Lori in PA

I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. I searched the fridge and came up with a little super-sharp white cheddar, grated mozz from a bag, and cream cheese. I fixed this on rye and drank apple cider with it. You know, it wasn't half bad.

The menu sounds great -- I'll look forward to hearing your report on the results. You might try scavenging recipe ideas from personal chef web sites. Also, a chicken roasted on Sunday afternoon to pick from during the week is a good thing.

I'm looking forward to breakfast! Great blog.

I always hear Marion Cunningham loud and clear in her writing. She sounds sensible and encouraging.

I second Bread and Jam for Frances! I like the other, non-food, Frances books, too.

I made a cream cheese and smoked salmon omelet. It was very good, as things made with cream cheese and smoked salmon tend to be.

I have one. I really wanted it and I'm pretty careful about thinking things through before I spend that much money -- though I did get a great deal on mine. That said, I like it less than I expected I would -- same reasons already stated. I like sauteed veal and chicken cutlets, but when serving six what should be fast food turns slow because of having to do things in batches. I use the 14" to get down to one or possibly two batches of browning meat. When deglazing the pan for a sauce, I have to really pay attention -- the liquid can reduce to nothing in a flash with such a large surface.

I like to give theme gifts, like a great pair of salad tongs and salad produce from my garden. Some years I've given my sis, sil, and mom my favorite new kitchen gadget from that year -- for instance, the Le Creuset silicone spatula. This year, I wish somebody would give me Molly's braising book and a Le Creuset French oven... :-)

Great blog. Of COURSE we want to see your food storage area! Snap away!

You can certainly freeze your applesauce, Teresa. I used to do that instead of canning, but don't have the freezer space anymore -- it's taken up with venison, etc. now. I'm not sure how long applesauce will keep fresh in the fridge -- I think it will go back after 1 1/2 weeks or so.

Last night: Veal Saltimbocca, Butternut Squash Risotto, and broccoli. Rich and yum!

The tomato attachment is what one uses for applesauce, too. In fact those are the two uses of the Victorio in this family, though I no longer can tomatoes and sauce since I found an inexpensive source of imported Italian products I like just as well. ← Oops -- how'd I manage to get part of my reply in the quote? Pardon the new girl... Here's what I said above: Thanks for the descriptions of the two towns, and sleep has made me feel a little less UA this morning, as well. Approximate population of each? Student body size? I shall comfort myself by recalling that Lewis began at Oxford and ended at Cambridge anyway.

The tomato attachment is what one uses for applesauce, too. In fact those are the two uses of the Victorio in this family, though I no longer can tomatoes and sauce since I found an inexpensive source of imported Italian products I like just as well.

Well, here's me blushing, Jackal! Is that just about the most typical Ugly American error re UK I could make or what? I was picturing you at Oxford. Oxford? Cambridge? Are they really that different? She trails off shaking her head and muttering to herself... Lori

What do I do with applesauce? Mostly we eat it plain for breakfast or for dessert. Sometimes I make applesauce cake with caramel icing with it. Sometimes we stir some into plain yogurt and top it with homemade granola. Sometimes we put it on waffles. Of course, it cures all tummy sicknesses. :-)

Nittany apples are a newish variety and, yes, they were developed by Penn State University. They are not widely known, which surprises me, because they are not only my family's very favorite apple but are also universally loved by everyone we introduce them to. They "come in" in October, are very crisp, are nicely balanced between sweet and tart, and are perfect for everything -- eating out of hand, sauce, pies, stewing, etc. Their only drawback, and it is very minor, is that they aren't the most beautiful. They are sometimes slightly lopsided in shape and are green-ish/yellow-ish/reddish with a darker red blush.

Here is an ebay page: http://search-desc.ebay.com/Victorio-Strai...Z2QQxpufuZxQ5A1 Mine is at least 30 years old -- it's really my folks' but they share it with us, since we now do most of the putting up. It is not electric, but the cranking isn't hard, especially if one has children to help. Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Jackal, I think your most recent blog was the first one I read when I discovered eGullet. I enjoyed it so very much. May I admit my only "disappointment" was that it chipped away a little more at the illusion I continue to try to hold that Oxford is the same as it was when C.S. Lewis walked its grounds?

I don't add Vitamin C to mine, though I'm sure you could. The color does darken somewhat as time goes by, but since I spice my sauce before canning it anyway, we don't really notice it until I take the new jars down to the basement and place the few old jars beside them.

Wouldn't pictures be great? Sadly, I'm behind the times technologically speaking, so let's pretend we're in the 19th century and this a beautifully written letter that took a few weeks to reach you across the Atlantic. Imagine the scene: The kitchen is a 13 year-old remodel in a 100 year-old typical PA Dutch woodframe farmhouse in a tiny town in south central Pennsylvania. It is not a high-end remodel; rather, it is a Formica/linoleum middle-class job, though it is extremely functional and a pleasant heart of this home. Big, crisp Nittany apples are washed, cut into quarters, and simmered in a bit of water in a big black spatterware enameled pot on the gas stove until they are mushy. When the lid is lifted to stir them up, wafts of apple-y steam meander through the kitchen and out into the October sunshine. The cooked apples are squooshed through a Victorio strainer, a wondrous device that separates the apple flesh from the peels and cores. Sauce emerges from one aperature, detritus bound for the compost heap comes out of another. The sauce is sweetened with sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves, which add their own sharp notes to the fragrant air. The hot sauce is ladled into quart Mason jars, which alone are privy to their history beyond the years in this house. (Who knows how many hands have filled and emptied them with who knows what bounties?) Methodically, the rims are wiped clean, flats applied, and bands tightened in place. Into the tall pressure canner they go for 0 minutes at 15 psi. They are gingerly lifted out one by one and set on a clean bath towel in an out of the way spot on the kitchen floor. Most are already sealed, but a few surprise the workers with their soft but distinct "ding!" as they complete the preservation process. Next morning, the sticky bands are removed (there is always some sauce leakage in the canner and it takes only a smidgen to coat all the jars with sweet residue) and the jars are soaked, six at a time, in a bath of warm water in one side of the sink. They are scrubbed gently all over to remove the tacky mold-growing apple coating and set on another clean towel on the island. When finally dry, the lids are labeled with the year and they are ready to be ferried to the basement pantry shelves. But first, the cook takes a few moments to enjoy them in all their glory -- they stand in rows like soldiers awaiting orders, sparkling in a shaft of sunlight from the back door. She is tired, to be sure, but this moment is pure pleasure. She smiles thinking of the delight she'll have in the months to come when she fetches one of these jars up to the kitchen and pours the contents into a bowl, a jar full of October's essence to add to the family table.

Deli roast beef sandwich with mayo and country-style dijon on Pepperidge Farm white bread; big bowl of fresh homemade applesauce spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and allspice

Yesterday was our family's annual (or sometimes biennial if we make enough) Applesauce Canning Day. This time, we processed 35 quarts plus kept about 7 quarts fresh in the fridge, which we decided not to can because we were so pooped and it was getting late. We live right in the middle of the highest apple-producing county in PA, so this is a natural for us, almost a duty. Dh LOVES homemade applesauce, more specifically, MY homemade applesauce. He helps a lot with the processing, but no one is allowed to sweeten and spice each batch but me, according to him. Unfortunately, in mid-afternoon he and our daughter were called out to a house fire (they are volunteer firefighters), so I was left to tend range alone. Next time, we've got to make less -- my energy level just isn't up to this amount of output. The trouble is, our two boys are entering the stage where they vacumn up everything in sight. I don't think either of them would have any difficulty at all eating a whole quart at a time if they thought it was allowed. (Have I ever used three smilies in one post in my life? I don't think so.)

We had chicken, leek, and mushroom soup with cream, a salad, and dh's just out of the oven white yeast bread. Now, there is Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer calling out to me...

leftover veal with a tarragon/mustard/cream sauce

Hmmm, last three places? 1. Double Cheeseburger from McDonalds -- like eating a handful of salted grease. 2. Dairy Queen -- hot fudge sundae 3. PA Turnpike service plaza -- Roy Rodgers chicken strips and a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato. (I need a life. Or, at least more money.) Lori, who is actually very blessed in her life, but not with much money

I roasted a bunch of the last garden tomatoes this morning with garlic slivers and olive oil. My breakfast was an english muffin, split, toasted, and buttered, spread with cream cheese and some of those tomatoes.