Apple Country

Things have quieted down here in apple country.

The apple picking season has come to an end.

The lines of cars rolling in on weekend mornings are no longer here.

The crowds of visiting apple pickers, that add a bit of

temporary caos during apple season,

are done picking.

So when I went for a walk

(with permission) on the beautiful hills of

Bolton Spring Farm, I was completely alone.

The walk was very quiet and meditative,

the air was filled with a sweet aroma.

An aroma of apples past its prime that intensified

each time I accidentally stepped on one.

It's a strange, deserted feeling walking alone in the orchard.

Like the feeling you get when you go to the beach on a winter day.

It's the contrast between the noisy and lively, and the quiet, almost sleepy,

that appear so vividly.

I found the quiet and deserted orchard so beautiful,

and the view from the top of the hill was amazing.

I had such a nice, quiet and reflective walk.

Although the PYO* has ended,

there is still plenty for sale at Bolton Spring's farm store.

* PYO = pick your own. Americans looove time saving abbreviations.

Last night I decided to use up some apples by roasting them.

I made paninis with local Nashoba Brooks Bakery's 7 Grain Bread.

I layered roasted apples, brie, walnuts and a little honey

between the slices of bread.

-Yum!

I served the paninis with French onion soup, made with local beer instead of wine.

It tasted very fall:y.

Before I sign out, I also wanted to show,

especially to the locals, what I found

right next to Bolton Spring Farm.

A 1.2 mile path that leads to a lime quarry.

I can't believe that I have driven past this sign for 10 years without noticing it.

That is now on my list of things we can do on a weekend with our family.

I wonder what the quarry looks like...

Last, but not least...

A picture of our puppy Sanders.

As most of you guessed, he is a Boston Terrier.

Right now, our household is upside down

while we are trying to figure out how not to let this little life,

run our lives.

Claiming the Blueberry

More on these blue berries...

Many states here in the U.S. have particular foods that they claim as "their own".

The blueberry is popular.

Three states here in the U.S. (Maine, New Jersey and North Carolina) claim the blueberry as "their own" State Fruit.

For those of you who are wondering about our state fruit here in Massachusetts, it's the cranberry.

Further, Minnesota has a State Muffin.

And it is a...

Yep, you guessed it: blueberry muffin.

And nope, not all states have a state muffin.

To find out more,

check out this curious list of state foods if you have a moment.

Moving on to America's favorite muffin...

The Blueberry Muffin!

Above are "To Die for Blueberry Muffins" that I made.

And below is the recipe allrecipes.com.

(Psst, the website has a button for metric conversion.)

Ingredients for 8 muffins with crumb topping

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.2 Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with the flour mixture. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

3 Crumb topping: Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix with fork and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4 Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done.

Notes from the pastry chef.

I made 12 smaller muffins instead of suggested 8, just because I wanted to use my new muffin tin and liners from IKEA.

And, I used less crumb topping because I dropped the bowl with the crumb topping mix on the floor. Oooops! Unfortunate, because the crumb topping makes the muffin top veeeery delish.

And here is where I'll sit.

On a bench by the apple tree.

Eating my really yummy muffins.

Waiting for the apples to ripen.

Fresh!

That's it! I'm done with winter.

According to my calender it is still winter.

First day of spring is next Saturday, but I am ready today.

So, I changed my template to something spring:y. You like?

And, I'll show a picture of pansies. Not sold in stores yet.

They're from last year, so what? I need them now.

It's spring, time for new, green and fresh to enter.

And, I'll share a great recipe for a green, cool, polka dot, fresh Honeydew-Kiwi Sorbet.

The recipe is from a book called Eat Fresh Food, that my 8 year old son likes to pick recipes from to make with me.

1/2 C sugar

1/2 large ripe honeydew melon

4 large kiwi

1 lime*

Bring sugar and 1/2 C water to a boil. Stir until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

Cut melon and kiwi into 1 inch pieces and put in to food processor with a pinch of salt and process until very smooth. Add sugar syrup and process again until blended.

Cool in fridge then freeze in an ice cream maker according to its directions.*

* The recipe fails to say what to do with the lime, so we squeezed lime juice into the mixture.

I don't have an ice cream maker, so we just put it in to a plastic container and straight in to the freezer. We put it in the freezer in the morning and enjoyed it as dessert after dinner.

It tastes very yummy and fresh!

Have a great weekend,

Annelie

Bigger isn't always better

Every year in August, we pick a nice sunny day on the weekend to go pumpkin shopping as a family. And every year the man in the family takes his time to very selectively look for the biggest and most perfect pumpkin he can bring home.

(The boys and I pick out just normal size pumpkins, that's good enough for us.)

The 70 pound pumpkin has been adorning the entrance to our house for just over 2 months.

And today, on October 31st, it was time to carve it.

The normal carving tools you get at the store in the carving kit were of no help. Real carpenter's tools were needed to get through the thick walls. As the kids pulled out the flesh, we saw the seeds.

They were HUGE!!!

But also beautiful, look at their gorgeous caramel color.

They looked yummy as they came right out of our giant pumpkin.

Above they are pictured next to normal size pumpkin seeds.

Well, I toasted them right away, eager to compare.

The small ones came out yummy as expected, but the big seeds - BIG disappointment.

It was like eating unshelled sunflower seeds where you have to spit out the shell, but the inside wasn't quite worth the effort.

I have googled recipes for the giant seeds, but unsuccessful. If someone knows how to most enjoy the big seeds, please let me know. I'm pretty sure my husband will continue his yearly tradition of finding the perfect pumpkin.

P.S. I put a few seeds aside to dry and plant next year.

Apple cider the old fashion way

We're back at Cloverleaf Farm on a warm and sunny Friday afternoon.

Invited to make apple cider from scratch, in a vintage apple grinder and cider press.

I thank my lucky star to have neighbors like these.

30 pounds of local apples, a mixture of Macintosh, Empire and Cortland, were in the process of being ground as we get there. The steel teeth of the grinder, were digging into the apples, reducing them to small bits, and releasing a familiar and wonderful apple scent into the air. The last of the season's yellow-jackets were buzzing around, seemingly intoxicated by the sweet aroma.

The children got a turn at grinding the apples, but quickly realized it was hard and time-consuming work. They disappeared to play elsewhere, but kept checking in frequently, making sure they weren't missing out on the cider producing moment.

Finally, all the apples had been ground and were to be put in the press in batches. The press was lined with double cheese cloth to strain the cider and to catch seeds and any lost yellow-jacket that might have made its way into the apple grinds.

My son got to put the wooden lid on and then the children started turning the press.

And there it was, slow at first, then at a steady stream... the apple cider. You would have thought it was liquid gold the way the children all were trying to get at it to taste.

I think it was a great moment for everyone, and a very delicious one too.

Many thanks to my dear friends at Cloverleaf Farm!

Here is one of my favorite apple cider recipes. It is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine and is called Apple-braised turkey thighs. When I make it, the apples never stay in pieces, but sort of melts in to the sauce which I don't mind at all. The turkey meat itself becomes wonderfully tender and falls of the bone. I love, love, love this dish.