We currently have more apples in our house than I know what to do with.

Wait…that’s not true…I know exactly what to do with them. Make apple crumble!

Here’s a sneak peak…

And here’s how you make it:

Start by peeling and coring 4 medium apples of your choice. I usually use all Honeycrisp because those are my favorites, but this time I just used up a few different varieties that we had in the fridge.

Chop them into smaller pieces and place in a baking dish.  Sprinkle on a little sugar so that the apple juices and sugar will make a syrup when heated.  I also added a few sprinkles each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger. Mix it up with a spoon to distribute evenly.

Now for the topping. Into a mixing bowl, add the following:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 stick melted butter
• 2 tbsp. flax meal
• sprinkle of salt
• 1/2 tsp. each of cinnamon and nutmeg

I use this gluten-free flour by Bob’s Red Mill that I bought just to try.  It works very well and has a pleasant nutty flavor.

And for the first time ever I used Earth Balance to substitute butter. I’m cutting out more and more dairy from my diet every day.

I get my hands in there and work the butter through, breaking up any lumps. It should look sandy and just barely hold together when pressed.

Pour the topping over the apples and press lightly all over. Bake that sucker for 50 minutes at 350 degrees til brown and beautiful.

Absolutely amazing served hot out of the oven with a melting glob of cold vanilla ice cream on the side.

Or naked…

I’m gonna go get some right now!

I got almost zero sleep last night due to several events, some more fortunate than others.

The first reason could be attributed to this…

That is a flight of delicious whiskey samplings.  Oh yes.

Jeff and I walked into Decatur to grab some sushi after work.  We ordered way to much (I didn’t remember to get a picture) and wanted just one drink before heading back home.

We stopped in at Mac McGee, an Irish pub on Decatur Square and ordered a beer each. At that point a man in a kilt started speaking over everyone in the bar.  Apparently, they were having a whiskey tasting and lesson from a master whiskey expert that night, and we had stumbled in at the exact moment it began.

The bartender asked if we’d like to join in and whaddaya know, we caved.  We shared one since we already had beers on the counter, and because both of us would get trashed if we had 6 shots each, with beer.

First we tried a Dalwhinnie, sweet and honeyed but still with a pretty agressive burn in the throat.

Next came Clynelish and then Cardhu, both sweet and pleasant as well. Then my favorite of the night Oban, which is much smoother, less burning.

And here I’m tasting tasting some of the peaty, smokey, island-origin varieties: Caol Ila and Lagavulin.

Lagavulin was a little too smokey for both of us.

We also got to smell some of the ingredients used in crafting these fine whiskeys and some of the high-alcohol wort before it gets distilled further.

And we learned how to properly “nose” the whiskey, place the glass under your nose and breathe in through your mouth.

We were pretty giddy by the time we left and still had about a mile or so to walk home.

We fell pretty promptly into bed after that and were out instantly.  Then, hell opened up. Hell in the form of a tiny, brown, fuzzy, devil named Liam.

Liam has always barked at our bedroom door from time to time when he gets bored or lonely or energetic at night.  I say “barked” because that is more descriptive of the loud and insistent sound that comes bellowing out of him than “meow” can express.  This cat only has one working lung (I’ll delve into that story another time) and yet he can scream at a shrill and maddening pitch for hours without stopping.  Which is exactly what he preceded to do, starting around 1am this morning.

For your reference, this picture pretty much sums up how he views himself…

Don’t call me cruel, but I keep a squirt bottle of water on my bedside table just for these occasions when Liam absolutely loses it and decides to practice his operatic masterpieces in the middle of the night.  I never actually get to squirt him anymore though.  He’s learned to run away and hide as soon as he hears me get up, and usually just the gesture of me intending to squirt him will shut him up til morning.  Not last night.

Liam bawled and complained for hours on end and I got up at least 4 times, Jeff several as well.  It was around 4am when Jeff noticed that he hadn’t seen Lucas anywhere the last time he got up.

We found Lucas asleep in our second bedroom with the door closed, he must have shut it himself so he could have a night alone. That was what Liam was complaining about.  As soon as I shooed Lucas out of the bedroom Liam started purring and rubbing against my leg. Either he couldn’t sleep without Lucas next to him or, more likely, he just wanted to tattle on Lucas for being alone in the bedroom. They are seriously just like little kids, one can’t stand it when the other is getting to do something that they’re not getting to do.

They really are inseparable, though.

You’d think that with that little brat assuaged, I could get some sleep, right? Nope.  A whole symphony came to life outside our bedroom window.  A train blared not so far away to announce it’s arrival, then spent a good 20 minutes screeching to halt with a sound akin to nails on a chalkboard.  Sirens waled as they sped towards whatever danger needed intercepting.  Early morning commuters started their hustle and bustle out of the city. And then… there was an intense and furious poetry slam between an owl and a rooster…a rooster named Lakesha.

Some neighbors of ours a few houses down have a rooster in their backyard.  I don’t know if they have any chickens, but I know they have a rooster.

Jeff and I have heard this little fellows’ crow change as he’s grown in to an adult rooster. He used to just scream one loud note, “AHHHHHHHHH!” out into the morning, but over time he’s added other notes and come up with quite an individual little call for himself. He doesn’t, however, seem to have a working internal clock. Homeboy will fire up that voice box at any hour he feels compelled, and last night he was compelled by an owl, hooting away in the tree tops. They went back and forth for over an hour.

Now what you’re really wondering is, “Why is the rooster named Lakesha???” Here is the approximate conversation between Jeff and I that resulted in his rather feminine moniker.

Setting: In our bedroom in the middle of the afternoon one weekend. I was folding clothes, Jeff was on the bed checking emails from his phone, rooster was outside and would not shut up.

Me: “That rooster sure is loquacious.”

Jeff (not paying attention): “Lakesha?”

Me: “What?”

Jeff: “Did you just say the rooster is Lakesha?”

Me: “No!  I said the rooster is loquacious.  Besides, roosters are boys, he can’t be named Lakesha.”

Jeff: “Whatever, hon. I think you just named that rooster Lakesha”

Me: “Fine, Lakesha it is.”

And that is the story of a rooster named Lakesha.

I felt like crap today from all of these things.  I think I’m swearing off alcohol for a while, at least until this weekend for the Decatur Beer Festival. Yay!

I tend to classify the processes in the aim of “making food” as either cooking, baking, or assembly.  Upon waking, I am usually stuck in a half-dream state and able to comprehend little more than the aching grumble of my lonely stomach, so I normally forgo the former two more laborious processes and opt for assembly.

“Real” oatmeal, cooked slowly over the stove, is a wonderful thing and a totally different animal from the instant variety.  However, in an effort to do less for a similar result, I have become very skilled at elevating a packet of plain ole’ instant oatmeal into something much more praise-worthy.

Here’s what I did this morning:

It always starts the same way, I tear up a banana and cut it up further with a spoon, but I don’t mash it.  The banana serves as the sweetener in the oatmeal; I really won’t need to add any more sugars once this little baby heats up in the microwave.

Today I added a generous plop of pumpkin puree because I have a ton of it that I need to use up.

I buy this plain store brand oatmeal and I’m pretty pleased with it.

I just pour the oats right over everything else and add a spoonful of flax meal.

Next I pour over almond milk and water and stir it all up.  I’ve found that if I add all almond milk and no water, it’s a little too rich for me to finish all of it.  It should look a little soupy, it’s gonna thicken a lot.

You have to microwave it about 30 seconds longer than the package suggests because there’s a lot more stuff to heat and some of it is coming from a refrigerated state.  I added chis seeds at this point and stirred them in.

That is pretty much it.  I topped it with apple butter and toasted buckwheat because that’s the kick I’m on right now, but you can eat it plain or top it with anything you want.

It really is amazingly good. You would not guess that this was microwaved oatmeal. I often eat it with just the chopped banana and oats; it’s easy to put together at the office that way too. Another quick trick is to just use a spoonful of jam and microwave that with the oats, makes for a really sticky sweet oatmeal.

I’m not ashamed of my instant oatmeal, I’m really lucky to even be able to put that together after just waking up.

With a cup of tea, it’s a fabulous breakfast.