I don't know why I have waited until I was this old to make these. Oh my god, the caramel goodness. The perfect goo. The milky butter richness. Watching the sugar boil until it started to turn this perfect caramel color. Makes 4 * 4 grape vine sticks picked from the bushes pushed into four golden apples found near by * 1/2 cup (creme fraiche) sour cream with 1/2 cup raw milk added (if i had a cup of whipped cream that is what i would have used, but hey, i use what i have in the fridge) * 1 cup granulated sugar * 1 Tablespoon honey * 2 tablespoons unsalted butter Directions Bring cream, sugar, honey, and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to pan, and continue to cook until mixture reaches 245 (soft ball) degrees, 10 to 12 minutes. Dip bottom of each apple in caramel. Coat apple halfway to three-quarters of the way up sides. Transfer to parchment paper and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes or while you gobble up your lunch only dreaming of the carameled apples for dessert and don't put them on a plate like this without the parchment paper, because they are impossible to get off!

It gladdens me that in recent years beets have been experiencing a bit more love from the culinary community at large. I understand why many are apprehensive of these earthy, crimson root vegetables, for if you've only ever had them pickled or from a tin (in which case they often resemble cranberry jelly), you may not have been able to appreciate their truly lovely taste and ability to work well with a multitude of other flavours. I know that this was the true for me, as I grew up with home canned beets, but did not eat a fresh one until I had moved away from home. Since then I've put beets to work in a number of recipes, from salads to rice dishes, but find that my favourite way to enjoy these nutrient rich little globes is to chop them up with various other root veggies, a generous sprinkling of fresh herbs, perhaps some onions or shallots, and to roast them collectively in the oven until their natural sugars have developed into an almost caramel-like sweetness. Hard to "beet" such a wholesome warm meal come the bone chilly months of the Canadian winter :