Me and Apples

1) Stewed Apples
My mum always made oodles of stewed apples which she pulled out during the winter to make stodgey desserts. I have this theory that anything that was too accessible as a child became something I didn't particularly like until adulthood (hence I didn't particularly like vegetable soup or pepper-steak either, but did like macaroni cheese and fish-cakes 'cause we hardly ever had them). We had every apple desert imaginable - crumbles, sponges, dumplings, pie. I grew ambivalent to it. These days I would appreciate it so much more!

2) Apple Picking
I grew up in Levin, the town that has a market-gardener as its icon. We would go to Lion's orchard and pick bagfuls of apples in the weekend during the summer. It was one of our Sunday-drive-family-outings (others were taking the dog to the beach or river or going to the vege shop). That was jolly good fun!

3) The Apple Diet
Cassie's personal trainer told her to go on a two-day diet of eating nothing but apples and water to detox herself before starting a new healthy eating regime. That sounded like fun to me! I tried it.... but gave up at the 32 hour mark. I tried it again a few days later and made it. It's more fun if you have a variety of apples and serve them in different ways (peeled, in quarters, grated). Ange and I tried to do it later in the year but only lasted about eight hours after obsessing about food all day.... and we ordered a pizza instead.

4) Lunch Apples
I try to have two pieces of fruit a day. My latest combo is an apple and a mandarin. For some reason I find apples cumbersome to eat at work and at one stage had a pile of four of them on my desk (having dutifully brought a new one every day and failed to eat it). That teacher cliche is true... only I have to provide my own apples for my desk!