Bring on the Apples

We have a family tradition of holding taste tests.  Sometimes we'll go for junk food and sample half a dozen different kinds of chocolate or perhaps vanilla ice cream (the best flavor, by the way) but sometimes we'll exert ourselves to be a little healthier and we'll nibble our way through fruits and veggies.

With all the fall produce on sale, I bought one of every kind of apple I could find and we sliced them up and each tried a slice to determine which apples were the best tasting. Out of Braeburn, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Jazz, Gala and Fuji we were fairly unified on preferring the Honeycrisp, which received the highest marks overall.  It ranked #1 more often than any other apple though Jazz (which was my personal favorite) was a consistent #1-#2 as well right behind it. Since Honeycrisp are typically the most expensive apple out there I've been happy to get Jazz apples instead for nearly the same taste but with a huge difference in price.

David was the only dissenting opinion on the court, preferring Granny Smith over everything else. He's odd that way. Tart is his thing and I love him nonetheless.

I noticed a nice run-down of apples at Epicurious for a few other varieties that we didn't try.  The only apples that consistently scored low were Red and Golden Delicious. There's irony for you.  Talk about your misnomer.

We've been trying cheeses, one per week, and having fun expanding our gastronomical horizons. So far we've had Beemster, St. Claire and Mahon (at least those are the ones I can remember names for).  Pickles would be fun to test, or olives and mushrooms (though I doubt I could get my non-olive eating family to go for that one).  Any other ideas? I'm very open for anything.

And besides our taste-testing adventures here are a few fun links I've noticed lately:

Big Red Kitchen had a recipe for Garlic Ranch Pretzels. Every word in that title excites my family.

I just bought a new purse from Adeleshop on Etsy and absolutley love it.  She has such pretty, simple designs and I wish this bag weren't already sold out.  She has great sales from time to time too.

Ribbonesia is one of those sites where I say, "That's cute." then do absolutely nothing about it. I don't know that it will inspire you to make hundreds of ribbon creatures but still . . . they're cute, no?

And this . . . this is the ultimate in card-making magic. I can say no more.