - keep chatting.  Tell me more... I'm changing my shoes under my desk where he won't see.  I'm trying really hard not to check my phone every 15 seconds to see what the time is.  I'm working even harder to quell the rising tide of panic in my chest.  I smile back at him but I'm only thinking about how to slow down my breathing.  When he finally makes his way back to his own office, I wait to hear his door close and then bolt.  Bolt to the subway station.  It's not until I'm on the train that I finally feel calmness restored.
In speaking to another colleague about it, how conflicted I feel because he's so sweet and how weird I feel inside when it's happening, I realized something kinda cool.  When I was a kid I took skating lessons.  I loved skating and still do.  I only stopped skating lessons because when I was about ten the demands just got too intense and none of us (Mom and Dad and me) were willing to commit the kind of time and effort that it demanded.  When I started doing lessons I was about seven - still have the super cute pictures of me in my little skating suit with the top hat for my first end of year skating show.  My skating class was at a time when the zamboni was scheduled to come on after and clear the ice - or maybe the zamboni does it's thing after every class... whatever.  It was coming on.  So even though my skating class was clear across the rink, far away from the exit off the ice and my teacher was still talking and/or showing us some super cool move once I sensed movement from behind the zamboni gates I was moving.  Can't explain it really.  I wanted to yell that it was time to end, tell everybody to start getting themselves off the ice - yep, the gates are opening now, he's ready and he's coming - why is the teacher still talking - we have to go - he's started the engine now and my teacher is still telling us about our ankles(!) - ok that's it... and Wanda is backwards skating away from her class, across the rink, towards the exit.  Wanda's teacher is calling her back but she ignores it because she is getting away from that zamboni damn it.  You all can stay but I'm leaving... Wanda out.  Panic.  I was having an anxiety attack at seven.  Almost everyday at work at about the same time I have a little mini I-have-to-get-out-of-here-now anxiety attack.
And now I know.


The moral of this story is: When experiencing daily anxiety attacks (or not) it helps to make cookies. You can eat them if you choose but you don't have to (I usually don't).

BTW - this song is haunting me.



Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Sugar Cookies adapted from 'Averie Cooks'
makes about 2 dozen med/small cookies

1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 lg egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
4 oz dark chocolate chunks
2 oz milk chocolate chunks

Line a cookie sheet with a silicon liner or parchment and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl mix together the peanut butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy and no longer grainy.  I used a hand mixer for about two minutes but be careful not to over beat because then the oil will start to separate from the peanut butter... gross - not the end of the world as it won't ruin the recipe, it's just oily.
Once mixed until light and fluffy then fold in the chocolate until reasonably mixed (there should be lots of chocolate)
Spoon about 1 1/2 tbsp full into your hand and form a ball.
Place balls on cookie sheet, leaving a little space between each.
Bake for about 8 minutes or until the cookie edges are just beginning to brown.
Remove cookies carefully (they'll be gooey) and cool on wire racks.

I hope that you've had a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate that.  I hope that you've had a wonderful rest otherwise.  My rest is truly beginning now that all of the Christmas obligations are done.  Christmas itself was wonderful - lots of food, lots of laughs, lots of family.  Exactly what it should be I guess.  The kids are happy, we haven't had any returns to make, we had power outside of the 36 hrs that we didn't and in general we are thankful and content.  My uniform for the next week will be yoga pants and tee shirt - when I choose to change out of my pj's.
I made my traditional 'Cappuccino Flats' for the holidays which we hoard selfishly as a family because they are amazing.  I decided to make peanut butter balls with rice crispies, icing sugar and chocolate... nasty.  Nobody wanted to eat them.  Totally disgusting.  They are going in the bin and I won't be sorry about it.


Then I made these cookies.  I made them really because they are the only thing that I remember my Grandma making.  Well, she also made christmas pudding.  I can't tell you exactly what it was because I never ate it.  As a kid it sounded disgusting.  It was brown, it was steamed, it had carrot in it.  Probably contained dates and molasses too.  Either way, as a kid not even caramel sauce could entice me to eat it.  So I didn't ever eat any of it.  The honest truth is that I never ate these cookies either.  Maybe a couple.  They weren't my favourite because they didn't contain chocolate.  I don't know why kids are so hooked on chocolate.  It's weird.  I'm sure that if only she had thrown in 3 tbsp of cocoa powder I would have downed them like there was no tomorrow.  So I had a few cookies and left the rest to my brother and sister to eat.  Each year my Grandma made them.  Always at Christmas.  Sometimes she used green cherries and sometimes red - sometimes both.  They look 'festive'


So after making these cookies in honour of my Grandma and just because I felt nostalgic, I realized that I had no interest in eating them.  Seems that I'm a stickler for tradition after all.  This left me relying on the other three people living in the house. D? Nope.  He's about as interested in sweets as I am.  The kids?... ummm, where's the chocolate?  Not touching them.  I should have known.  Fortunately, I was able to take them to our Christmas dinners (we did have more than one).
As a result, I can't tell you whether the cookies taste good but they sure do look festive.


Shortbread Cookies with Cherries and Pecans adapted from my Grandma and Kuntal's Kitchen
makes about 2 dozen medium sized cookies

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup maraschino cherries, quartered
1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

Combine the flour and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl beat or mix the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy (I used a hand mixer here).  Add the vanilla and mix until well combined.
By hand, add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Add the cherries and pecans and mix.
Form two logs (about 3 inches round each) cover each log with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner
Remove the logs from the fridge.
Slice one log into about 12 cookie rounds and place on the cookie sheet - leave a little space for them to spread.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are just barely turning brown.
Remove and cool on a wire rack.

True Story: Tomorrow I report for Jury Duty Selection.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that.  I don't know what it even means really.  I've spoken with some people who showed up, were present for about 4 hrs and then were sent home 'Thank You Very Much'.  Others I've talked to have been there for a few days.  Others have gotten selected for trials that are months down the road.
Everyone has some advice on what to say during the interview - not even sure how much of an interview it is - or what not to say.  One person told me that it was a wonderful life experience for her friend (not she, herself) and that this could be an enriching moment for me.  I'll get back to you on that one.  I suspect that the reality will be quite boring, the interview may be more about whether the judge thinks my eyes are too close together or my nose too small than it will be about my character.  So after some thought I've decided on some things that I'm definitely not going to do:
1.  Pretend that I don't speak english.
2.  Ask whether I can take my medication while being seated in the jury box.
3.  Ask the judge if he's single.
4.  Pretend I voted for the Rhino party if asked my political affiliation.
5.  Wear a shirt which makes my tattoo visible.
6.  Offer to communicate with deceased relatives of the judge.

What I will do:
1.  Answer questions honestly.
2.  Bring a book.
3.  Not turn off my cell phone.
4.  Bring a lunch with me.
5.  Do whatever I need to do to make sure that I don't start to panic.



I'm not sure what's doin' this week as a result of everything above.  I've cooked up a storm to make sure that we have lots hanging around just in case.  Today I've made bread, ginger cookies with white chocolate, creamy orzo with roasted butternut squash and this.  This is something that I expected to be creamed veggies topped with a layer of crusty polenta.  What happened in real life is that the whole thing kinda baked into one thing.  What I might do if I try this concoction again is sauté slices of the polenta on each side before placing on top of the veggies.  I think that this might keep it from becoming part of the creamy stuff.  Not sure though.  Did it taste good?  Yup.  So the texture itself didn't deter the taste at all and the idea is a good one.  Just needs some adjusting.  The topping: Parmesan and chopped nuts made it for me.  This is a great dish to take for leftover lunches or to take to a pot luck kind of situation.  It easily makes a lot and it's pretty standard comfort food fare.

Kid #2 went to a cupcake decorating birthday party today and wanted me to add his creation to the  blog post.

Creamed Vegetables with Polenta Crust adapted from 'Simple Bites'
serves 6

1 1/2 cups Leeks, cleaned and sliced
2 cups mushrooms, quartered
3 cups chard leaves and stems, coarsely chopped
2 1/2 cups milk, warm
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup cheddar, shredded

1 1/2 cups coarse polenta (cornmeal)
6 cups stock (I used water with 'no salt' vegetable bouillon cubes added)
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped nuts

For Polenta:
Bring the stock to a boil in a med/large heavy bottomed pot.  Turn the heat down to medium/low.
Add in the cornmeal and whisk continuously. Continue to cook, whisking regularly, for about 30 minutes.
Once the the cornmeal has thickened nicely add in the salt and butter.  Stir to mix.  Pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon liner and spread the polenta out evenly.  Refrigerate until it firms up to be sliceable - it will keep for 2 or 3 days.
For the Sauce:
Heat a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.
Add in the butter, letting it melt completely.  Once the butter is melted and heated add in the flour and whisk it into the butter.  Continue for a minute or two.  Add in the warmed milk slowly, whisking constantly.  Once all the milk is added and there are no lumps, bring it to a slow boil and whisk until it thickens (should not take long).  Once thickened, turn the heat down to low and add in the salt, Worcestershire, nutmeg, cream  and cheddar.  Once the cheddar has melted in take the sauce off the stove.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Throw the vegetables - all of them - in the bottom of the baking dish.
Pour the Sauce over the vegetables.
Cut the polenta into rectangles to fit on top of the vegetables.
Top with a little extra shredded cheddar.
Bake for about 40 - 45 minutes or until the top is bubbly and turning golden brown.
Before serving sprinkle the casserole with the freshly grated parmesan and the chopped nuts.

Baking requires something of you.  Yeah sure, it's soothing, it's not difficult, it's rewarding, for some it's demeaning but it's nothing if not demanding.  You can't serve two masters while you are baking unless you are willing to risk disaster.  There are those times when all the best laid plans and the most intense focus still don't yield something up to expectation.  Today was one of those days.
I intended to be showing you pictures of pumpkin bread today because it's been on my mind for a long time.  I've been delving into my new cookbook to get some further inspiration and I was seriously ready to go.  I'd cleared my time.  I'd prepared the squash ahead of time - roasted and mashed.  My baking tin was prepped.  The ingredients were ready.  This was going to be the thing.  The thing that my eyes and my taste buds have been waiting for.  I started.  Sure, I was adapting things but nothing drastic.  The muffin recipe was being adapted into a loaf recipe.  The changes were right there on the page.  Everything was primed to be perfect...
And then I turned on that Bollywood movie I'd started the day before.
Oh it was fantastic.  It was everything we've all come to expect from our favourite Bollywood offerings.  Extremely well built male whose shirt seems ready to slip off at the slightest breeze or splash of water.  Beautiful, innocent and yet absolutely alluring woman with straight dark hair and enticing eyes.  They dance.  There are costume changes.  Though they are drawn to each other there is so much keeping them apart.  Their love is sacred.  Through the many costume changes and flirtatious glances there's a love story that takes on religious zeal and often spans decades.  It's wonderful, magical, epic and mythical.  And it's not the best thing to have running when you are trying a new recipes that requires adapting and tweaking.  My bread went into the oven and the timer was set.  The timer went off and I even gave it more time.  I even used a cake tester to check that it was done but when I came back to the loaf about 10 minutes later to slice it and take some pictures I found that it had sunk quite drastically.  'I'm sure it's fine' I think getting distracted that once again some beautiful abs and biceps have escaped from the shirt they were hidden under on my tv screen.  I slice my loaf and immediately realize that what I expected to be a perfectly cooled loaf is really cooled pudding.  Complete goo.  It seems that the giggling and dancing, wire fighting (yes - there was that too), garden walks and attempted kidnapping all helped me completely forget that muffin baking time and loaf baking time might be a tad different from each other.


Fortunately one of the positive side effects of such a pleasant distraction is that you bounce back quite quickly.  I was truly none the worse for wear.  'Oh well, these things happen' I say to myself.  Off it went to compost and out came the bananas.  Whole wheat flour and some streusel, a few chocolate chips and the universe was once again in balance... and the happy couple were hugging finally after two hours on screen and 7 movie years of waiting for each other.  Hugging.


I've not given up on my pumpkin bread.  I've still got the ideal in my head.  It's going to look just so and taste wonderful.  The crumb will be perfect and the topping will be the icing on the cake so to speak.  It just won't be happening today.


Red Fife Banana Muffins adapted from 'Baking Bites'
8 - 10 muffins

1 1/2 cup red fife or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 or 3 ripe bananas (about 1 - 1 1/4 cups), peeled and mashed
3 tbsp melted butter

Toppings or additions:
Few handfuls of chocolate chips (additions)
Streusel (topping) - see recipe below
chopped nuts (addition or topping or both)
chopped candied nuts (topping I think)

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a muffin tin with paper or silicon liners and set aside.
Combine the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.  Mix until incorporated and set aside.
Combine the milk, egg and brown sugar together.  Mix well.  Add in the mashed banana and mix again.  Add in the melted butter and mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture.  Mix only until the flour is completely mixed in.  Add any additions that you would like ... or none at all.
Fill the muffin cups so that the filling just reaches the top.  Sprinkle with nuts or streusel if you would like.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin.

Streusel - adapted from 'Good to the Grain'

1/8 cup whole wheat or red fife flour
1/8 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
dash of salt and cinnamon
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Combine all ingredients and work it with your fingers, pinching gently until the butter mixes to form a crumbly texture.

Things I'm super jazzed about right now:

I'm loving all of the 2012 recipe round-ups/top recipes of/etc that seem to be occurring all over the web. In fact, all of the top ten lists that seems only to be applied to movies and celebrities are simply abundant right now.   It's the best.  Not.

I'm super jazzed that it's already January.  This means we are whittling our way through winter at a reasonable speed.

I'm very jazzed that my friend T will be in town once a month for the next 3 months.

I'm hyper-jazzed that December is now behind us and we can focus on the future.  I'm hoping that it's a brighter, wiser future.

I'm not so jazzed about all the snow that fell over the holiday time (a 'White Christmas' is not necessary for me to have a memorable time) not because I don't like snow but because I have stuff to do and snow makes it 10x harder to do if not impossible (cycling, hello).  It's winter though so I'm not bitter.

I'm super jazzed that my friend and artist has agreed to participate in my next body art (aka tattoo) experience.

I'm hesitantly jazzed about signing up for my first half-marathon since my awful bout of plantar fasciitis last year.  The reason I'm only 'hesitantly jazzed' is that I'm still really nervous about pushing things with my foot.  I have until May to work up to being super jazzed.

I wish I were more jazzed about going to Rome in April.  If I weren't going for work I would be super jazzed.  As it stands (a lot of work is involved) I'm only moderately jazzed.


I'm definitely super jazzed about this salad I've been eating.  Ontario grown spinach, clementines - our seasonal import, and pecans.  Drizzled with a lemon juice/olive oil, parmesan cheese mixture.  Divine.


I've been jazzed about these nuts since I first tried them last week.  I made a big jar of them for my Dad for Christmas (he got some other stuff too - don't worry).  I had never tried them before and they are... well, AMAZING.  Not too sweet, not too spicy and it allows the nuts to still be the star.  When you are someone who makes a lot of your own ice cream you've got a lot of egg whites knocking around.  Great way to use up... 1.  Yeah - just one.  Unless you want to do an industrial size batch then I guess you would use two.  The recipe that I used as my inspiration called only for walnuts.  I used mixed nuts and it works very well.  I'm a mixed nuts kind of girl anyway.


Sweet Roasted Mixed Nuts adapted from 'Family Bites'
makes 4 cups

4 cups mixed nuts (pecans, cashews, brazil nuts, walnuts, peanuts - I'm not kidding, I literally threw in handfuls)
1 egg white
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne
2  heaping tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 300° F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment (ok) or silicon liner (better).
Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl and toss until everything is well coated.  Pour onto the baking  sheet and spread out evenly and hopefully in a single layer over the entire sheet.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until everything looks golden brown but not dark brown.
Cool completely and then break up and place in jars for gifting or in bowls for eating.

I don't know if you ever find yourself doing this but I've been noting for a while now just how much I over think some things.  Not everything... just some things.  Food and activity are at the top of my overthink list.
- What is 'overthinking' you ask?
Overthinking is the act of thinking too much.  More than a subject or situation requires and subsequently gets you more stuck on the thinking than on the doing.  (I did not get that from a dictionary or anywhere online - I just thought it up myself)
 - But isn't 'thinking' always a good thing?
Well... usually.  I can recall many occasions throughout history where thinking was actually quite dangerous.  For most of us though, thinking keeps us alive and alert.
- So why is 'overthinking' something you are concerned about?
Well, you see, when I over think then I spend too much time in my own head.  I ask myself too many questions.  I give myself too much leeway and consideration when I really should just get over it and move on (usually just get moving).  Later I feel like crap.  I have learned not to ever ask myself if I 'want' to do something. (especially exercise related or eating of 'healthy' food) It inevitably results in at least an hour of wasted time pondering all of my possibilities... then I usually just go and do it anyway.
...
As you can tell, it's pretty easy for me to start overthinking pretty much anytime.  That is precisely what happened for me yesterday.
...


It was a quiet day.  Finally a quiet day.  The kids were quietly playing or finishing homework.  D was out at a rehearsal.  I actually got myself out the door without too much fuss and ran a decent 9 k.  And then there was this bowl of apples.  They were just there on the counter quietly taunting me.  And I started to think.  I thought about the apples a lot.  Why don't I eat more apples.  Some of them are going really soft.  I should pick one up right now and eat it.  But I don't want an apple.  That's why they're sitting there slowly going bad... nobody really wants to eat them.  That sucks because apples are kinda awesome.  But I still don't want one right now.  It's really not good that I don't want to eat apples.  I think my lack of desire for fruit says something about me.  If I did eat the apple... And so on.
It went on like that for about an hour.  I was completely caught in my thoughts - trapped, immobilized.
It wasn't until kid #2 came along and said that I should make some apple crisp because she wanted to try it (for real... I've never made it for her) and because we had some homemade vanilla ice cream in the freezer.


I won't tell you how long it took me to sift through some recipes and decide what to do but I finally got there.



Apple Crisp with Honey adapted from 'A Small Snippet'
makes 1 8x10 dessert

8 apples (I used a mixture of Gala and Granny Smith)
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat or red fife flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds)
1 - 2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 cup unsalted butter
6 tbsp honey

Combine the oatmeal, both flours, wheat germ, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together and pulse in a blender or food processor just until the oats and nuts have broken down a bit.  Set aside.
Butter a large baking dish (almost a 9x13 size).
Peel and slice the apples (I left some peel on mine to get the nutrient benefits).  Place the apples in the buttered baking dish.  Toss the apples with the brown sugar and lemon juice.
Melt the butter and then add in the honey.  Stir until the honey is mixed well.  Add the butter mixture to the oatmeal mixture and mix until everything is wet and crumbly.
Pour the oatmeal mixture over the apples.
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until the apples are soft and bubbly.
Cool for about 10 minutes before serving... with homemade vanilla ice cream.

Oh my.
We decided to end our March Break with a bang.  We had planned a trip up north of the city last weekend but kid #1 was sick so we postponed it to the very last day of the break.  Honestly, it was the best thing we could have done.  The weather was perfect (if it were June) and it was inspiring to see my friends again.


I've talked about these friends before.  I feel lucky to have people like this in my life.  People that just 'get it' and 'get me'.  When I'm with my friend C I feel like I can let all my crazy cook/gardener/conspiracy theorist/ apocalypse prophet out - right out there.  In public.  In conversation and all.  We talked about her garden  - which makes me nuts coming from the city and realising the ridiculous amount of work that goes into her garden.  It's hard to take in.  We talked about the fruit trees and the nut trees that they're planting.  We talked about the chickens and turkeys that they're going to start keeping.  We talked about how their solar panels are actually putting energy back into the grid and making them money.  We talked about the dogs and about how I can get a side of beef from their closest neighbours any time.  C gave me a bunch of seeds.

Moss in Bloom

We also talked about maple syrup mostly because we took the kids to a sugar bush which felt totally weird because it was no less than 23 degrees outside.  We couldn't quite take a walk through the bush because it was pretty wet and muddy.  We did, however,  take a horse wagon ride (in which the horses had to trudge through a lot of mud - awesome for kid #2) and ate some pancakes and beans after that.

The story wouldn't be complete without a picture of the horses from our perspective.

After heading back to our friends place we took a long walk in the gorgeous sun and let the dogs (read: kids) get tired out.  Of course I couldn't show up empty handed so I made some bread.  Bread is a funny thing because I find that sweet bread can quite quickly become too sweet.  I was skeptical about the need for glop because of my previous experience with sweet breads.  I had also sprinkled the top of the bread with some candied nuts just before baking.  So with that in mind I kept the glop on the side.  After taste testing I can tell you honestly that the glop made this bread sing.  Absolutely sing.  In lovely dulcet tones.  We all agreed.

The Bread before the Glop.

The Bread after the Glop.  I must add that this picture was taken by Kid #2... he's 5.

Apple Loaf with Glop adapted from Pass the Sushi

1 1/2 cups shredded apple (peeled first)
1/2 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 lg eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 cup candied walnuts or pecans coarsely chopped

Glaze:

3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp heavy cream
3 - 4 tbsp maple syrup (not table syrup)

Grease and flour a regular loaf pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom together in a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl mix together the apples, brown sugar, buttermilk, oil and eggs together.  Mix thoroughly.  Add in the flour mixture.  Mix until thoroughly combined.  Pour into the loaf pan and bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Glaze:
Sift the icing sugar (I skipped this though) into a bowl.  Add the cream and 3 tbsp of the maple syrup.  Mix and add a little more maple syrup if needed to get the consistency you like.  Gloop onto the top of the loaf only once the loaf is completely cooled.

The kids weren't the only ones tired out.