There’s this weird thing about being under quarantine. In theory, I have more time, but it’s not really equating to any more production.
So what to catch you up on: when quarantine hit Spain, I was working at this kids’ English camp in the mountains. For the last two weeks, we’ve been here on lock down. 10 workers, all “my age” (well I mean, they’re in their early- to mid-twenties, and I pretend to be also) from around Europe. Some Irish, Brits, even a couple ex-Yu (from šibenik and Ilirska Bistrica – the Slovenian girl is wow but out of my league, will keep you posted). Also 1 manager, and the owner. Cool folks.
We’ve had plenty of food so far, as the place was stocked for 100 hungry teenagers. However, tomorrow they’re gonna begin shutting off the generators for most of the day. (They need to save fuel, and most of the other folks here only use the electricity to call their moms five times a day or look up porn. Lord knows nobody is using it for showers.) I need WiFi to teach / do uni, so I’m moving. One of the local chefs has been kind enough to rent me a room on her farm. She’s gonna cook for me, the price is affordable, and I’m in the mountains. Could be worse.
I have an album recommendation, which is Glassworks by Phillip Glass. I don’t know whether to call it ambient or classical. It’s neither really, but those are the closest genres I have to hand. I want to call it “ambient” due to the way it uses canons and minimalism, but it’s really too progressive to be called so. And I want to call it “classical”, because it uses an orchestra and a piano, but then again, so did System of a Down sometimes. Anyway, give it a listen if you haven’t heard it. Perhaps it’s most reminiscent of the soundtrack during the last scene of a Wes Anderson film: whimsical, mostly major key, nevertheless complicated.
I first enjoyed this album back in like 2016 or so, when I was in Abu Dhabi. I forget how I found it. I think I was going through a neo-classical phase. I again put it on a playlist on my phone randomly on January 25 this year. I was feeling arbitrary that day, so I titled that playlist “Year of the Rat: January 25 – March 25”. It included mostly Lofi Black Metal, although other randoms included Silver Jews and Souls of Mischief. I was in a small town in Sicily that day. It’s weird to think what things have changed in those two months.
Speaking of weird changes over time, I broke up with M on December 20, 2019. I told myself that I would stop caring about her three months from then, on March 20, 2020. I guess I don’t think about her anymore, except for that one night last August when the moon was full and we found this hidden beach by Kostanj. We climbed across some dangerous rocks and over a fence in the middle of the night but we were fine and the moon was still full. That was a good summer. I can’t wait to see that sea again.
So to the recipe: My mom and grandma are maestras of the Apple Crisp. I’ve had so many delicious crisps, I took them for granted as super simple until it was time for me to be master chef of our kitchen here at camp for a few days. I had limited ingredients; bio sam pun mi kurac with expiring fruit and the desire to impress. We hadn’t had dessert for a while, so I went with this. I think you’ve eaten it, in fact, I’m sure I made it for you guys while I was living there. So here’s the recipe. Love you, and see you in a few months inshallah.
Part 1: Make a crust
You just need two ingredients: biscuit / graham cracker crumbles and butter (margarine works, you just need to use a little more, like maybe 15% more). There is a Croatian brand of vanilla wafers that I can’t remember now (is it actually called “Nilla”?) but you can buy them pre-crumbled. Otherwise, get any tasty biscuit and crush it up into a powder. Use a hammer or your fists or some thick piece of cutlery. Get like three big handfuls of biscuit powder, enough to thickly cover the bottom of a baking dish. Then, take one big scoop of butter, half way melt it in the microwave (be careful! just like 20 seconds, watch it closely so it doesn’t start to splatter in the microwave and make a mess, you can also do this in a pan on the stove top), and mix it with the crumbles. Now, you have the crust ingredient. Take a baking dishhttps://images.app.goo.gl/xzC8jbZyc6QL5VmM9 (that glass one I left), and get some butter, and rub it around on the bottom and the sides. Not too thick, just enough so the glass is cloudy. This will keep it from sticking when it is finished and add some under goo. Now, press your buttery crumbles onto the bottom and sides, about .666 cm thick.
Part 2: Make the filling
You just need 3-4 ingredients, but only one is mandatory: fruit, sugar (optional), lemon juice (optional), cinnamon/nutmeg/clove (optional). Get 5 – 6 apples, depending on how hungry and rich you are. If it is winter time and the apples are not juicy, get 3 apples and 2 pears, because the pears add extra juice and an interesting flavor. Peel them and slice them as thinly as possible. Put them in a bowl and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and put one big spoon of sugar and one half small spoon of cinnamon (don’t overuse the cinnamon, it’s really strong, less is more n’mean). Take a few more biscuit crumbles and sprinkle them on the top, but not as thick, like .2 cm. Some spots you should see the apples poking through (or many spots, you don’t even need to that layer at all to be honest). On those spots, put a small piece of butter. Put 6 pieces of butter on top. This will melt while it is baking. It’s tasty.
Finally: Bake it at 192 for about 45 minutes. First bake it for 27 minutes, then turn it around in the oven so it bakes evenly (don’t leave the door open too long, you wanna keep the heat in, so prepare your oven mitts first and open the door as little as possible). Then bake it for another 12 minutes, then open the oven to make sure it’s not burning. Watch closely and adjust the last 3-6 minutes as necessary (but leave the oven door shut or you let all the heat out!). You will know it is done when the butter is really bubbling through the top and the crumbles are just starting to turn brown. It’s ok to take it out a little early, because it will continue baking in the dish.
Simeon Brown 