Sundays in the kitchen

All work and no play can be a pretty boring way to go through life so even though we work really hard in our vocation as full time Realtors in western North Carolina, my avocation is cooking. I confess that I'm one of those people who like reading cook books and recipes like some people read a novel and when I find a recipe that sounds "just right" I can't wait to get in my kitchen. Sunday afternoons is my favorite time to cook, especially when husband Robert has a football game on the big screen TV, and today was one of those days.

It's a crisp fall day here in the mountains and after heading out early this morning to show some property, I was ready to get home, make a steaming cup of chai tea and get down to some cooking. The dish of my intentions was anything to do with apples. Fall is my favorite time of year for a lot of reasons, and one of those reasons is because it's apple season. Actually apple season starts Labor Day weekend with the NC Apple Festival in Hendersonville, NC, but the supply of wonderful local apples extends far beyond that date and this time of year, it's rare that I don't have lots of different kinds of apples on hand. Some are better for munching on just as they are, some are better for baking or making home made apple sauce with, but they're all good! Factoid: North Carolina is the 7th largest producer of apples in the nation, and Henderson County (Hendersonville) produces 65% of all the apple in the state.

Today I was on the hunt for a good apple cake recipe. I wanted something rustic, something not too big since it's just the two of us, and something that didn't require a bundt pan. My go to source for recipes is usually the the Food TV website but I didn't find anything there that caught my attention so I expanded my search and found a recipe for French Apple Cake on David Lebovitz's blog. The recipe was adapted from another cookbook called Around My French Table by Dori Greenspan. The ingredients were simple, the process required nothing fancy, and it looked delicious.

My house now smells of cooked apples and this amazing cake is cooling on the counter top, minus one corner which I have to say was deeeelish! Of course, I can't leave well enough alone and I made a few slight changes, but this is a keeper!

If you'd like to know more about western North Carolina and all the reasons why we call this wonderful place home, visit us at BrevardNCProperty.com