I like to eat, eat, eat...

There's no easy way to orient you (or myself!) to my current surroundings, so I'll just tell you.

I'm in the middle of nowhere.

Literally. That's how my aunt Charm (she was at the Hawaiian luau, too!) put it when I asked her in which city she actually lived. She said (and I quote): "I'm 3o miles away from the nearest city in any direction."

Because of her rather removed residence, she does not have access to wireless internet. She has dial up, but as many of you may remember from the good ol' days of before wireless,



dial......




up......




is......




very......




slow......



That's why there haven't been any up-to-date blog entries in a number of days. But right now I am in Salem, OR (nearly an hour's drive), sitting in The Beanery taking grateful advantage of free wi-fi and a tasty mocha latte.

So, when you're in the middle of nowhere, what do you do?

Well, in my case...you eat! I happen to be staying with two lovely people, one of whom prides himself (and rightly so!) on being an exceptional cook (we cal him the Executive Chef).

Since my arrival on Tuesday (9/8), I've been treated to hearty, delicious dinners fit for hard-working farmers (or at least for hungry travelers who haven't had a home-cooked dinner in weeks!). I've also:

Learned how to make homemade applesauce with Jerry (Charm's wonderful man-friend and the famed Executive Chef):

You start with apples, freshly picked (or picked up off the ground) from your own apple trees

You peel and slice them,

splitting the discarded peels between the hungry girl standing beside you in the kitchen

and the hungry horses grazing out in the pasture (or letting the happy girl do it after she's appeased her own apple-loving appetite!) - this is actually the next day, but I felt like mixing it up a little!

Then you add appropriate amounts of sugar, cinnamon, and salt before allowing the apples to cook on the stove for approximately 2o minutes.

Of course, you need to stir them at least once.

Once the applesauce is done cooking, it's taste-testing time!!

Then you put the rest of the tasty treat in the fridge for later!
Perhaps that same hungry girl will be able to talk Jerry and Charm into having a cook-out dinner picnic by the creek one night...

Of course we did plenty of other fun things besides eat...
but that's for a later post!