Seattle to SF - part 6

Point Arena

Day 7 – 8/17

I was feeling all motivated this morning, so I made apricot scones. Everyone was happy to see those. All the guys are getting sort of sleep deprived – the only time we're all up is around meals, and at this point that's not even completely reliable. We're definitely in the home stretch now – rounded Cape Mendocino this morning. I've been up and down this section of the coast by car at least 30 times, but have never seen it from the water. The weather has been beautiful – not exactly shorts and t-shirts, but at least we're no longer doing our Michelin Man imitations, bundled up in foulies and as many layers of fleece as we can fit under them. We actually had enough wind to sail for a little while this afternoon, which was nice. We'd all have felt a little silly bringing a sailboat all this way and not sailing at all. Dinner was black bean chili that I'd made and frozen before we left, cornbread, and for dessert, an apple crisp and vanilla ice cream. We should be in San Francisco sometime around noon tomorrow.

Apple Crisp

Apples:
3-4 apples (Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala are all good)
Sugar (how much is going to depend on how tart your apples are)
Cinnamon
Cardamom
Ginger
Nutmeg
Salt

Topping:
1 c Flour
½ c. Brown Sugar
¼ lb Butter

Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter into this mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives, or rub the butter in with you fingers until it looks like pebbles.

Put the apples into an 8x8 pan (I actually put them in so that they're mostly lying flat – you can fit more apples in the pan that way than you can if you just dump them in), and sprinkle the topping on top. Don't compress the topping – it's supposed to be crumbly, not like a piecrust. Be sure to leave at least ½” of headroom in the pan for the juices that will bubble up. If you can't do that, put the pan in a larger baking dish to catch spills before putting it in the oven – trust me, you do not want to have to scour burnt on melted sugar off the bottom of your oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the smell is driving you mad.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or crème anglaise.

You can also make this with dried apples if you soak them to reconstitute first and add a little water (~ ¼ c) to the baking dish.