Cooking

Off and on this week I have been struck with the urge to cook. It was so owerful that one day I made pie crust, expecting inspiration for a filling once it was done. Nothing came to me, though, so I put the crust in the refrigerator to wait. The next day I decided to get apples for the pie. It looks wonderful in the picture, and the crust was. The filling, however, had a strange taste I couldn't identify. I still ate some of it, of course. That was several days ago. Only yesterday I remembered I had made some inedible tapioca pudding earlier that had the same strange taste. Then, the Aha! reaction........I had used tapioca to thicken the pie. I almost never do that, but the box of tapioca was still sitting on the table from the pudding disaster. I used it rather than bother to get out the flour. Apparently tapioca isn't at its best after eight years.

My orange marmalade is edible, and actually quite good if you like big chunks of fruit and peel in a sticky-sweet jelly. I used to make marmalade a lot, but haven't for several years. I forgot to slice the peel before I put it on to cook. Then I didn't worry about the size of the chop of the oranges and lemons. The chunks were big. To top it off I had only one lemon when the recipe called for two, which accounts for the over-sweet results. I'm still eating it on my toast in the mornings and it has the essence of marmalade, which I love. Some of it is hard to chew..........