Saucy

On Friday afternoons for the last little while, some of my friends have been inviting us over to cook lunch and hang out. We went to my Japanese friend, Kumiko's house and made sushi. I missed most of the making part, but I was very helpful in the eating part. Then we went to my Chinese friend, Elaine's house and made wonton soup. Now I know how to make wontons! We all have kids about the same age, so we let them play and wreak havoc on the house, while we wreak havoc on the kitchen. Good times!
I really wanted to teach something American, but I couldn't think of anything cool. I could teach them how to make peanut-butter sandwiches. "Here, you take this knife, spread peanut-butter on the bread just like so, and then choose from this half-used jar of grape jelly, or perhaps some honey." I was less than impressed just thinking about it.
Ooh, I make really good cookies! We could make chocolate chip, or we could make sugar cookies and let the kids decorate, or we could make gingerbread houses!!!
Is there any wonder why Americans are fat?
So when I realized apples are in season, I bought a whole bunch and decided to make applesauce. It's not half as cool as sushi or wontons, but it's kind of cool. And I like to eat it.
I was worried how my friends would take it. I was imagining working to peel, cook, and then mash the applesauce, then displaying... tadaaah! the final product!... only to have some polite smiles, nods, and inner thoughts saying, "Wow, it's some overcooked, mushed apples." Or, "Mmmm, baby food."
I wasn't sure how it would go over, but it's something I like, something I know how to make, and by golly, it's the only American food I can think of that doesn't A) have a base of butter and sugar, B) drown in its cream-of-soup, or C) take an hour to bake.
It went awesome. We used my apple peeler/corer, which is pretty awesome and no one had ever seen before. Same goes for the food mill, although it's not as cool as the spinning apple peeler thingie. So we had fun making it, and then everyone happily ate some. Both kids and parents enjoyed it. Everyone ate some and then had seconds. But the best compliment was that everyone started making reasons why they needed to take some home. "Can I take some for my husband?" "I'm just going to take a little bit more for the baby to eat this afternoon." At this point, I don't even care if I get any of my tupperware back. People liked the applesauce!
And I know I shouldn't let my pride rest on this so much.
But I'm even worse at potlucks.