This fudge is dangerous—and useful.

Back before Jeff and I got married, I had a lot of friends who were from northeast Arkansas. I wanted to see all of them, but I also didn't want to wear out my welcome. Thus, I would pack about two changes of clothes and move from house to house, staying only a night or so at each place and washing my clothes upon each arrival.

I'm now about to do something that I've never done before—radically change an entry after it's been posted.

This entry originally appeared on 11/17/2001; today is 11/21/2001. Originally, I ranted about how the Moving Fairy seemed to have discovered my January 2000 issue of Fine Cooking and taken it for her own. The problem: that magazine contained the Boston cream candy recipe I loved dearly.

I tore my house apart looking for that magazine. I believe I must have loaned it to someone and forgotten to ask for it back.

Perhaps this is the week in which I let others speak for me? I'd fully intended to write a full-blown entry today, but my findings a few minutes ago mean that I think I'm going to let someone else's words speak for me again today.

The letter is dated May 10, 2001. I have been looking for it since June, and it reappeared about twenty minutes ago while I was cleaning out under my desk. It is in my grandmother's handwriting, and it details her apple butter recipe:

I use a crock pot to cook the apples in—that way it is not necessary to stand and stir a lot. Then, too, the apples to do not stick to the cookware as bad as when using an open pot.

"Slice apples into the crockpot—fill it full—put about 3 or 4 cups of sugar on top and let it set overnight. Add spices—cinnamon, allspice & a little nutmeg—about 1 tsp. each or whatever suits your taste—cook 3 or 4 hours.*

This is a recipe originally given to me by Jeff's mother. He looked at it and said to me, "You know, I always wished there were more tomatoes in this soup, so do you think you could modify it a bit?" So, I did—and what was previously Shirley's recipe has evolved a bit into my own.Jeff's Chicken Stew

• 1 hen (3-4 pounds)
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1 can cream corn
• 2-3 large baking potatoes
• 1 large white onion
• 1—1.5 cup dry elbow noodles*
• 3 small cans (each same size as corn) of stewed tomatoes, or 1 bigger can and one small can
  

I had planned to be starting on the recipes to feed the techops crew by now, but I've been sitting here for thirty minutes trying to think of the last ingredient I needed for one of the recipes.