So there’s this hurricane coming to town today. Sandy. We should be losing power any minute, we’ve got bottled water and food supplies coming out our ears, school is closed today and tomorrow. Halloween has basically been canceled for Wednesday. And we have lots of buckets in case we need to take over for the sump pump. Apparently we didn’t learn fast enough from Irene to get ourselves a generator, but we’re actually hoping to install a real permanent one in the not-terribly-distant future. But that’s quite a job, so in the meantime we’ll just have to survive.

I’m doing that by catching up on some blog posts while we still have power, and I’ve got more things to post about the apples we picked this year. In addition to the amazing tarte tatin I also made some homemade apple butter in my slow cooker. And it is like Jackie crack–it tastes like pure fall, like a spreadable version of the tarte tatin, actually.

I spent hours researching recipes, and I came up with a plan that worked for me based mostly on this recipe, this one, and this one. This basically cooked for 2 days in the slow cooker, it made the house smell amazing. I used 12 Rome and Stayman apples (the only 2 kinds available the day we went picking) and got two 12 ounce jars of butter. I mean, I cooked this down into pure essence of apple. And it’s so stinking easy.

Ingredients for Jackie’s Apple Butter (adapted from several recipes)
12 apples (I used 5 Rome and 7 Stayman)
1 3/4 cups sugar (I read through a ton of recipes, and they all use a LOT of sugar. I didn’t need more than this, and I was prepared to add as I went)
1 cup fresh apple cider
1 1/2 cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

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I’ve decided this was delicious, but a heck of a lot of work for a sandwich. Not sure I’d make this one again, just because the time to deliciousness ratio is a little off. If I could make it faster, I would definitely do it. They really were pretty yummy.

I used a much smaller piece of meat since there were just 2 of us. But I made the whole amount of Onion Spread, not knowing any better, and it was enough spread to feed a 3rd world country. I marinated the beef the night before then made the onion spread before roasting the beef the day of.

French Dip Sandwiches (from the April 2010 issue of Food Network Magazine)

FOR THE ONION SPREAD:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
6 medium shallots, thinly sliced
2 bunches scallions, chopped (white and greens parts separated)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

FOR THE SANDWICHES:
6 cloves garlic
Kosher salt
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper
1 3-to-4-pound beef eye round roast
4 cups low-sodium beef broth
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 small onion, roughly chopped
3 sprigs parsley
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons dry sherry
6 6-inch Italian rolls, split and lightly toasted

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My brother and his girlfriend (and my very good friend) gave me a Cricut for Christmas. I finally got a chance to take it out of the box and play with it this weekend, and I’m in love. (more…)

One of the most satisfying projects I did around the house this summer was cleaning out our laundry room closet. This closet was a serious disaster. See?

I guess I have this sort of one-closet-a-year thing, last year I overhauled the pantry (and it’s still in pretty good shape). But this one was turning into a total menace. When you opened the door things would fall on you. Adam did this huge wiring project in July, and he had to get into this closet a lot. Swearing and the stubbing of body parts ensued.

So we hit up Target for some colorful storage. Nothing makes me more motivated to organize than supplies. And this is the new end result.

I know this isn’t very exciting to many people, but organized closets seriously make life better. I firmly believe this. And those turquoise and green buckets and containers were all super affordable. I don’t think any of them were more than $5 each. Happiness.

Other posts on this bee: May Bricks, June Trees and Houses, July Flying Geese.

For August, Krista asked for log cabin pieced blocks inspired by an Ingrid Press Festival quilt. Two blocks, 12.5″ square. So this is what I made:

The photos aren’t great. I tried to use some morning natural light, but the fabrics are so muted there’s no contrast and it looks weirdly blue.