Move Over Kate Spade...

I've gone into the purse making business.

I've made 7 dozen of these babies.
Dooney and Burke and Coach should be worried, very worried. I'll be giving them a run for their money...
because my purses are filled with what every woman wants...
Chocolate!

Bet Kate Spade is shaking in her boots...

Foodie Friday - Solving an apple problem

My husband recently went on an apple shopping spree. The price was right, and he's an excellent bargain shopper, but how in heaven's name could two people ever eat several pounds of apples before they turn to brown mush? I knew I had to bake something, but what??? We had just devoured an apple pie, and my other fall back recipes don't require hugh amounts of apples.

I started scanning the internet and stumbled upon a scrumptious looking Apple Upside Down Cake at Butter Yum. I was drooling all over the keyboard by the time I finished my emergency email to BY. How do I get the recipe for this fabulous cake??? I felt a tad stupid when I recieved Butter Yum's sweet reply. Turns out that I was so smitten by the gorgeous cake, that I didn't read the whole post and hadn't realized that it was a Heavenly Cake Baker's cake of the week, from a new book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Well, I looked at the book on Amazon and I can tell you now, that as sure as God made those little green apples, I will own that volume in the very near future. In the meantime, however, I still needed to use the apples aging on my kitchen counter. I went back online for more recipe ideas, but couldn't get the upside down cake out of my mind. Sure, I found recipes, but there was something in each one that I didn't like or didn't have in the house. The only solution was to combine several recipes. I did, and this is the delicious result...

I don't think I could recreate this exact cake again. My apples were already a bit too soft. I was less than exact with my measurements. I will never remember which recipe I took which step from or in what order.

But sometimes life in the kitchen serves up a happy accident.

My husband and I are certainly enjoying this one!

Please visit Designs by Gollum and see what's cooking with everyone else on this Foodie Friday.

Fall Decorating

Autumn is my favorite season. Give me a crisp fall day, trees in glorious color, a crunchy, tangy apple and a warm, snugly sweater and I'm in heaven. Oh, and I need to pull out the fall decorations for the house.
Cats and ghosts...
farmers hawking their harvest foods...

a skeleton in the village...

several scarecrows...

wreaths and foliage...
dried grasses and pumpkins...

a spooky tree that lights up and flashes...

and, of course, our fall village houses are part of the fun.

And then there's my husband's collection of Halloween ornaments that grace the ugly tree...

A devilishly cute devil...

a pumpkin man and a cute raccoon...

a pumpkin head, and a black cat are just some of his favorites.

Alas, autumn just flies by. Next week is Halloween, and I'll have to weed out the witches, ghosts and goblins, but not to worry...the pilgrims and turkeys are waiting in the wings.

Foodie Friday - A Fine Kettle of Fish

I've been cooking. I really have. I just haven't had time to blog about it or snap a few pictures, since June. Eeeek! June??? What month is it again? Was there a summer this year? Did I miss it??? I vaguely recall barbecuing my way through July, August and most of September. I even seem to remember baking, sauteing or stir frying a number of meals. We ate, ran, and never snapped one photo. To say it was a busy summer would be an understatement. So far autumn has been the same. Life has been crazy I tells 'ya, just crazy! But all of that is a post for a later date. We've got bigger fish to fry, errrr, saute.

Tonight we address the simple flounder fillet and how it can be elevated to a true culinary masterpiece.

Flounder with Shrimp Sauce has been a favorite dish since we first tried the recipe many years ago. Gently sauted flounder is covered with a delicate cream sauce laced with sherry and studded with shrimp and mushrooms. It's a stunning dish that's worthy of fine table linens, china and special dinner guests, or just a weeknight supper with your hubby.

We discovered it in the Seafood volume of the Bon Apetit cook book series, which I collected in the 80's when we were younger and could eat anything. I do love these books, and use them frequently.

I've lightened the recipe considerably to meet our new household dietary restrictions, and I'm happy to report that low fat butter substitutes and skim milk work just fine for the sauce. I use fresh herbs and have a heavy hand with them. The results are still pretty darn amazing.

Here's the recipe, copied from my cook book that has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous cooking... Did I mention that I really love these cook books?

Flounder with Shrimp Sauce:

Now scoot over to Designs by Gollum, hosted by Michael Lee, and search the other blogs participating in Foodie Friday. Find a side dish and maybe a dessert and have a weekend feast.

'Till next time... Nancy