I really enjoy fall. I also enjoy having our own small version of an orchard. Picking your own fruit is great– to know that what you grew and tended to is now rewarding all of your hard work. It's an annual tradition that I look forward to renewing each year. Pictures to the left: sequence of making an apple pie. The apples are granny smith apples, but you wouldn't know it from looking at them. This year the fruit actually turned slightly red. Maybe I left it on the tree too long.
In any case, the fruit is wonderfully crisp and tart– perfect for a pie. Below is the recipe I found some time ago for apple pie that I adjusted after making it a few times.
Apple Pie
7 c. of apples, peeled, cored, sliced (about 9 large or 14 small)
3/4 c. sugar
2 tb flour
1 1/2 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts nutmeg
1 tb lemon juice
2 tb butter
2 pastry crusts, unbaked (rolled refrigerated are perfect)
Sprinkle lemon juice over cut apples to prevent oxidation and to increase tartness. Combine sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and toss with apples. Line 9 inch pie plate with pastry. Fill with apples, leveling and dot with butter. Add top crust and pinch edges shut. Cut slits in top crust for steam to escape. Bake 400 F for 50 minutes, adding aluminum foil to perimeter after 25-30 minutes to prevent over browning of crust.
I've always wanted to try adding sharp cheddar cheese to the top crust allowing it to crisp adding a saltiness to complement the sweet and tart apples.
Original recipe from RecipeSource.com.
The pie turned out wonderfully, serving it warm with it's best friend– vanilla ice cream.
As many of you know, I make handmade soap for Christmas gifts. I used to sell it under the name Sudz Soap for a short while before I decided to give it away as gifts. I only make one type now– lavender. It sold the best and I've perfected the method after so any tries. Want to buy some soap as gifts? Let me know.
We've had FIOS internet service from Verizon now for about 3 months. I have to say that it's turned out to be a really reliable service. I haven't once had to power cycle anything on my network because of an unresponsive connection as I've had to do in the past with IDSL and cable. The speed is very nice as well (image to left from Speakeasy.net which is representative of our 15M down, 2M up service), faster than Comcast but at the same price as their lower tier service. The only draw back is that most people don't have access to this service yet, but that will change eventually. New cabling has to be trenched into your neighborhood which is a chore in some places. It also makes for angry neighbors when the grass dies.
I recently had some stickers cut for my car. They're 5.25″ floppy discs. You can download the .PDF 
Saturday Oct 7, 2006 was the 
Here are the steps that I follow when I want a glass of iced tea quickly.
I won't go into the debate about why printing your own lens hood from paper is a good idea or bad idea. I'll be printing a few for fun and leave the rest up to the link to speak for itself.
Oh Canon, you make the best imaging products in the world. I cut my teeth on your Rebel SLR 35mm camera line and continued with the oh-so-familiar EOS DSLR line.