Teppy, did you have a cold recently?

Sorta. It was more like I felt like I was in the early stages of a cold for about 10 days (sore neck glands, mildly elevated temp, somewhat stuffy head, very tired), but it never turned into a full-blown snot monster cold.

After 16-ish hours, the vertigo is less bad, but still way worse than anything I've ever experienced. Took more benadryl and sudafed, ate some pad thai, and I'm now hoping to sleep off the worst of it.

Fingers crossed.

Oh dear. I hoped to wake up in the morning and find out you're fine by now. I'm crossing my fingers for you.

Also, may I have some dental and general health ~ma? I have tones of errands to do today, including spending really great time on the dentist chair while she replacing my brackets. I don't care for low fever, but I'm afraid it won't work if I'll have to blow my nose and cough every 5 minutes.

Great timing, whatever-it-is-I-have.

All the ~ma you want, Shir.

And some for Teppy, too.

IOpieN, I made a sugar free apple pie today. With boughten crusts. I read a bunch of Splenda-based recipes, and then made it up as I went along. I used 8 packets of Splenda, 2 packets of Sweet-N-Low, 3 tbs corn starch, a bunch of cinnamon and nutmeg, and about 9 apples mostly smallish from a sack of "variety seconds" from one of the local orchards. From the looks of them, mostly Cortland with some Honey Crisp, and a few Harrelson, and who knows what all else. Hint of tart, not too sweet, no weird aftertaste. The pie itself was a greater success than the SF whipped cream we made to go with it. Possibly too much vanilla in it.

Andi, a girl in my office has been making these recently and bringing them in, and they're really quite delicious if you're looking for new things to try out.

Crossant Cheesecake recipe

You will need:

2 rolls of Pillsbury reduced fat crescent rolls

2 (8oz) packs of reduced fat Philadelphia cream cheese

11/2 tsp of vanilla extract

1 egg

¾ a cup of slenda or 1 cup of sugar

Topping: v

2 tbsp of smart balance butter spread

1 tsp of cinnamon

¼ cup of splenda or ½ cup of sugar

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350
Grease a 9x13 pan and roll out one of the crescent rolls on the bottom of the pan. Mix together the cream cheese, egg, vanilla and slenda (sugar) and spread over the bottom layer crescent roll. Place the other crescent roll on top of the cheesecake mixture.

Melt the smart balance butter and spoon evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Mix together the splenda (sugar) and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the cheesecake. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

I just had a memory flash - my dad used to put a slice of cheese on his apple pie while it was still hot enough to melt the cheese. Is that a Southern thing, or was the old man just bonkers?

My grandmother used to have cheddar cheese on apple pie, and she was a New Englander.

Canadians (and some others I disremember) eat apple pie with cheese but not melted.

Southern thing, and it's quite good. I had a friend whose dad put gravy on chocolate cake. He was southern too, but that was just bonkers.

eta: heh. I'm proven wrong. It's just a thing, not particularly southern. Still good.

Canadians (and some others I disremember) eat apple pie with cheese but not melted.

And no matter WHAT my parents say, it is STILL WRONG.

(I grew up hearing "Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze!" on a regular basis. I hated cheese as a little kid, though I came to appreciate it later in life. But I maintain that the pie/cheese shippers are WRONG like wrong things.)

Warm New England apple pie needs a hunk of unmelted extra sharp Vermont cheddar cheese or it can not truly claim the title of Pie.

Also, many hugs to Tep and Deena and Shir and anyone else who needs them. Me, I'm currently regaining the title of queen insomniac (for the night, anyway). I took half an ambien an hour ago when it became clear I needed something but was too far into the sleep window to take a whole. The result? Partly functional, partly dopey Kristin who is still awake. Argh. Now I am awake and rather useless. How is this an improvment, exactly? Thank the gods for iPhone auto correct or this message would make a lot less sense.

I know I should put the phone down and try to sleep again, but I'm worried I'm even going to be able to drag myself out of bed in 4 hours. Have mentioned that I hate insomnia? And being slightly drugged for no useful reason?