My friend Rachel came by and gave me a gargantuan bag of pink lady apples – a bag so heavy, it would have certainly gotten the $60 surplus weight charge it I attempted to fly it to New Orleans as checked luggage. I gave a bunch away, but still had at least thirty in my possession, so I decided to make tart tatin inspired by Claire Saffitz who had an incredibly complicated recipe that would have taken days and days including making a rough puff pastry. I dismissed Claire’s approach for a straight shot approach (NYT) which still took me a couple of hours plus. A simpler apple pie of sorts, it came out slightly overdone. Nonetheless, I was very proud of myself. One has to caramelize the apples in a pan, then cover it with puff pastry (store bought) and then put the whole pan in the oven and cook everything together and then flip the pastry upside down. Jeremy was shocked that I had caramelized the apples so so deeply (perhaps one of those shocking moments in an old married couple timeline where your spouse surprises you – who are you? do I even know you?), he thought (and he is right), I tend to err on the side of undone-ness. It’s more likely that I end up with apples too crunchy and raw and pale. Jeremy declared it perfect (a kind husband he is) and we had a bit of heavy cream in the fridge to dress it up on the fly. I texted the photo to Rachel (semi-reluctantly as it is not styled properly to look its best) and she was like – are those bananas?
I spent some time on Saturday watching Sofie test for her black belt in taekwondo. It was at the dojo within walking distance of the house (next to the ice cream store). I’d never been to one of these things and it was interesting and I’m so proud of Sofie. I do remember Alice grumbling about the endless bits of equipment to be bought for such an endeavor, the pads, the number of belts, the various uniforms, but I saw all of them in use happily and necessarily. Mike leaned over at some point during the skills demonstration when Sofie was sparring with a partner and asked if Sofie had ever performed the move that she was doing out on the floor on me – a takedown of sorts where I would have ended up on the floor after having my arm wrenched in directions it was not suppose to go. Wide eyed – I said, no! never! and he looked at me and said – it’s really scary! yipes! At the end ceremony, a medal, dignified certificate and most surprisingly, as set of nunchucks for the next level of class because though you think black belt is the highest level, it is merely the introduction to the more senior, serious ranks. So much wooden board breaking! Yah!
Emboldened by the tart tatin, I moved on to yeasted bread – challah. I mentioned before that I often fail at yeasted breads, but this one turned out very beautifully and I’ve been eating it throughout the day – though I think I still prefer store bought.
I must be in the Thanksgiving mood as my baking streak continues.
