-A Family Apple Pie

Hello my friends!

I’ve had my family visiting me in New Orleans this week and so far I’ve wrangled them into helping me plant a garden, paint a bunch of found pieces of street concrete, and feed stray chickens.  Glorious, because I’ll look at that garden with painted rocks long after they’ve gone to their respective homes and feel like I have a piece of them here with me in the swamps.

A few nights ago, five of us made 1 giant apple pie. For my part, I cut the butter for the pie crust and assisted in working it into the flour. Cassidy peeled the apples, my mom gathered spices, my sister whipped up a caramel sauce I’m pretty sure with her eyes closed, and my dad brought the pie dough together. With 10 hands, I swear an apple pie takes about 10 minutes to assemble. It was fantastic.  I’m not letting any of them leave ever.

I sincerely hope this finds you well and happy.  Here’s the Internet according to my eyeballs:

•  Give yourself a cool 89 hours for President Obama’s Essential Reading List. I put Behind The Beautiful Forevers on to-buy list immediately. Have you read it?

•  Consider this very important read: The Trainable Cat.  (I accidentally typed Cake instead of Cat…). Slate did some of the heavy-research for us: Can I Train My Cat To Be Less Annoying?   The trick is to accept your cat’s world view, which sounds, wait… is that easy?

•  My book Homemade Decadence made this pretty sweet list of Amazon’s 100 Books For A Lifetime of Cooking and Drinking.  If you don’t already own it… gosh I really wish you would!

•  Shake your foundation just to see where you stand, when you stand.  Marie Forloe and Seth Godin: stop waiting for the right moment. This is an ass-mover.  Let’s get on the damn horse.

•  Most powerful thought of the week, for me:  “If you’re in the bed, you’ll always ask for more time, so don’t waste any time.”  A Legendary Pizza Maker Steps Away From The Fire.

•   Tis the season and thank the Lord there’s cake, right?  Let’s make an Election Cake! 

•  How the Media Scrutiny of Chelsea Clinton Affected A Generation of Curly-Haired Girls.  ACCURATE.

•  Meninists are funny… like really funny, and mostly uneducated and confused… and want to be on tv.  It’s a mess. A very comical anti-tampon debacle.  Again… meninists.  My computer insists that word is a typo. Agree.

•  Jon made this dang delicious looking Chicken Pot Tot Hot Dish from Molly on the Range.

•  I love this series:  73 Questions with Emma Stone

•  Unexpected Items To Look For While Thrifting! The pottery is so good.

•  Starting my compost bin next week!  Here’s what I’ve gathered:  I’m taking some advice from this oldie but goodie post on Design Sponge from Ashley of Small Measure. 

Cooking inspiration this week: Candy Bar Cookie Bars. Already plotting what to do with all of the Halloween candy I buy half off on November 1st. OK!?

It’s such a good day!  Let’s enjoy it, every bit.

xo Joy