CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY APPLESAUCE.

Can’t think, brain numb, inspiration won’t come. My destiny for today.

I worked apples yesterday, putting up bags of apples in the freezer for later use. Since I had a bag of frozen cranberries I thought I’d make cranberry sauce. With a sink full of apples, the combination intrigued me so I put them together and found it very tasty. After dinner, I thought about the ways I’d used cranberries. I remember putting them still frozen in the brownie mix  just before putting them in the oven.  A huge success. In the market, cranberries, cherries, ginger, nuts of all kinds and pomegranate seeds are paired with chocolate.  I decided to have a dish of warmed cranberry applesauce with chocolate.  It was okay. Not great, just okay. I guess I could experiment with the amount and type of chocolate and come up with a better result. A chocolate sauce instead of grated. Or perhaps chocolate chips. Maybe a bit of brandy? You know, some things are just best left alone. I like chocolate and I liked the sauce.   Nuff said.

EASTER WEATHER UNPREDICTABLE HERE

Easter was almost as wonderful as Christmas when we were kids. Lent was over and the hoarded goodies could then be eaten, stale, along with decorated eggs and a chocolate treat. We'd get decked out in our best finery, always a hat, and head for church. It was a parade of sorts as the women wore their newest hat and gloves, maybe a new dress and shoes. Neighbors stopped outside to chat and preen just a little bit before heading home for a ham dinner.
Here in the mother lode weather has proved unpredictable. Last week the neighborhood horses basking in the lush grass and sunshine have now been covered with winter coats. The daffodils are beaten to the ground in recent rains, the squirrels have retreated to their warm nests.
Though it is Easter Sunday, hardly anyone wears a fancy hat anymore, but this delightful hat display is a reminder of Easter's past and prudently defies the weather.

Her feet beneath her petticoat
Like little mice, stole in and out,
As if they feared the light;
But oh, she dances such a way!
No sun upon an Easter-day
Is half so fine a sight.
(From Ballad Upon A wedding-1641)

Oh, enter spring and new beginnings.