Frosting.

I had a baking emergency this weekend.

Julia had a dinner party at her house on Saturday. I was asked to bring something, and mid-way through the day, Julia decided dessert would indeed be best. I didn't have any ideas, but had already been to Reading Terminal Market that afternoon and was between yarn stores, planning to head to the grocery store later. I figured inspiration would strike.

It didn't. But I remembered I had 6 apples I got earlier in the week from Reading Terminal and Everyday Food in the front pocket of my backpack. So I made John's Three-Layer Apple Cake. I won't reprint the recipe for you here because the only substitutions I made were a sprinkle of nutmeg for the ginger, and about two tablespoons dark brown and white sugar for the light brown sugar in the icing.

The icing is what nearly killed me. Never mind there's three sticks of butter in there--I don't have a handmixer. So I had to make buttercream icing by hand. That's a total of about 20 solid minutes with a whisk on "medium speed". My forearm is going to be huge. I also didn't have the light brown sugar to actually make it (neither did Food-Way, 7-11, or Rite Aid). I contemplated a caramel sauce or a peanut butter icing, but since we didn't have milk either, I would just go for it.

The cake was delicious, though. That's all I really cared about.

Today Nina and I went to the best Italian grocer in Center City. DiBruno Brothers was a culinary experience unlike anything else. We pretty much ate our way though the store. I walked out with some roasted turkey and Vermont cheddar for sandwiches (which I already got into--a-mah-zing). We got samples of parmesiano reggiano wrapped in prosciutto (made JUST for us by a very attractive butcher), I ate a lot of cheese thanks to a woman standing next to me who kept asking to try things, and Nina shared her house Latte with me, which had marscapone cheese and figs in it. (Alex, when you come visit, we'll be spending time here.) I spent half as much as I spent on groceries for the week, pretty much.

This week has a bunch of exciting things in store, food-wise anyway. We'll be eating sweet potatoes with adobo sauce, some peanut-citus soba noodles, and black bean stew. Keep a look out.

SEE IF THEY WET THEIR PANTS

The words Guru, Swami, Super Swami, Master, Teacher, Murshid, Yogi, Priest,

most of those sporting such a title are
just peacocks.

The litmus test is:
hold tem upside down over a cliff for a few hours.
if they don't wet their
pants

maybe you found a real
one.

Kabir (1440-1518)