Crusts are not just "any other buttery dough"

2 posts in one day... it's totally unprecedented! Although, I'm not sure that the first one from the day can count... but it is an important post in and of itself. Condé Nast is going to close Gourmet magazine, which sucks considering what deliciousness comes from that magazine. Modern Bride and Cookie (which is NOT a magazine about cookies, in fact) don't matter so much... Bon Appetit just doesn't look as nice as Gourmet does. Sigh. Let's just hope they don't fold Vanity Fair.

However sad that is, there is this little blurb about tarte tatin in Bitten. It sort of makes up for it, except for the fact that I want to eat it. Mmmm. I love tarte tatin... It is a really perfect dessert, when done well. I think I'm going to try to tackle this when I go home. The descriptions in this article just sound soooo gooooood... carmelized apples... I kind of wish he wrote a bit more about the crust itself. He makes it seem so inconsequential--

This could be all-butter puff pastry, either home-made or store-bought, or it could be any other buttery dough, even a fragile short crust – it has no structural function.

Really?? I love the crust on a tarte tatin!!!! No matter how good the apples are, it really ruins the dessert if you have a mediocre crust. It can't be just any old crust! The more I think about it and write about it, the more it actually makes me kind of frustrated at how he thinks the crust doesn't matter!! I recognize that he's emphasizing that it doesn't have to have any actual structural integrity to it because it's not actually cradling the apples... But, "Any other buttery dough"?? You can't have just a tart/quiche crust on a tarte tatin!! That certainly can be a buttery dough... Ughhhhh. The flakiness and lightness of a puff pastry contributes SO much to this dessert, when it's mixed with the apples and the caramel-y syrup. Sigh. It's like if you make a quiche and just talk about how amazing the filling is and say, "Oh, for the crust, you can just use any old thing." WRONG. The crust matters so much, how hard, how soft, how much, how thick, how thin...

OK, I need to correct some things I said. Yes, he makes the process of cooking the apples sound REALLY GOOD. BUT. He also calls this "the best apple pie in the world." I die a little inside some more. This. Is. NOT. An. Apple. Pie.

So many sighs. I'll move on.

Look at how clean and beautiful my computer desktop is!

Unfortunately, I wish I could say the same about my real life desktop. I don't think it's been this spotless since the day I got it. Even then, I feel like it already had icons on it when Tim set it up for me and I was using it. It's so nice to look at, and it doesn't clutter up beautiful Lighthouse State Beach (Santa Cruz).

OK, enough of this... I could go on some more about that stupid tarte article. Work calls.

Update 6:46 pm-- Dear Stanford, PLEASE turn the heat on........ I'm going to be a popsicle before long. :( = major unhappiness