I made an apple pie from scratch for my foodie friend Sue. Earlier this year, I asked her for an apple pie recipe, and she pointed me to her favorite recipe at Smitten kitchen’s apple pie recipe. So, it was time to let her taste it. MM and I made the crust from scratch. She pulsed, and mixed, and blended, and chilled it a couple days ahead. It was our first time using vegetable shortening. The crust came out flaky and yummy. Definitely worth the trouble. We used Macintosh and Granny Smith apples. Apple filling was seasoned with nutmeg, sugar, allspice, cinnamon. We went for the lattice top and a nice egg wash to get the shine and color on the crust. It was fun and yummy.

I love cooking blogs. I hope to take better pictures and get better at posting cooking stuff.

Sue and Danny were in town for Christmas. When they came over, it turned into special little party with them and Rob and Daphne. The potluck turned out to be quite delicious. My wife cooked mushroom salmon, butternut squash garlic soup, and kale in Israeli couscous. Sue brought collette macarons. Daphne brought a rib roast! We finished a few bottles of wine too. Boys played Wii. Girls read books and played around too. Good times, good food and good friends!