In honor of Independence Day here in the good old US of A I shall . . .

. . .

Tell you all about how much fun I had with Brillig and Charette this afternoon. We went and ate yummy food. (I had a piece of turtle cheese cake. Oh, My, Yum!) We laughed over quirky family stories and labor and delivery stories. We had solemn moments, feeling pain for each other and others that we knew. We thoroughly enjoyed being childless for the afternoon.

We laughed. We cried.

Actually, we never cried, but it was sad to see Charette go and drop Brillig off.

Sometimes ya just need good girl time. I do, at least. I needed to be with two women who don't really care if I put my foot in my mouth. They would probably laugh right along with me. We interrupt each other and can't wait to share and be shared with. We sat in the corner of the restaurant and laughed and blissfully ignored everyone else. I like to think that when we are together other people don't see annoying ladies who laugh too loud. I like to think that people see three women who are completely comfortable and happy and get envious of our ease. (And yes, if you are wondering, all three of us laugh loud. There are some things that should never be squelched, and a good belly laugh is one of them.)

Girl time. It rocks.

And, since Kim wanted both an account of girl time to be jealous over and my apple crisp recipe, here it is.

Apple Crisp

375 degrees

6-8 apples. I like to use various kinds of apples with at least two Granny Smiths.
½ cup flour
½ cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg.
¼ cup water

2 cups oats
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup butter

Peel and thinly slice apples. Combine flour, white sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Toss in apples to coat. Place in 9 by 13 pan. Sprinkle water over the top.

Melt butter. Combine oats, flour brown sugar cinnamon and almonds. Toss oat mixture and butter together until well mixed. Place over top of apples. Bake for 40-60 minutes, or until apples are tender. I usually cover it with foil for 30 minutes and then bake the rest of the time without.

We eat this for breakfast or dessert. Great with vanilla ice cream.

I could get all cheesy and make some connection like "warm apple crisp and good friends are both food for the soul", but you wouldn't want me to be all cheesy like that, right?

Enjoy the crisp!