Terry at Blue Kitchen's Profile

Your timing is impeccable, Faith! This weekend, we picked up 80 pounds of organic apples, the yield of a tree we rented from Earth First Farms in southwest Michigan. I'm sure we'll be raiding your list a lot to help us get through our bounty. For a couple more savory ideas for cooking with apples, you might try my grilled cheese sandwiches with apple and arugula or my braised pork roast with apple/onion compote.

A cool story, Sara Kate. Very nice that you kept your promise on the sweets—and with such a delicious sounding cake. And as a regular reader, I'm still stunned to hear that your daughter's five! I remember posts of the two of you preparing your tiny apartment for her arrival.

Vive la France indeed! Thanks for all of these great posts; I'm a major francophile, especially in the kitchen. The October issue of Food & Wine is also all about French food (and wine) too—must be something in the air.

First, what a thoughtful new mom gift, Sara. And second, I love that you used a Staub casserole—it's our favorite. This sounds delicious and so wonderfully simple. It reminds me of a deceptively simple Provençal dish I make, Layered Pot Roast with Anchovies, Capers and Garlic. So easy to assemble and deliciously complex.

I get the storage issue, Dana. And I often winnow my magazine backlog by taking rejects to the office. But as much as I'm all over the Internet for recipe and food ideas, the magazine experience is just different. It's more leisurely, as some have said here, but it's also more diverse. Flipping through magazines, you come across unexpected things that can inspire you and take you in exciting new directions. For me, at least, the Internet is a much more focused, goal-oriented medium. I start out with an idea—duck recipes, for instance—and I find exactly that. So while I happily spend way too much time in the online kitchen, I'm not ready to give up my magazines.

Oh. When I saw "Sleep in a clean bedroom tonight," I thought this was an invitation. Never mind. (Just kidding. Great suggestions.) Musically, some uptempo jazz gets me going.