I visited my first island, Barbados , in 1990 and have continued to visit there for years after. That was the start of my love affair with the Caribbean Islands. I was going to move to Key West so I could be closer to the clear blue water, but I chose to live close to Mom while I raised my daughter and finance a candy store/bakery to run instead. During the years I had the restaurant I traveled to different places, including islands, while my daughter visited her Dad. Somewhere along the way while I owned Simply Delicious, I did an interview with the local newspaper and they asked me what my dream job was, I told them I wanted to be a Cooking Gypsy, I wanted my talents as a baker/cook to take me places. Not just to visit, but to live and work as well. I had a little girl to finish raising first.
September 2006, Ashlyn leaves for Rhode Island to attend college. Previously in Aug. 2006, I answered a help wanted ad on Craigslist for a baker/sandwich cook on Grand Cayman. In Oct 2006 I traveled to meet my potential boss and see the island I would potentially move to. Simply Delicious was sold by the end of 2006, final papers signed in Jan 2007. For many years, I told people when my daughter left for college it was going to be my turn, that I was going to move to the islands and visit as many as I could. No one believed me. No one believed I would do it. Some thought I would get it out of my system and return. At one point, I thought that happened, but no.
Ashlyn, was upset with me for selling the restaurant and moving out of the apartment we called our home for the past 6 years above the restaurant. The time, my time, had finally come. My Dad has a steel building and built an area for me to store my stuff. I had 3 suitcases and filled Dad’s Yukon with boxes of stuff that would be shipped cargo to Grand Cayman and they drove me to Miami.
DUTCH APPLE PIE RECIPE
Pie Crust– 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 sticks butter, 1/3 shortening, both cold 1 tsp salt, 1 tblsp sugar, 1/2 cup ice water…… crumble all ingredients, handle as little as possible, can use food processor to crumble…then with hands add water till forms ball…. refrigerate 30 min before rolling out
Apple Filling- peel 10-15 granny smith apples, depending on size and slice, toss in 2 tblsp flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg- toss till all evenly coated
Crumb Topping– 1/2 cup cold butter, 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 oatmeal, 1/2 cup br sugar, mix together to form crumble- put crumble on top of apples
bake at 350-375 depending on how hot your oven is. bake until golden brown. juices will likely be dripping down the sides
A Cooking Gypsy 
Leave a Reply