For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 27, 2009

It’s all fun and games ‘til someone has to cook the pie!

But seriously, can’t they just save the peels and make something else to eat with them instead of wasting them?

Just compost ‘em. Plant the cores; who knows, you could get lucky.

Ah, the yearly ritual.

I know someone who uses apple peels and cores to distract the deer from her garden, she also plants enough corn that there’s enough for everyone.

Applesause! Just core ‘em and cook ‘em and blend ‘em. Yum!

I think it’s charming, and I’d be so happy that my family brought me the goods to make goodies! We’d eat apples in pies and oatmeal and as applesauce and on pork chops…. well, you get the idea. And every time I’d point out that these were the apples THEY got for me from the farmer’s market, and look them all in the eye to let them know how special they are. She is truly blessed.

Would’ve been nice if John had helped with the peeling but he thinks hey I bought it my job’s done!

It’s a great idea, but I agree it would be even better if John and the kids would help with the cooking. That’s a lot of apples!

Now we see what happens when you send dad out for a day with the kids,they bring you presents with work involved.

I’m an old fashioned male chauvinist pig. My stay at home wife is happy with what I bring her.

“…it would be even better if John and the kids would help with the cooking.”

Lets think about that again. Maybe they would all be better off if they didn’t help!

I saved the apple cores for the my horse. Back in my younger days

I was always first in line for the apple peels. I later learned that is where half the nutrition is. Won’t peel or core an apple to this day. Everything goes down except the stem.

Susan001 - Ellie’s not the one with the negative attitude. Sure she’s frowning. I would too if my husband dumped about 10 hours of unexpected work on me and then left the kids for me to watch as well. Accusing someone who is understandably upset and frowning slightly of having a negative attitude is a bit like calling someone in a wheelchair lazy. By the way, my son & husband once gave me a birthday gift that was in many ways similar to that bushel of apples. I tried to be diplomatic, but I let them know the error their ways. They did NOT walk away and leave it to me to take care of. And now, about 25 years later, they both still talk and laugh about their “mistake”.

…that is a large number of apples…

I’m with Ellie on this one. If my husband wants to bring home an entire day’s worth of extra work for me to do, he’d better check with me first.

If he’d brought home one of those little crank-peeler thingies, the could’ve made it a game and left most of the work to the kid. It’s only about an hour to get through a whole bushel of apples, and then it’s pies pies pies ‘til the cows come home.

And when the cows do come home, you can feed them the cores and peels.

Elly can make for canned, jam, pie, cake, applesauce and what more the apples can do for all of them and us to eat. :-)

Why on earth is she slaving like that with a big frown on her face? The wonder of apples is…they keep! You don’t have to use them up all in one day, for heavens sake!

Her eyebrows are up, and only her mouth is down, so I see concentration, not frowning. She’s already made two pies, so maybe it’s just that she’s trying to figure out what next? In any case, I don’t see her “seething inside”.

I bought one of those fancy centrifugal juicers that mashes up fruits & vegetables and flings the pulp into a separate basket.

With the abundance of tomatoes my garden provided this summer - I’ve been making tomato juice. Then I use the pulp + spices to make Chili Sauce (the spicy sweet kind like Mom used to make - more like chunky ketchup). Makes “cooking from scratch” alot easier & less wasteful when U don’t have to peel.

Works good with apples too! I like to make fresh applesauce (take out the seeds & stems) & warm it up with some sweet spices. Très yummy with Vanilla Ice Cream!

Am I the only one who noticed that Elly not only has this extra work, but that she didn’t get to go on the trip?… the fun part?

Why do so many people get down on Elly??? She raised two very well adjusted adults, April did well to once she got older. The story line cut off right well she was still a teenager so that is why I left her off, but made reference to her. Elly is fine. Her and John retired together and have done quite well for themselves. Please give her a break.

My husband brought me a 5 gallon pail full of apples from the tree on the family farm. I did not make pies or applesauce. I put them in the refrigerator, and we are eating them.

This is a Canadian comic strip. So how would the phrase “as Canadian as __” go when dealing with apples in this case? The United States already have it as “as American as apple pie.”

I too get a more and more tired of Elly’s always negative attitude. It’s so cool! They brought apples! Now she can make pies! It’s so cool to make pies. Then again, I never peel my apples for the pie….

Anways, if that’s such a tremendous chore, she could have made a fun evening together with the whole family peeling apples!

Susan001 said - I still detest her negative attitude, though. To Elly, the glass is ALWAYS half-empty.

Susan001, you constantly berate Elly for being negative, yet a lot of what YOU say in your comments is just negative after negative after negative about Elly! I don’t remember the last time you actually said something nice about Elly, or commended her on a good decision! Perhaps it’s your glass that’s a little half-empty.

…..seems a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. OR maybe it could be that you actually have a hubby like John (or heaven forbid, Ted) and we could understand your position. If that is the case, commisserations and hugs! :o)

My husband has learned that if he wants apple pie from scratch, he can do the work. I’ll make pie crust, but my mom never made a really good apple pie, so I prefer to use the canned pie filling. I did buy one of those apple peeler/corer/slicer several years ago, so we’ve got the tools. He just made an apple pie yesterday, with my homemade pie crust. Guys can learn to cook, if they are properly motivated. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I was busy baking a bunch of rolls, etc.

John spent the day with the kids while Elly spent this time alone in a bubblebath eating bonbons.

it’s a comic strip based in the 70’s

way too much drama from the comments

good grief

Open wings and nelly55,, well said

Susan001 - It’s not a problem for me - ‘twas merely an observation! And of course, you are entitled to feel exactly as you wish; I was not denying your right to rant. Goodness knows, it wouldn’t be the same around here without your colorful contributions, so… as you were! :-)

Nelly55 - hey, you gotta love a good bit of drama! ;-)

Thanks EarlWash - Cheers! :o)

Re: Elly’s negative attitude. Nelly55 has the right idea. It was the seventies. You had to be there to understand, and I have a feeling that the people who don’t understand Elly weren’t. (Did that make sense?… It’s way past my bedtime). Elly just represents the popular perception of what was happening in the Western world. Women’s Lib and all that.

Even should the comic be based in the 70’s, my dad knew how to cook back then as well. I find it quite amusing that you do not expect men to be able to bake or cook, since i and all my male friends (in sweden) do it all the time.

I just had a similar experience. It was not fun, peeling, coring, slicing about 20 lbs, of apples. I’m sure my face had the same expression.

ps, i love Elly, or I wouldn’t have have read her all these years.

comixavier said, about 21 hours ago

This is a Canadian comic strip. So how would the phrase “as Canadian as __” go when dealing with apples in this case? The United States already have it as “as American as apple pie.”

I believe the Europeans invented the apple pie. And as every thing, the Americans stole it, along with the tune to “God save the queen”, and almost every tv show on US tv.They began in Britain .

aww john is just like another kid. and ellie is a sweetheart. i hope i’m a wife just like her. she’ll get grumpy, but in the end she loves it. and i do find it charming, and i’m 21 and engaged to an amazing man. but she COULD have asked john to lend a hand. the fact that she didn’t means that she didn’t mind it that much, in my opinion. love the couple’s dynamics, and john loves her very much so he knows she won’t mind- and she probably doesn’t after a nice free day. if she’s mad she’ll tell them not to do it again lol. silly things. problem solved =)

this is so funny its just like my family!!!!!! lol i bet my mom feels like this ALL the time