Comfort Me with Apples

Necessity is, as my friend Michelle has pointed out, more often the mother of improvisation than invention. When you accidentally poach apples longer than you should have and do not have the time to make more, you figure out how to make a birthday-worthy dessert out of applesauce.
Baker Leslie Mackie (via the book Baking with [...]

Swiss Pumpkin for Ruth and for Me

Ruth Reichl is a very dear friend of mine, although she is not aware of it. Her autobiographical books Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires have kept me on the edge of my seat in the way Harry Potter  has done with children.The books inspire, comfort, stimulate, and engross. [...]