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Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts
my weekend plans
image via bear"There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them." --Sylvia Plath, "The Bell Jar"
Apples
Apple picking season is finishing up around here and I have two big bags of apples that are looking to become something special....
Image courtesy of 101cookbooks
Caramel Apples from Food Network
Ingredients:
6 apples
Craft sticks
1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
2 tablespoons milk
Directions:
Remove the stem from each apple and press a craft stick into the top. Butter a baking sheet. Place caramels and milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, stirring once. Allow to cool briefly. Roll each apple quickly in caramel sauce until well coated. Place on prepared sheet to set. They can be rolled in chopped nuts for an added touch of flavor!
Alice Waters’s Apple Tart from Smitten Kitchen
Dough: 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour1/2 teaspoon sugar1/8 teaspoon salt6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water
Filling: 2 pounds apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored (save peels and cores), and sliced2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted5 tablespoons sugar
Glaze:1/2 cup sugar
MIX flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas.
DRIBBLE in water, stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, letting it fall through fingers, until it’s ropy with some dry patches. If dry patches predominate, add another tablespoon water. Keep tossing until you can roll dough into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate. After at least 30 minutes, remove; let soften so it’s malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush.
PLACE dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400#176;F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the rack.)
OVERLAP apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.
BRUSH melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over dough edge and the other 3 tablespoons over apples. (Deb note: I found it nearly impossible to coat it with this much sugar, so I used a little less–more like 3 tablespoons. It made a lightly sweet tart, which we found perfect.)
BAKE in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.
MAKE glaze: Put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan, along with sugar. Pour in just enough water to cover; simmer for 25 minutes. Strain syrup through cheesecloth.
REMOVE tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.
BRUSH glaze over tart, slice, and serve.
sleeping under the stars (and with the moon)
I knew falling for a good ol' southern boy was going to get me in trouble.
I'm not only a true blue northeasterner, but I'm also very much a city girl - preferring to walk around city streets than paths through the woods. I've only landed here in NC for graduate school and while I do, surprisingly, enjoy a great deal of the laid back attitude and slower pace - I haven't gone country. Well, it looks like I may have to. The bf has taken me on hikes, but he has his heart set on camping - something I have never done. So sometime this month, before it really gets cold, this fan of cozy big beds is going to be sleeping on the cold hard ground. The truth is - I am looking forward to it (a little bit) because I do love a good night sky. And, perhaps, it would be lovely to fall asleep beneath one as long as the sleeping bag is warm and the insects stay distant...
"You take one down and pass it around..."
image via sirkusI am not at all a beer drinker. I've tried, but it's just not going to happen. All I taste is bitterness and all I want is a girly drink with fruit in it. So why, you may ask, did I go on a brewery tour this weekend?
image via collectible kitchenWell, the boyfriend likes beer as does the spouse of a friend of mine so we made it a couple's date and took a drive to Holly Springs, NC and to the Carolina Brewing Company. We got to taste a bunch of beers, ask a bunch of questions, and learn how the stuff is made. And it was all free. Yep, free beer.
image via straubtedI still only drank barely a half of a glass, but it was a fun afternoon and I think it would actually be a neat place to go on a date or to take your fella as a gift. And, ladies, (as my friend and I noticed right away) the ratio of men to women, on the tour, is like 10 to 1.... so go with a bunch of girlfriends as long as you don't terribly mind meeting a guy who leaves the tour planning to make beer in his bathtub.
Oh, and realbeer.com has a pretty good database for finding brewery tours in your state.
(And do you think I would be a bigger fan of beer if only I had one of these vintage beer trays? It's nice to think so.)
via LuLu's Vintage Blog
image via the queen of subtle
image via straubted
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