Today I got out the apple peeler/corer/slicer thingy and made some apple upside-down cakes. Two 8" cakes this time instead of one big one. One I took over to Liz's today to eat during our sewing date and the other I was going to bring to my sister-in-law until I remembered that I'd put butter in it, and she's off all wheat and dairy right now. That's OK--it was nice to come home from a party and wind down with some apple cake. It's still not exactly the way I want it, but close.
It's hard for me to line up the apple on the apple peeler/corer/slicer so that it takes the core out straight. Sometimes I get the side of the core left in the slices, and it's tough. I have to cut it out with a paring knife. I wonder if smaller apples also have smaller cores and so would work better? I can't believe I never noticed.
Other current apple dilemma: what kind of apple tree to plant in the yard this year? The Fedco catalog always makes me want to hang city life and go plant a whole orchard of different varieties, but I have managed to narrow it down to 3 choices: Black Oxford, Canadian Strawberry, or Esopus Spitzenburg. I confess that a large part of the attraction of the Esopus Spitzenburg is the name of it. Come on! It's an Esopus Spitzenburg! How could I not want one of those in my yard? But one of the others may yet beat it out.