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Kids, it's time for a fun story! 

Once upon a time, back in the year 2-ought-ought-2,  Aaron and I decided to go to the Riccarton Market in Christchurch, NZ.  What you do is, you take the bus into The Exchange (the fancypants name for 'the downtown bus terminal'), and then you take the #82 to Hei Hei, and get off when you see the racetrack.  The market is big (300+ stalls in the summer), and we were pretty excited to wander around the whole thing.

Here is one of the first things we found (and bought, post-haste): 

It's a rocket; it's a mirror.  What more could you (reasonably) ask?

We were less excited when it started raining.  And then way less excited when it started winding (that's "being windy", not "being twisty-turvy").  But... wait a minute... it's a MARKET!  So we searched around until we found a stall selling warm-n-wooly hats, and bought one to keep my wee head warm and dry.

It was not an ideal hat -- it was a bit too big, and made of some mad-scratchy wool.  And so after that one drizzly cold morning, it never got worn.  I found it the other day while looking for some gloves in our giant-box-o-warms (doesn't everyone who lives in a cold climate have one of those boxes, full of single-mittens and too-big hats?).  And I realized:  it's perfect!  It's exactly what I've been looking for!

I cut some holes in it, whipstitched the edges (to keep things from coming unravelled) and voila!   

My new fancy tea cozy!  It keeps the tea hot, and the pompom makes me laugh every time I see it.  So go take a look in your big-box-o-warms (or, if you don't have one:  that pile of clothes you never wear stuffed down into the corner of your closet) and see if you can't find a better use for some of it.   That oops-I-shrunk-it sweater may have a wonderful future as a set of placemats!

Just a quick post to say:

Oh my these look so good.

Recipes to make your own candy bars!  (Including peanut butter cups!!!)

 

Today we turn our attention to candy apples.  When was the last time you had one of these?  Probably at some county fair, where it was $3 and full of smooshy apple.  Ick.   I was never a fan, until I made my own three weeks ago, and YOWZA.  

Candied apples are super easy to make.  Here's what you need:

• Apples.  We had cause to be near Poverty Lane Orchards last week, so we stopped and picked some apples.  They have Macs and Pippins there, but we went straight for the heirloom orchard -- just shy of 200 trees, growing at least 50 different varieties.  The apple varieties all have different purposes (fresh cider, hard cider, baking, eating, etc), and they gave us a tree list and encouraged us to sample every tree.  So we did.  Many apples were bitten.  Some were savored, some were spit out; such is life in the heirloom apple orchard.  For the candied apples, we went for tart-crisp varieties.

  For the sticks, you can use popsicle sticks or whatever you have hanging around.  We used some unused take-out chopsticks (broken in half).  Spear your apples right in the middle, then give them a little shake to make sure they're not going to fall off the stick.

• 1 cup sugar
  1/3 cup water
  1 glug corn syrup
  1 cinnamon stick
  This will make enough for 6 medium-sized apples.  I realize that you certainly don't need any more corn syrup in your life, but a little glug (a tablespoon or so) will help keep your sugar from crystallizing while it's boiling.  If you don't have any (or don't want to use it), you can leave it out.  The cinnamon stick adds a nice flavor to the syrup (anise seed is also tasty).
• 1/4 tsp cherry flavor
  5 drops red food coloring
  You can use any flavoring you want -- we used this tasty cherry stuff from King Arthur (incidentally, only 20 minutes from the orchard!).   You can also use any color you want, too.  (Orange apples for halloween!)

The next step is to boil the syrup.   There's nothing to it -- just stick the pot on the stove and let it go.  Don't stir it (except to make sure that all the sugar dissolves), and boil it until it reaches 300F on a candy thermometer.  Be careful -- as one recipe says, "Do not touch the syrup at any time -- it burns treacherously."  If you don't have a thermometer, then drop a little bit of syrup into a glass of water.  If the syrup turns into a little bit of hard lollipop, it's ready!  

Stir in the flavoring and color, then go over to your apple-twirling station.

 

Tilt the pan so that all the syrup pools at one end, then grab an apple and twirl it in the syrup.  It should pick up a nice even coat of candy.  Put it down on parchment or foil (not wax paper -- it'll melt) and go to the next one.  (If you're doing lots of apples (like a double batch), I gather that you're supposed to stick the pot over some boiling water to keep the candy from hardening too quickly. )

Ta-da!  Candy apples!  Delicious, and really healthy, too!  (What?  You're eating an apple...)  Once they're cool, wrap them so the candy doesn't get sticky.  You can store them in the fridge, but they're best eaten at room temperature.