Livin' Large!

This old gal has been living the good life!  Pete's filet on Sunday and then yesterday I was invited to a steak and lobster(!!) dinner at Camille's.  Olga, Cam's mom, has been visiting Cam and had brought lobsters from Montana and they asked me to share.  They didn't have to ask twice.  Cam described the menu they'd planned (drool) and I asked if I could bring dessert.

 In our family, this is considered the kitchen bible, the  "Woman's Home Companion Cook Book" published in 1942.  This was my mother's copy and I was fortunate that she gave it to me.  It has always been my go-to resource for basic, well-written recipes.  We're not talking fancy meals or French cuisine (Julia Child cornered that market), but straight forward instructions on darned near everything. including how to set a table.  Obviously, my copy has seen a lot of use.  The poor thing has lost the covering on its spine and the back has to be carried separately.  Be that as it may, Deb has already requested to be next in line.

I have made countless apple pies over the years, and I still use the same recipe (does it show?).  The kids' dad was a police officer and there were many times that I would have an apple pie hot from the oven ready when he got off the evening shift at 11.  It got so that his buddies would come home with him in hopes of a slice of pie.

I do not, however, use the crust recipe from this book.  I've tried many, but the best, never-fail recipe I've found is in "The Farm House Cook Book" by Susan Herrmann Loomis.  Needless to say, I read cookbooks like novels, and have well over one hundred on my shelves, including Loomis's French and Italian books.

Deb and I used to go up to Apple Hill and buy forty to sixty pounds of apples.  I'd make fourteen pies at a time to put in the freezer, as well as applesauce and strudel.  We'd peel apples until our hands cramped.  It was after (of course) one such episode that I found this handy-dandy item in an old-time hardware store.  It is an apple peeler-corer-slicer and is absolutely indispensable.  Bless whoever invented this great, time-saving kitchen tool.

Steak, lobster, Greek salad, sauteed zucchini and summer squash, mashed potatoes with bacon, and apple pie for dessert.  I'm tellin' you, I'm livin' large!