Pastel de tres leches

Appling with Sammy


The leaves blazed in the late afternoon sunlight, and I blazed home from work hoping to catch what was left of a beautiful autumn Friday before the weekend forecast of cloud and rain materializes. Sammy and I had made plans to go apple-picking, and this was the perfect evening for it.

A couple of weeks ago we found a little apple tree on the bank of the Riviera with very tasty, virtually worm-free apples. The apple skins were slightly salty from being so close to the ocean (the Riviera not really being a river, but an inlet of the Atlantic), and at that time they still needed more ripening.

Today their time was up! The wind and rain coming tomorrow would just knock them off the tree if we didn't get down there and pick'em pronto. I did wonder (and felt fleetingly guilty) if anyone actually owns this tree and had designs on those apples/was dreaming of baking an apple pie this weekend; I don't think so, as it is clearly at the high-water mark (as evidenced by the mounds of seaweed at its base) + the fact that those apples have been hanging around there for weeks up to no good. 

Sammy crunching on some windfall apples
Now these little gems are destined for far more exciting things than trees or apple pies; as soon as I borrow Mummy's candy thermometer, they are going to be slathered in red wine and sugary syrup and transformed into ...

Red Wine Caramel Apples

It was such a beautiful evening, after the arduous task of apple sniffing licking picking, Sammy decided to take a Turkey Dip of her own. She approached the October Ocean much as I did a couple of weeks ago - no problem until knee-level, and then tentatively, reluctant to commit to the full immersion:

(I win ... although my dip was 2 weeks ago. ok, we're even.)
salty kisses from Sammy
It is Friday after all ... and my standard Friday-night-when-Daniel-is-at-work frozen thin-crust pizza and bottle of wine dinner was awaiting (boiled mackerel for Sammy/yum) after our appling adventure - except that when I stopped at Sobey's after work, I accidentally picked up a "bakery crust" Dr. Oetker Vegetables & Goat Cheese pizza. Whatever. I decided to grill that thaaang following a method I found online at Home Run Inn Pizza. 



It sounded easy enough: 6 minutes on medium-high heat; rotate 90 degrees and grill for 6 more minutes.

aerial view looks fine ...
... bottom is a bit "crisp"
ok, well, I'll have to practice that one again next week; I think I should have chosen the indirect heat option in the cooking instructions. Still, it was wonderful and summery tasting, and I sat on the step with my dinner and watched the hens come home to roost as the sun went down.

a study in hen dynamics: pour yourself a glass of wine and get comfy

Comments