Baking Apple Pie Together

Bella hung out with me in the kitchen this afternoon as we baked this apple pie together.

I wish you could smell it for yourself. The secret ingredients in my apple pie are a dash of fresh lemon juice and a pinch of apple cider.

I am so glad I picked up vanilla ice cream from the market earlier.

My Birthday Wish & The Magical Kitchen!

I wonder if it's OK to have as many birthday wishes to match your years? Like the way you get a candle to represent each year on your birthday cake? In a book by Don Miguel Ruiz their is a chapter called the Magical Kitchen. It's a book about love. Their is something so appealing to me about the idea of a Magical Kitchen. In my Magical Kitchen I would wave my wand to clean the dishes instantly. I would stock the pantry, refrigerator and freezer at whim.The one thing I wouldn't wave my wand over is the act of baking itself. I love it too much to sweep it away with a single wave of a wand. Although if I did have a magic kitchen I wouldn't mind using the wand to sweep the floor each morning and night. In my Magical Kitchen I would wish that everyone everywhere could have more than enough food to satisfy them completely. Not just a bowl of oatmeal or macaroni and cheese either-whatever meal would truly satisfy each and every person! As for my birthday wish if I tell you it probably won't come true!

Missing my Oven & Moving to Cape Cod

As a new school year gets underway full force I find myself missing my oven already. Last week I baked a ton. I had orders to fill, restocked the table at the farm and baked for different parties we attended over the holiday weekend.

When my kids schedule gets filled with fall activities I find it harder to spend long amounts of time in my kitchen using my oven. For now, I do what I have to do to get done then get out of there.
When I have lots of time to bake I am relaxed. Baking gives me time to reflect on my choices, on things happening in the lives of my kids and once and a while I even have enough time to create a new recipe.

One of my choices that I recently reflected on while baking was my decision to move to Cape Cod full time, year round. My friend Rob likes to point out that he is the reason that we moved to Cape Cod. A few years back while I was living in Dallas, TX I was involved in a high school email group. I announced one day that I was thinking about moving home to Massachusetts.

Rob pointed out that the Cape had milder weather than the rest of the state, provided a more recreational lifestyle than you find in other areas and who wouldn't want to live so close to the ocean? I have to admit it. He was right.

As for missing my oven, when I don't get enough time in my kitchen the house doesn't quite have those wonderful aromas, doesn't have that warm and cozy feeling and my kids don't have dreamy island cookies to greet them off the bus.