Apples to apples

Weird food cravings plus bag of apples indahouse= "I know! I'll bake an apple crisp! Or, in British, an apple crumble!"

So I haul out my well-loved, time-honoured, battered, spattered copy of the first cookbook I ever owned: The Joy Of Cooking.

I still haven't started the crisp yet, because I'm now so lost in what an awesome cookbook this is. I have the old edition, not the mimsy new one with its calorie-counting and microwaves. The old edition spits upon microwaves and wipes its hobnailed boots upon calorie-counters. My edition tells you how to skin a squirrel, how to kill a squid, how to choose a chicken (bright eyes, a red comb and a flexible breastbone, apparently). I just opened it to a random page and it said "About Brains." This cookbook is badass.

OK, so the old edition has its faults-- there's a lot of 1950s stodge in here-- but where else are you going to find a recipe for making your own cream cheese?

Right. Time to chop some apples.

Pentecost

Being quite unreligious, I only just realised that last Sunday was Pentecost, or Whitsunday in England. I mention this only because it's related to one of my favourite bits of Arthurian legend: according to Malory, King Arthur would hold a huge feast for his court on Pentecost, but would not sit down to eat "untyl he had herd or sene of a grete merveylle."

I think this is a fantastic idea, and should be incorporated into many weight-loss plans.

Pentecost

Being quite unreligious, I only just realised that last Sunday was Pentecost, or Whitsunday in England. I mention this only because it's related to one of my favourite bits of Arthurian legend: according to Malory, King Arthur would hold a huge feast for his court on Pentecost, but would not sit down to eat "untyl he had herd or sene of a grete merveylle."

I think this is a fantastic idea, and should be incorporated into many weight-loss plans.