Every year about this time, Mimi and Granddaddy traipse up through
Georgia’s mountains to find some of the Peach State’s greatest
fruits–apples! Each autumn, the Peach State yields bushels and bushels
of apples and my grandparents seem to always
bring many of those bushels back to our now empty peach country.
“Whatever will we do with all these apples? “ Mimi always inquires; yet
her queries are always quelled once she gets to cooking and baking
with the bounty from their mountain travels.
First comes Gingergold, Jonaold, and of course, Gala, with some of this Farmer’s favorites such as Pink Lady and Fuji rounding out the season. This first trip to the North Georgia Mountains brought us the former apple varieties and the apple baking season has commenced! Another trip to Highlands or even further in North Carolina will bring my grand people back with more apples and I know that we’ll be apple-rich for the season. We have already had pies, some applesauce and, with much fanfare and glee, Mimi’s Apple Cake.
I live my life according to these Four Culinary Truths:
Not too long ago I was a bittersweet chocolate snob. I would only eat
chocolate bars with a very high percentage of cacao, the higher the
better. But I've discovered some milk chocolate recently that I really
love. If you only eat high percentage cacao, I urge you to try some of
the more exquisite milk chocolates on the market. They may surprise
you. They certainly surprised me. 
I've had these on my mind for a while now. I'm not the biggest fan of traditional enchilada sauce but I will take buffalo sauce in an enchilada anytime! I stuffed these with ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack and of course blue cheese. More Jack on top and crunchy celery...this was a TOUCHDOWN.
As I have been known to confess on these very pages, when it comes to sweets, I am an unabashed purveyor of the pedestrian. Most people who have been to a Ralph’s Supermarket have probably noticed the bakery section with its apple turnovers, banana muffins, red-velvet cupcakes, entire cakes and even half cakes—presumably to add variety for the discriminating tastes waiting at home. Whatever glutenous confection you have a hankering for you can pretty much find in this section of the store, right in front of you, the minute you walk in. Since I am stuck with the kind of willpower that needs constant reviving and have been unable to resist many of these offerings in the past, I try to enter the store at the other end, where the fruit is colorfully, bountifully ensconced. But to no avail.