Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I came across an intriguing recipe last night that called for "boiled cider" and the recipe included a link to purchase the boiled cider - at $13 for the bottle and $6 for shipping. First, I didn't know what boiled cider was; second, I was pretty sure I could make it myself for less than $19! I did some reading and realized that boiled cider was nothing more than apple cider reduced to a thick syrup. So easy!! Done. And it smelled amazing the entire time it was simmering. It smelled like fall! Ingredients 1 gallon fresh apple cider Procedure Pour cider into a heavy pot; I used my Dutch oven. Bring the cider to a boil. Reduce the heat and keep at slightly more than a simmer until the gallon of liquid is reduced to about 2 C. It took me 4 hours. Pour into a sterilized jar and refrigerate once cool. It should keep refrigerated for several months! You will see this in some Halloween treats I'm making next week.

I don't know what possessed me to pick up fresh peanuts at the Filipino store. Childhood memories? Perhaps. Ease of cooking? Definitely. But I had no idea the conversations they would start. One mom stopped by the table, saw the boiled peanuts and told a story about how they looked forward to buying these at the train stations when they were traveling through India during a monsoon. Another family stopped by, picked up a few handfuls, and waxed nostalgic about eating boiled peanuts during their travels, too. What a difference from when I brought boiled peanuts to school in my lunch once in elementary school. I was probably in 5th or 6th grade. A classmate grabbed a few, opened one up, and popped it in her mouth. Then she proceeded to spit it out and demanded, "Did you suck on these?!" I guess she was expecting a roasted peanut. These are so easy...and the Filipino ladies with whom we were hosting the table stood there and munched on them throughout the event. Succ...