burning down the house

I've been a busy little beaver.  Burning down the house is only one activity.

While I was in Ecuador, Eric took the kids (with a little encouragement from my mom) to my mom's friends' to pick apples.  I really really wanted to pick them (and take pictures of the beautiful, apple laden branches) but just ran out of time.  And then it was getting cold, so it needed to happen.  Well, under a great amount of duress, apparently, the kids went with Eric.  Once they were there picking, they had a great time.  And they picked a whole lot of apples, let me tell you!

They are gorgeous little crab apples and they are so tasty.  Firm, tart and a lovely colour to boot (I've begun to spell the Canadian way, once again!).  The kids have been taking them to school in the lunch boxes, we've been munching them, but there are so many that I need to get to chopping them, freezing them and making delicious treats with them.  My mommy even came over to help me get started - but I still have a long way to go!

Apple sauce was one of the tasty treats on the docket.

My mom bought and kept a huge amount of cinnamon candy hearts, from valentine's day, for me for this purpose.  It is the only flavoring and sweetening needed.  And if your apples aren't already gorgeous and red (I keep the peel on), they add lovely colour.  This apple sauce did not need any red added but they got it anyway.

So now on to burning down the house….

Mia had her two cousins, Brooklyn and Timaya, over for night.  Being the wonderful mother and aunt I am, I made corn dogs.   Instead of using regular hot dogs, Eric suggested using smokies.  Good call, except……  First, the casing needs to be peeled as it may be great for bbqing, but is not so good for corn dogging.  Second, I need to get a little more practice in using an electric stove.  It has been a lot of years since I've used anything but gas.  Well, electric takes a while to heat up, but when it is hot, it stays hot!  So my oil got hot eventually but then I couldn't cool it down.  So the corn dogs got a little darkish.  And sheesh, this house does not ventilate!  The smell of frying and burned fried food is not so great.  We opened the window (thankfully only slightly below freezing), burned smelly candles and turned on fans.  The kids adjourned to one of the bedrooms because their eyes were burning…..

Then, a little while later, Eric and I went to look at a table to buy.  When we got home it was even stinkier and more smokey than before.  It was horrible.  So we reopened the windows, lit the candles and all that.  Finally after about 5 minutes, I notice the smell is stronger in the kitchen and I realize - duh - that I had put sweet potato fries in the oven and completely forgot about them.  Augh!  I was really impressing my nieces at this point.

Thankfully the house didn't really burn down, but it sure took a while to smell good again.  And the kids had a good evening and morning in spite of my mistakes.

All the cuttle worm yahoos.