And Sun Came Back

This rainbow appeared in our sky on Saturday evening after the storm passed.

Our hurricane refuges were safely here at the farm for two nights. Their minds were on what was happening at their house (it flooded) and what needed to be done when they returned home. While they were focusing on beginning the salvage and recovery process, I cooked.

I learned—after I did ask a couple of times—that this was one time not to say, "What would you like to have?" or, "Do you like...?" Their minds were too tired and too full of worry to care. So I made my old standbys. Food I knew that most people liked. And food that was easy for me to make. This wasn't the time for me to get fancy or try something new. Keeping it simple was the best plan.

So we had Garden Pasta Salad along with sandwiches for lunch on Saturday. And that night for dinner, I made the Baked Ziti we love—except with rotini this time. Yep. Pasta twice in one day. But it turns out that pasta is the favorite food of the teenage son. So that totally worked for him.

And when my knitter friend came into the kitchen on Saturday with beautiful apples, which had evacuated, too, and said, "Can you use these?" I thought about this recipe. I haven't made this in ages, but it fell right into the comfort food category. And comfort was what we needed.

I'm thinking that from now on, in my own head at least, these will be "hurricane dumplings." But you do not need to wait for a weather crisis to make these. It's such a delicious dessert and it's so easy to make.

APPLE DUMPLINGS

1 can (10-count) flaky biscuits
2 apples, peeled and cut into wedges

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
cinnamon (optional)

Separate each biscuit into two thin layers. (This gives you 20 thin biscuits.) Wrap each biscuit around an apple wedge. Place in two rows in a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Put water, sugar and butter in a small saucepan. Heat until butter is melted and sugar has dissolved. Pour over the apple dumplings. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve warm. We like them best with a scoop of ice cream on top.

The flaky canned biscuits now are mostly the "grand" size, larger than the original Hungry Jack biscuits that I used for years. (You do need the "flaky" biscuits so that you can peel them apart into thinner layers.) You can still find the regular sized ones, but they might come in the 5-count cans. If you use the larger biscuits, you could put more than one apple slice in each wrap, I think. I'd determine the baking time by the color of the biscuits.

I must tell you that my knitter friend and I mostly knew each other from Facebook and Instagram. Yes, we had met a couple of times at knitting events, but that was it. She said her men asked, "How do you know this lady?" and Daddy-O, who was instantly agreeable to hosting them, asked me, "So how do you know her?" It was the knitting. Life connections can be made in the most unexpected ways. But I'm glad now to think we really DO know each other and our friendship goes beyond being Facebook friends.

Now I cannot begin to imagine what these folks were feeling all weekend, but on Saturday night, we had the most pleasant dinner. Much laughter and telling stories and sharing food around the table, like things were normal in their world. A relaxed meal with friends. And now when we say we're friends we're more than just friends on Facebook. We're friends in real life, too.

We sent them down the road back toward the coast on Sunday to deal with whatever awaits them. I'm not sure when I'll see her again. But we'll be in touch for sure.


UPDATE:  I did get a message from her last night. They made it home. It took them 5.5 hours to drive to the coast. It's normally a 3-hour drive. The highway was backed up with all the cars returning to the lowcountry. And yes, there was water in their house. And, yes, it's going to be another long recovery process as they will have to rip out floors, baseboards and likely walls. Say a prayer for them and for all the other hurricane victims.