so last week while at the grocery i compulsively picked up three winter pears - they looked soo good. the thing was they weren't ripe yet...so i dropped them in a brown paper bag, tucked them in a safe out-of-the-way place and pretty much forgot about them. fast forward a week and the pears have gone past the nice juicy stage and into "i'm going to disintegrate in your hands when you pick me up" stage. which leaves you with only one thing to do: make sauce.

honeyed pear polenta
(yes i know i said sauce, trust me on this)

* very ripe pear
* water
* honey
* cinnamon
* cornmeal, coarse is probably better

depending on how ripe your pear is either chop into desired size pieces or scoop pear mush into small-ish pot. add some water, enough to cover the pear. add some honey, three or four spoonfuls. depends on how sweet your pears are and how sweet you want this to turn out. add corresponding amount of cinnamon. bring to a low boil and let simmer for a long while; stir often enough that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. once the pear starts to break down, add some cornmeal, maybe three or four cupped handfuls. add more water and stir until the stuff stops spitting at you. add more water and repeat. add just a bit more water and let cook for a bit longer, again stirring to keep from sticking/burning. it should be pretty much done at this point. eat warm or cold.