Apple Rolled Oats Streusel Cider Muffins - Twin Post

This is a twin post of An @bakerstreet29 out there in my parents birthplace, Mumbai, India, and mine here in the DC area. Before I embark on this post I got a confession to make. I was extremely suspicious of An when she showed up on the twitterverse radar interacting gingerly with all of us to a point of paranoia. Are we subjected to some kind of social media experiment? I was not about to be a guinea pig of sorts. Soonish after I discovered An is a lamb, the sweetest girl with the best intentions, exactly as she showed up on our twitterverse radar. A week or so ago might be longer, she had a bake sale fundraiser for street dogs in India and was baking up a storm. Some of her creations were blueberry cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate cookies and raisin cinnamon oatmeal cookies. What's not to like about this girl?!

Apple Picking at Larriland Farm

Last week as we were heading up to Pennsylvania, many of you on twitter tried to help but I came up empty handed at Penn State, State College, PA. Most of the surrounding farm land belongs to the college for purposes of research and learning. The one farm we came across was closed on Sunday the one day we had a moment as we were heading back. Then I went on twitter to find one organic orchard in the DC area. Thanks to several recommendations from FRESHFARMMktsDC, we found Larriland Farm. I have been looking for an organic orchard but after the seeing the crowds today I understand why purely organic orchards are not open to the public. Though it was as dignified as this type of harvest and Fall Festivals events can go, it was a matter of the waste that I am referring to. As you pick, some  apples just fall to the ground, some consumed and some destroyed accidently.  Larriland Farm farming practices are Integrated Pest Management, part of which is disease and pest resistant crop varieties. 

Honey, Agave, Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Rolls with Flax and Sesame seeds: My Tale of Becoming an American

My tale of becoming an American didn't instantly happen at the pledge of allegiance swear in but it started rather rocky and came full circle on Thanksgiving. I was fairly young at the time and stumbled quite accidently to live here in the United States. I didn't seek a refuge from dictatorship lands or escape from persecution. I had good future prospects as I was just out of the mandatory service of the Israeli army, getting accepted to Tel Aviv University. Yes, life growing up was challenging, in an east meets west worlds type of challenges many face and a tad more, but my future prospects were promising. If it were not for Jonathan, who would love me mentioning, that he is younger than I, I might have now not been an American. After so many years, friends back home say I am so Americanized. Well, I am!! Now that I no longer eat fast food, I am, I think, an American only in the most fabulous sense of the word possible!! Imagine me smiling now.