Who am I?

When you were twelve or so, did you sit around and wonder why you are you and how you got to be you?  I did.  But maybe I was a weird kid and I was the only one lying in bed at night looking up at the ceiling doing all that wondering.  I remember asking myself "What makes me me?"  I studied genetics in a college biology course and I found it fascinating, but it didn't answer my question. And I was indeed still asking myself that very same question, even after learning about DNA and chromosomes.  All these years later, I am still wondering.

So, what makes me me?

• I am the only one in my family with green eyes.  Weird fact-- they've become greener with age.
• I am an optimistic extrovert.  
• Pale pink is my favorite color.  (I love the scarf pictured above.  I bought it at a great stall at the Arles Saturday market last March.)
• Fall is my favorite season.
• I am proud to be from the Appalachian Mountains.
• I cry very easily.
• I have very vivid dreams, usually in color.
• I love to hum, whistle, and sing.
• I am messy, but I hate wrinkled clothes.  
• I love to read and often am so immersed in my book that I dream about the characters.  I think they are my new best friends.
• I love trivia.
• My secret (or not so secret, maybe) dream is to be a writer. 
• I am very slow to anger, but when I am angry I get over it quickly.
• I have an abundance of common sense.
• I do not like being photographed.
• I have no idea what my IQ is, but I do know that I am a hard worker.
• I am a spiritual person.  
• I am still ashamed of being mean to my 7th grade best friend. 
• I am a procrastinator.
• I am a terrible joke teller.  I almost always mess up the punch line.
• I love me and I know that I am a work in progress.

My new favorite quote--

"Nobody can be exactly like me.  Sometimes even I have trouble doing it."

                                                                                    --Tallulah Bankhead

But enough about me.  How about a yummy it's-almost-fall recipe from Deb at  Smitten Kitchen.  I love her.  I wish I could hang out with her in her tiny little New York City kitchen.  I could be her sous-chef. 

The Ex-Ex and I were invited to dinner at a friend's house this past weekend.  I was asked to bring dessert.  I already had this cake in mind after seeing it on Deb's blog.  And I had all the ingredients.  I used Honeycrisp apples because I love them and I know they bake well.  They don't get all mushy.  I did add the optional walnuts, sprinkling them on top of the apple-cinnamon layers.  I decided to take talenti gelato to go with the cake.  The stuff is like crack to me.  Especially the Sea Salt Caramel flavor.  The BFF introduced me to it a couple of years ago.  I chose Tahitian vanilla and Caramel Apple Pie flavors to go with the cake.

Kind of flopped over on its side, but you get the idea of the apple layers.

Mom’s Apple Cake

6 apples, Mom uses McIntosh apples
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely before running knife between cake and pan, and unmolding onto a platter.

Bon appétit, to all.  "Be yourself.  Everyone else is already taken."  Another quote I love. Merci, Oscar Wilde et Deb!