Ratatouille

In the tradition of fine cooking "provencal" I pulled out my ratatouille recipe which if I were honest I did NOT follow, rather like a lot of American women who now channel Julia Child since the box-office success of Julie and Julia hit the movies last summer-Well, I hate to think I would offend too much but I didn't measure, weigh, or otherwise apportion any of the ingredients. The most I did really was to choose fresh and beautiful looking food.

An inspiration to push further the limits of luck and taste hit me when I realized I had a huge bag of fresh Fuji apples on the counter from yesterday's fruit-stand frenzy.

I cannot restrain myself whenever I go to Pedrick's Produce, a grown-up fruit stand in our neighboring town of Dixon that attracts foodies from Davis with their old-fashioned butcher paper and poster paint signs out along the highway for all the seasonal produce. I'd stopped for 49-cent yams and ended up with four bags of fruits and veggies for under $20...Not until I got home did I begin to consider where I would store them, how I would prepare them, or who would actually eat them besides myself.

It slowly dawned on me that maybe I was compensating for having the almost smallest Thanksgiving feast (just Dan, Sean, and I)exercising some wishful thinking. Oh, well. Life gives you apples, you make applesauce. Or baked apples, perhaps.

So I didn't measure, weigh, or otherwise apportion the following, perhaps out of rebelliousness toward my absent family, but more likely out of sheer cussedness that's evolved because my mother has always claimed I'm a terrible cook. Try the recipe and see if you agree.

3 large firm apples sliced lengthwise, cored with a melon baller
1/2 C maple-flavored granola cereal
a scant handful seedless raisins
1 T baking mix such as Bisquick
1 tsp, cinnammon
Maple syrup to taste
honey/lemon elixir (equal parts honey and juice of lemon, mixed together. I keep
this on hand during flu season to ease coughs and sore throats)
Butter

Preheat oven to 400. In an oblong baking pan. place apple halves on their backs, cored side up and evenly divide the supply of filling among all 4 apple halves.

That's all I can do for tonight! I look forwrd to working with you .Good NightSee you soon@