Live and Learn...

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I just found out that our business taxes are due March 15th, not April 15th. Never assume anything!  So now I am scrambling to get all our tax files in order to meet with our accountant next week. I know I have made a few mistakes in our first year of business, but at least I am aware of the problems and can take my questions to our accountant and ask him how we go about fixing them now. 

I have apples on my mind, as I just got Pampered Chef's apple corer, peeler, slicer gadget thingy. It's pretty cool and the only way I can get my kids to eat some type of fruit.  I have a good baked apple recipe I need to find and post. Last time I made it we said it definitely needed some vanilla ice cream with it. Apple pie was never my favorite, but for some reason this is sounding good! Anything to take my mind off of those darn taxes. Ugh!

One last point, large braeburn apples were $1.79/lb and I bought 4 apples. My total cost was $4.62 for stinking apples. OUTRAGEOUS!  Those are my favorite type of apples, so I guess they will be worth every penny, but I still can't get over the price of groceries these days. 

Okay a little apple trivia....to put a smile on my face!

What Kind of Apple Eater Are You?

US Apple Association

There are almost as many ways to eat an apple as there are apple varieties. What kind of apple eater are you? Compare your munching method with these apple profiles.

Compulsive Wedger: This apple eater can't eat the apple whole; must have perfect, core-free wedges neatly arranged on a plate. Each wedge must equal one-eighth of an apple.

Splitter: This apple eater hates to deal with the core, but isn't compulsive enough to bother with wedges – just chop the apple in half, remove the core and munch contentedly. Muscle-bound types show off their brute force by twisting the apple in half with their bare hands (though in fact it's really not that difficult).

Circle Stickler: This rebellious sort slices the apple against the grain – across the core, to make round slices. She can often be found with convenient slices of cheese at hand. This person knows that round apple slices are much better than crackers!

Top-to-Bottom Type: This methodical muncher starts at the stem and munches all the way down to the bottom. He doesn't change the apple's position until one vertical top-to-bottom pass had been completed. He then rotates the apple to continue in the next lane until the whole thing is done.

Equator Eater: Probably the most common approach, this muncher takes bites out of the center of the apple all the way around, until the apple looks something like a mushroom on a mirror. The nibbler then attacks the top, and finally the bottom, which is somewhat less convenient as there is no place left to hold apple without getting one's fingers juicy – but she doesn't mind!

The Streak: This eater prefers to eat his apples in the nude – the apple, that is! He does not care about what he's been told about all those vitamins and fiber in the skin, peeling the stuff right off, preferably in one long winding piece. Once the peeling is complete, he either eats the apple whole or sliced. The latter method is usually employed, as the apple's skinless state can lead to copious juice drippings.

Core-Free Cruncher: This muncher comes in two personalities. Type B loves gadgets and small appliances. He eats a lot of apples because he gets to use that nifty "apple corer" gadget. Type A is a seedophobic and doesn't care whether she gets to use a gadget, knife or sharp fingernails - she just has to get those darned seeds out of there before she'll even take one bite! The Type A personality does avoid core disposal issues, however.

Stem Plucker: Before the first bite, this apple muncher grabs the apple's stem and twists, saying one letter of the alphabet with each turn. The letter at which the stem comes off has profound meaning, usually interpreted as the first initial of the name of the future spouse. (Married munchers, take note: Turns can be modified to ensure the stem comes out at the desired letter.) Particularly curious Stem Pluckers continue the ritual by poking the outside of the apple with the stem to determine the number of children they will have, said to be equal to the number of pokes it takes to break the skin of the apple. (Hey, we don't make these things up, we just reprint 'em.) In a recent, incredibly unscientific poll, three out of four people surveyed reported themselves to be Stem Pluckers.

So what kind of apple eater are you?  I'll never tell....

Super Tuesday

Can't Win 'em All...

Well perhaps Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus can, but it was the Giants who produced a show stopper!  The underdog Giants orchestrated one of the most shocking upsets in football history, beating New England, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII on Sunday night.  I hope you stayed to watch the last 2 minutes of the game.  Now that is what I call a good game!

A Change of Scenery!

It's finally here, the big day!  It's a rainy day here in Southern California, so a good day to stay home and watch football.  I'm making homemade enchilada's, guacamole, chips, cheese dip and salsa. Not a day to watch the pounds on the scale.  This actually is one of my favorite days to watch football and I am rooting for the Giants to win, although the Patriots probably deserve to win. But what does that matter, it's fun to root for the underdog and hope for an upset! Go Giants!!

So you have all my fondue recipes now, but I did want to mention that if you don't want to go through all the work of having a fondue party at home, I also know of two good restaurants you should check out. My favorite is located right across from the historical Mission in San Jaun Capistrano, California. It's called La Fondue. If you do the fondue feast, you get a choice of two items from a list of cheeses, seafood and meats. We tried the Wild Boar and the Buffalo. I was a little hesitant to try these two eclectic items, but thought if I don't try it now, when will I ever have another opportunity. Well, I am now a Bison lover! 

Oh my goodness, it was delicious.  Bison tenderloin is so tender and healthy for you. Full of Omega 3 and much less fat than the meat from a cow. And most bison is grass-fed.  But not easy to find in the stores around here.  I did find some bison ground meat at our local grocery store that I am going to give a try. Okay got off on a little tangent there.  

Back to good fondue restaurants. The other one that is found in more states than California is The Melting Pot. It's not as fancy as La Fondue, but just as good. (Sorry no Wild Boar or Buffalo) But now that everyone and his uncle knows about it, I have found that you have to make reservations for this restaurant weeks ahead of time. (When it first came to Southern California, you could just walk in there and sit down and eat!) We didn't have any trouble making reservations for La Fondue a few days before we ate there. La Fondue is a little more expensive, and a little more eclectic, but if you are looking for a little more casual atmosphere then I'd pick The Melting Pot. Looking for a romantic eclectic evening, then pick La Fondue.

There you have it, my take on Fondue!  Now let's play football!!