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My two year old nephew seemed bored with his usual baby gruel, so I thought I'd whip up a little something. The crab apples shown are peaking here (6800 ft.) and the trees are about 15 years old. The fruit is not too tart, and the meat is the consistency of a Bartlett pear. I picked this cluster and about 30 other apples, and made him some sauce as follows:

• Pick 50 crab apples, de-stem, remove fur from opposite end of stem with a swipe across a cheese grater, rinse.
• Blanche the apples, three minutes, or so. Using a potato masher, make a mash, but don't overdo it as you don't want the core and bitter seeds to get too crushed (you'll get a bit o' seed oil, no worries).
• Spoon about one cup at a time through a medium mesh strainer, making sure to get as much pulp through without too much peel, seed, or core. Repeat, trying isolate the unwanted bits by hand. This is a labor of love, mind you, and time well spent with the kids on a seasonal activity. The resulting mash yielded about four cups.
• It began to oxidize rapidly so I put 1/2 teaspoon lime juice in, and one tablespoon brown sugar.

The mash was distinctly homemade: a bit watery, but very tasty. I would put cinnamon in it for myself, but not the toddler. Also, I've been told not to sweeten baby foods with honey for fear of botulism...but this kid is two. Next year I will use honey. You'll wind up with a one-off, that is, if you freeze this sauce it will be a tasteless, separated mess when thawed.

Fall is here in the high country. "Eat your view".

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You walk into a restaurant and, instead of the expected array of seating, there are only a handful of tables surrounding one large, central table that seats 20. The host smiles and directs you to seats between a couple reading the newspaper and a small group that is having a lively discussion. A few of the other diners seem to be keeping to themselves and a few more are drawing new people into their chatter. Generally, the food is not shared, but the space is.

The first time that you find yourself in a restaurant with a large communal table, your initial reaction might be something like mild shock because we are all so used to being seated at our own tables and not interacting with anyone other than members of our own party and the servers. Some people find it to be uncomfortable, eating a meal while seated with strangers, while others enjoy the experience.

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Generally, to keep foods fresh longer, we wrap them up and place them in the refrigerator. Sometimes, we don't give much thought to how things should actually be stored or whether we're doing it properly. As a result, you are more likely to get food poisoning at home than when eating out at a restaurant where health codes are strictly enforced. Some of the biggest food safety violations have to do with the refrigerator, the catch-all of food storage. Here are a few tips to keep you, and your family, a little safer.

• The refrigerator should be kept at, or below, 40°F. Keep in mind that the temperature can rise when the door is opened frequently and if the fridge is overcrowded and air cannot circulate.
• Store raw meat that you won't be eating right away in the freezer, not the refrigerator. Defrost it in the fridge.
• Milk is good for about 10 days past its "sell-by" date, although if it is left out to warm up, it can go bad before that time. It is better to keep it in the main part of the refrigerator than on the door.
• Fruits and vegetables can be stored at the same temperature they are stored in the store, though cut produce should be refrigerated and eaten within a few days.
• Hard cheeses can be stored, wrapped, for several weeks. If mold develops, the affected area and about 1/2-inch around it should be removed; the rest is safe to eat. Do not eat soft cheeses or dairy products, including cream cheese and yogurt, that have molded.
• Fresh eggs will last at least 3 or 4 weeks in the fridge, but hard-cooked eggs will only last one week. You can always check your eggs for freshness if in doubt. Eggs blend better with other ingredients in recipes for baked goods and get more volume when beaten if they are held at room temperature for 20 or 30 minutes before using.

This pizza was made with a crust recipe that I got out of the most recent issue of Cooks Illustrated. As soon as I read the article saying that they had come up with a way to replicate the light, crisp crust of pizzeria pizza in a home oven, I knew I needed to try it.

Let me just say that I was not disappointed at all. This was definitely the best pizza crust I have ever made - and better than many that I have had in restaurants. It was light, crisp and delicious - not to mention that the outside edge was full of delightfully airy holes. I may never use another crust recipe.

With people being ever more likely to check the nutritional information on a product before they eat it, these ads mentioned at AdJab, are meant to point out that not everyone has access to the nutritional information of what they're eating. In this case, the ads refer to the homeless. The idea behind the sticker is that it contains the nutritional information for one "can" of food, with a message at the bottom to "help the homeless." The url that it gives does not actually exist, but it's an interesting way to present the message.

I would say something snarky about how that nutrition label would have to be revamped if it appeared on a bin outside of, say, a fast food joint, but feeding the hungry and/or homeless is nothing to joke about.

[Image AdArena]

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