Monday, October 7, 2013

Weekend of water, duck, and apples--apple crisp that is

Saturday we headed to a race for The Mike.  I had a long race to do and planned to run while he was racing. I am not very good about doing well on a  run when it's not my regular run time. The race started at 11, so I headed out shortly thereafter for my race. I normally run at 5 or 6am, so the late delay threw me off. I headed out to do two turns around the lake and ended up getting in just  one lap there, and then I took to the road for a couple more miles. I didn't get the mileage in.  

Near the end of my first lap around the lake, I landed on a tree root with scar tissue and wobbled, falling and twisting the ankle.  My running on the smooth asphalt wasn't so good, my ankle was hurting--but not swelling--so I just rested it. 
Nice southern view of the lake
The knobby tree root that I landed on, causing me to biff it in the trail. Thankfully the trees were the only things that saw me fly.


Beautiful wooded trail
Later, we  headed out to a restaurant in the cap city called Djangos, recommended by my boss. Our anniversary is this week and so we splurged on a evening.  Enjoyable atmosphere at the restaurant. We dined at the bar, as the wait for a table was over an hour and a half.   




I had the Moulard Duck Confit, which we've seen created on the cooking shows quite often in the past weeks. It was served with oven roasted potato wedges, and braised red cabbage with carrots.  I have never had this before and while it was quite good, I'd probably not order it again due to the heaviness of the meal--duck is quite fatty. 




 The Mike had Chicken Prosciutto and said it was quite tasty, filling, and satisfying--especially after his four hours of cycling

After dinner we headed to the Fleur Drive Cinema & Cafe.  A fabulous surprise for a movie theater! Small, old school, complete with a coffee shop to order from and retro lounge chairs.  It was a first for us watching a 3D movie, as well as having hot chocolate and Chai Latte while watching the movie!  (We saw Gravity; amazing movie, great details, and great cinematography!)  

Staying up until midnight when  one gets up at 6am is hard work!  We had a relaxing day and then headed home--to laundry and chores!  

After dicing up the ingredients for the Potato Soup Sunday evening I decided to make apple crisp.  The last several years (since we moved into the house), the apple tree has not produced much, and the apples were *tiny*.  We thought this year we'd cut down the tree. . . and then there was a BOOM crop on the tree!  Turns out, this year is THE year for apples:  wet spring followed by a dry summer.  The top branches of the tree are bent over and that is where the larger apples are located.  I gathered six, peeled, cut and spiced for baking: 


Cut apples with cinnamon, nutmeg, and some regular sugar.
I added in zest from one lemon, juice from half that lemon , and
1 T of orange juice. To help thicken the juices, I added some
crushed tapioca pearls. 

Topped with a mixture of 2 Tablespoons melted butter
with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup quinoa flakes,
cinnamon and brown sugar mixed together 

Baked at 350ºF for a n hour 

Side view of the 8x8 pan with the sugars all warm and bubbling

Finished apple crisp