The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

So, six (errr...seven) hours into my apple-butter making experiment, I have a crock pot about two thirds full of hot apple mush. Which is pretty much exactly what I want at this stage. It started out full, then after it had reduced down about a quarter I added in my remaining apples (about seven out of oh-dear-god-I-don't-want-to-think-about-it). Three big bags, plus all the apples I found stashed in various spots in the two refrigerators. I suspect some might be honeycrisp...from the bushel last year. That got pushed under or behind something and lost. Most of them were soft, but still edible, and certainly cookable. In about another six hours I'm going to add in the spices (as soon as I decide what level of spice I need or want - I have the most giant ginger root known to man right now that may be used in whole or part. Not sure how much sugar I'm going to add, if any - probably a bit, but also not as much as most of these recipes are calling for. And I think I have a giant jar of applesauce that the boy hasn't been eating, since Mushy Food Is For Babies. Maybe I'll add that, too.

This time tomorrow, I should have finished boiling the hell out of some glass jars of yum. Either that, or exploding things in an orgy of fear and pain. Needless to say, this is all going down after the boy goes to bed.

...You know, after pondering it, I have realized that I'm not really a recipe person, so I'll do what I usually do when cooking - go on a mad scientist spree of spice adding until I'm sated. And then check it a few hours later to see where I need to make some adjustments. In my futile search for allspice, I found pumpkin pie spice. And cinnamon, and cloves, and nutmeg, and sea salt, and brown sugar. Plus the ginger. MUAHAHAHAHA!!

Apple butter = fail. While I was getting my pathetic four hours of sleep, it burned. (Erik: It's not burned, it just tastes slightly smoked. Uh, yea - same thing.) To top it off, the lid wand and jar lifter are....nowhere to be found, and certainly not where I was told they'd be, so I couldn't even salvage some of it. Not that I'm bitter or anything, because when I went to bed (finally!), it was super yummy.

I'm going to go take my sleepless self and sulk now.