That was the year we had a brand-new, just-out-of-college English teacher who was way too easily intimidated by us cocky, full-of-ourselves 16 year olds.  I managed to convince him without too much in the way of histrionics that I absolutely had done an assignment (that I absolutely had not done), and if he couldn't find it, well, that was his fault, not mine; he let me do it over.  I almost could not believe I could have that much power - it was at least as high-inducing as weed.

Waitin' on my ride for football so I must be brief...highlights included a rollicking "Tenth Ave Freeze-Out" after the opening number, the new tune "Wrecking Ball"...leading into a blistering "No Surrender" after that. He had us all in the palm 15 minutes in.

Darkness was epic beyond words...with a "Streets of Fire" to rival the '78 version, blistering solo by Bruce on "Adam Raised a Cain"...a 50k strong serenade for the last verse of "Prove it All Night". Chills throughout.

And a "Jailhouse Rock" cover in the encore by audience request...always a track dear to me heart.  The best of times, and he best of times:)

You can peel and core'em, but that's just excess needless work and this way gets the job done and preserves the natural fruit pectin and immuno-boosting qualities from the skins.

2. Cook covered long enough for the fruit to be soft enough to mash to a thick sauce.

3. Strain away skins, seeds and pods and return the apples to the pot. Add about 1/4 cup per 2 qt sauce of apple cider vinegar -- just about any kind of vinegar works: red wine, rice, you name it -- and sugar or honey to taste.

4. Add a couple of cinnamon sticks and about a teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice (aka cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, sometimes green cardamom) per 2 qts of sauce. Slow cook down till it's a very dark colour.

The Douglas Adams ("Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") book "Last Chance to See" is absolutely wonderful, btw.  I first learned about Kakapos in that book, and the description of their behavior was so bizarre I had trouble believing it.  Then Attenborough did that incredible long series for PBS "The Life of Birds" some years later and actually had a section devoted to them, and darned if they weren't just as preposterous as Adams had said they were.

The females are only receptive to mating one day out of the entire year, and they all live solitarily.  So the males go through this incredible, laborious process of climbing way up on top of the right kind of hill and making a platform for themselves, then they settle down to broadcast their mating call in hopes of finding a nearby female who happens to be in that one day a year she's willing to mate.  They puff themselves up and expend extraordinary effort to give their call-- and it's so soft you can barely hear it!