Baked Apples and Ice Cream

Good Tuesday morning!

As I mentioned yesterday, this week will be a "picture blog," with just a little narrative about the goings-on of The Faulkner Five. Also, I have a correction from last week's blog. The TV Review has not ended. Jon & Kate's show started up again last night. I'm not sure if Roxie and I will continue watching the show. It will depend on what the show becomes. We have enjoyed watching the kids grow up, playing, etc., but I'm not sure it's going to be "that" show any longer. We'll have to see. That being said, there will be a TV Review for the last episode of LOST (A MONTH LATE!!) and Jon & Kate on Friday.

I've added another Showcase Pic today. It shows Mike and Roxie with wenches, Myrtle and Pearl, from the Nashville Renaissance Festival. We went to their show first, and it was a good way to start the Festival.

As you can see from the new pics in the Gallery, a Renaissance Festival is full of characters, shows, jousting, etc. My guys enjoyed knife throwing, axe throwing and archery. Austin even got a certificate in archery. But one of their favorite things (and this was a recurring theme during the weekend) was trying on the many "hats" available for purchase. The pictures I've shown are just a sampling. (They were like teenage girls in Claire's... you just couldn't pull them away.) We enjoyed the jousting games, and we picked up a new word... "Huzzah!" (Obviously, they said that a lot in medieval times. Way TOO much!)

The weather was good for our day in the forest. And even though it was incredibly crowded, the cloud coverage and the tree-lined paths made everything shady and not too hot. The people I really felt sorry for were the festival folk in full medieval garb (metal hats included). Oh, and the ogres. Ogres wear an enormous amount of clothing and wigs and green make-up and giant fake ogre feet. I don't see how they stand being involved in the Renaissance Festival in the summer months.

If you don't know about Renaissance Festivals, they are like a traveling carnival in a way. Atlanta has one each May, as does Nashville. (They last the entire month and are open on the weekends.) The individual acts (comedy, juggling, magic, knife throwing, medieval singing, etc.) always remind you this is the way they make their living and they stand in the back of the audience in case you want to leave tips. (Don't worry. This is not the "You're not leaving unless you leave me a tip" kind of request. Very low key.)

There are "characters" everywhere. Kings, queens, ogres, fairies, knights, ladies in waiting, trolls, etc. Anything you might have read about in medieval books is walking around the Festival. Except dragons. I've been to two, and I've never spotted a dragon. It's different and interesting and fun.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, they have a lot of "medieval" food, too. You see moms walking around gnawing on giant turkey legs and roasted ears of corn. I'm not sure about the hot dogs and candied apples and frozen bananas dipped in chocolate. Maybe the medieval folk ate better than we thought. Maybe it wasn't just mutton and ale all the time as portrayed in movies and books.

Baked Apples and Ice Cream

Josh and Roxie asked for this last night for dessert. Since we were having ham quiche and cantaloupe (very simple supper), I agreed to make an equally simple dessert. I got this recipe off a website called www.simplyrecipes.com.

You will need the following:

4 baking apples (Rome or Golden Delicious)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup chopped raisins
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash apples. Remove cores to 1/2 inch of the bottom of the apples. It helps if you have an apple corer, but if not, you can use a paring knife to cut out first the stem area, and then the core. Use a spoon to dig out the seeds. Make the holes about 3/4" to an inch wide.

2. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and pecans. Place apples in a 8" x 8" square baking pan. Stuff each apple with this mixture. Top with a dot of butter (1/4 of the tablespoon).

3. Add boiling water to the baking pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Have a fun Tuesday. Josh is the only one who has to go to school today. He has two more tests (one today and one tomorrow) before he is completely finished. Poor baby. But we can actually SEE summer right around the corner. It's there. We just have to make it across the finish line.

I'll have the last Spring Seasonal Tradition tomorrow, plus pictures from Miss Marples Comedy/Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. Stop by if you get a chance.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.