Mix together the following ingredients and stir until well-blended.

1.5 cups Seedless Raisins 4 medium-sized Tart Apples (Cut into small pieces and squeeze in lemon juice so they do not turn brown) 10-15 dried Apricots (Cut into Small peices) Grated rind of 1 large Orange Juice of one Orange .5 cup of Sparkling Apple Cider (or other fruit juice) Handful of broken Walnuts (optional) .75 - 1 cup Brown Sugar (a mix of brown and white sugar is also good)

In a large frying pan, cover these ingredients and simmer until the apples are very soft (add more cider to keep them from scorching). (You can also add in 2-3 tablespoons of Brandy while these wonderful flavors are simmering together.)

I mixed these in with the above ingredients (minus the crackers and tapioca, which I did not include).  Mom might have suggested these ingredients get mixed in after the simmering (I couldn’t tell from the handwriting).

.5 tsp Cinnamon .5 tsp Cloves 1+ tsp fresh grated Nutmeg 2-3 tlbs finely crushed soda cracker (or cracker meal and 2-3 tlbs tapiocca)

Preheat oven to 450 Make a nice Pie Crust

Bake for 30 minutes or so.

Mmmmmm!

Deep in the heart of Virginia, six friends find themselves in a land unfamiliar and rare... Their task: 1) Shoot a bunch of video, 2) Share that video amongst everyone, and 3) Let each person tell the story as it was. Here's my take on the fiction-enhanced memories.

UPDATE: Another fine entry: Dinos Alive!

If you’re looking for an activity to soften a long drive, I recommend an extravagant Mix CD Challenge!  Our trip was from Arlington, Virginia to Durham, North Carolina.  The challenge was simple: invent two album names and assign them to other people on the trip.  Each person takes the album names they are given, contemplates for a while, stirs up a vision, and creates the perfect mix for such an album name.  The results can be stunning and add a whole new dimension to the music you once thought you knew.  While I can’t share our concoctions so easily, the album names should reflect how we made four hours speed by in a flash:

• Euclid’s Last Stand
• Genghis Kahn and the Band Wagon
• Goodnight Spoon
• Gorehorn, the Adventure Pony
• How To Dismantle a ‘71 Ford Pinto’
• Jeanne Kirkpatrick Overdrive
• Kind of Periwinkle
• The Longings of Seedless Watermelons

Food is meant to be shared and, relentlessly, it is compared. What started out as a shared Google Doc between some friends and family has now become a competitive cooking blog worth flippin' out about. Epicurious George reporting from Food for Ninjas.