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1. Homemade applesauce. I may have mentioned it already (say, here and here), but I just have to tell you: my homemade applesauce is the best applesauce I can remember tasting. Mumsy Dearest, I apologize for all those times when I was younger and wouldn’t eat your (home canned!) applesauce because it had chunks in it. I now realize that I was missing out.

My “secret” recipe is to slice apples into eighths with the skins on, as many as the crock pot will hold, which amounts to about 3 pounds. 1 tablespoon of lime juice over the top, cook on low for 4 hours, puree with an immersion blender until it reaches a consistency I like, add boatloads of cinnamon and just a smidge of nutmeg. No added water or sugar. I used a kilo of local gala apples and 2 leftover cox apples for this last batch, and it’s the best yet. Protip: Use a non-metal spoon to stir in the cinnamon, stainless ones leave weird marks on the crock pot (ask me how I know). It’s always so yummy when I eat that first bowlful from the crock pot that I now pop my applesauce in the microwave for a minute or so before eating to get that warm-apple-pie taste. Better than cookies. Up there with coffee.

2. Endnote bibliography software. I went to a workshop yesterday on the research databases and affiliate libraries available to us at the university, which wound up with a seminar on using Endnote (both free and licensed versions) and Mendeley (free) to manage bibliographies. You enter your references into the software, then any time you want to reference something, pull up the toolbar and select the work you want to reference. And then the bibliography magically appears at the end of your document, neatly alphabetized and in any format you choose.

3. This week I am officially a grown-up. Yesterday I received my first batch of essays to mark, and my application for a staff card. Among other things, this magical card will let me remove otherwise unlendable materials from the library. Mwahahahaha. And today is the day I deal with some stock options from the company I used to work for. Stock options. Way too grown-up for me.

4. Thick sheepskin insoles for winter boots. The thicker, the better.

5.Candied peel. Currently my favourite sweet. Someone made a delicious boatload for our last SCA event, and despite our concerted efforts, we did not manage to finish it off in one sitting. So it’s in my fridge, being delicious one sliver of peel at a time.