If you could go on a road trip with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go?

It would be K, no doubt about it. Anywhere should be fun, but I would like to go to Lake Tahoe :)

Ask me anything

If you won a $1,000 shopping spree for any store, which store would you pick?

Nowadays, a thousand dollars isn't really that much. But given the choice, I'd pick Pier 1 :)

Ask me anything

If you had access to a time machine, where and when would be the first place you travel to?

I would like to be teleported 10 years from now. I think the place is immaterial...it all depends on what I will become...successful or not.

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What music are you listening to today?

Vitamin String Quartet's Don't Stop Believin'....and some country music (don't ask me why).

Ask me anything

What/Who makes you smile these days?

Friends like you, Doc :) For the record, you always make me smile. And sometimes, students who come back just to say that they wish their teacher was good like me :) Isn't that sweet?

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Apple Crisp a la Shelby

Shelby is my department chair and on Tuesday, she posted on her FB profile that she just made an apple crisp out of her mom's original recipe.  I teased her about bringing some to school for me, and although it was just a joke, lo and behold...she got me a little plastic container with a tiny piece of heaven in it :) I  told her how much I love apple pies and anything baked with apples.  During my first trimester with Jacinth, I craved anything that is baked apple (from Sugarhouse to McDonald's), and that's all the sweet stuff I could literally handle as I hated anything sweet (it left a bitter aftertaste at that time). You know how pregnant women can get weird. But I digress.

So after savoring my scrumptious desert, I asked her for the ingredients and how to bake it.  I had the chance to use Lissette's beautiful kitchen and so I was inspired to make some glorious treat for me, and for some people I love :)

Here are the ingredients:

6-7 pieces of apple, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
(You may want to soak the apples in water to prevent it from getting brown)
1 cup of flour
1 1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 tsp of salt
1 raw egg, unbeaten
1/3 cup of melted and cooled butter for drizzling
1 tbsp of melted butter for buttering the pan
cinnamon powder
2 8"x8" pans

1) Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. 

2) Butter the pan and lay all the apple pieces on it.  Drizzle the apples with 1/3 cup of the cooled, melted butter.

3)  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and the egg.  Use a fork to mix it until it gets crumbly. 

4.  Pour the batter on top of the apples and sprinkle with cinnamon.

5.  Bake for 40-45 mins., or until you see the top turning crisp and bubbly. 

I have learned when I was younger to soak apples (or potatoes) in water so they won't turn brown.  And so I did.  However, I think due to excitement, I didn't drain it too well that this yummy apple crisp turned out to be a tad watery.  So for those of you who will be trying this out, make sure that you drain the apples very well.  Use paper towels, if you must.

As it turned out, it still tasted great! My friends loved it :)