Re-Gilding the Lily

When you start with lovely, just-picked Gravenstein apples from a new friend's garden, you don't really need to enhance them. They are sweet-tart and beautifully pale green inside - delicious all by themselves.

My Beloved, however, happens to be very fond of apple crisp and, since I happen to be very fond of him, I immediately peeled and sliced my new gift apples and topped them with a squeeze of lemon juice and the classic mixture of flour, butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. I thought the topping-to-apples ratio was a little to heavy on the topping but MB claims that that's the whole point of apple crisp so I let myself be persuaded.

Did we really need the added embellishment of the Swensen's vanilla ice cream that our friend Ted bought while he was visiting from St. Louis and left behind to swell our waistlines instead of his? Probably not.

And certainly not for breakfast, which is when we ate it. With apologies to Wheaties, this is the true Breakfast of Champions!