Lazy apple brandy cake

I'm tired.

I've been up until two most nights lately, and out of bed again by 7:30. I try to nap, but mostly just lie there, and although indolence is pleasant, it’s just not the same as getting enough sleep.

To perk myself up, when I get some time off from school work I’ve been doing lots of yoga and cooking. Tonight I’m making Martha Stewart’s zucchini and ricotta pasta for a friend, and I’ve been experimenting with quinoa, my new go-to brown bag lunch. My favourite recent discovery, though, is this apple cake. I got the recipe from Canadian Living magazine and made a few changes based on what I had at home, so here is my version. I’ve made it twice in the last two weeks and am making it for my girlfriends this weekend - it's that easy and yummy.

Apple brandy cake

2 large or 3 medium apples (any kind), peeled and chopped
¾ cup all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
2 eggs
3 tbsp brandy
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Whisk eggs, then beat in sugar and add vanilla and brandy. Slowly add in the melted butter.
3. Combine with dry ingredients. Beat until a thick batter forms.
4. Fold in apples.
5. Bake in a greased 8” cake pan with parchment paper on the bottom for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees.


Here's mine:

This is especially yummy served warm and a little crispy on top – if there’s some left, you can reheat it in a low oven for a while before you eat. It's also good with a bit of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Spring cleaning

It's finally March. It's still bloody miserable out, but I think it's time to start preparing for brighter, warmer days.

This winter has felt interminably long, and it's been hard not to give in to the temptation to hibernate, emotionally as well as physically. Even though it's cold and rainy, and there are still mountains of snow left to melt, I'm ready to start shedding some of my winter layers. There are the layers of coats and scarves, of course, but there are other, intangible layers as well: the I-don't-want-to-go-anywhere-because-it's-dark-and-cold layer, the I-don't-have-time-to-do-anything-but-work layer, the who-cares-what-I-eat-I'm-wearing-ten-sweaters layer. And maybe there's even an I'm-feeling-blue-and-flaring-and-I-just-want-to-sit-here layer.

It's been two weeks since my cortisone shot. It hasn't had the dramatic effect I experienced when I had cortisone injections as a child - there's still pain and stiffness - but my hip doesn't feel useless anymore. I don't dread standing up after class or maneuvering out of bed in the morning. With a renewed sense of confidence, I went back to yoga last week after missing a few classes. I also got back on my elliptical. And I'm back to sticking, more or less, to a healthy, home-made, primarily vegetarian diet.

I'm also 'cleaning house' by switching off Naproxen after five years. It was causing stomach ulcers, which was surprisingly difficult to figure out, both for me and my doc, as the pain was radiating to my back. I've been off it for a month now, and my stomach is so much better. Since my blood pressure is well-controlled with my beta blocker, we're going to try replacing it with Celebrex. I'm happy not to be taking an NSAID.

My lettuce and spinach seedlings!

I'm also doing a little social spring cleaning. Although I've been enjoying law school, I have to admit I don't really feel like I belong with the majority of my classmates - the girls in their tiny, tight skirts with their thousand-dollar bags and the guys comparing their Rolexes before class (really). With my glasses, scuffed sneakers and reusable coffee mug, I often don't rate a second look. Lately I've gotten to know a small group I often run into at special human rights and environmental law lectures, and we've started meeting up at a pub (NOT a club) each week. I'm so happy to have ferretted out some people I really, really like.

It's time for me to shed some layers. To stop paying lip-service to a full, active life and start actually living it. It's true that RA is sometimes to blame when I plonk myself on the couch at five o'clock and am still there at ten. And sometimes schoolwork is to blame. And sometimes it's the fact that it's pouring or hailing or minus sixteen. I don't think what I have been doing is wrong. I do think it's time for a new direction.