apples for apples

Sam's got a new coworker, Ben, who is originally from the other coast, where apparently apple picking is a common family thing. He wanted to go apple picking, and Sam jumped in with both feet and decided we should have an entire apple oriented day, going out to get apples, then cooking all kinds of apple based food, and playing apple games like Apples to Apples, which I've never heard of. She asked if we wanted to go, so we did, and I dragged Warren along with us, because he was visiting.

We went to a place called Gabriel Farms, where they charge you $2/lb to come and pick your own organic apples (WAY more expensive than buying your organic apples at the farmers' market). I guess it costs a lot of money to maintain the cash register and scale where people come to pay for the apples they've picked themselves and which they are about to transport to their own houses. Or, maybe it costs a lot of money to have a super cool Johnny Appleseed sculpture by your driveway.

Whatever the case may be, we had a lovely day for apple picking. It actually was quite warm, and sunny, and we picked mostly Fuji apples. I learned 2 things: apples from organic farms are ugly and blemished and bug eaten, and hand-picked apples from the orchard are incredibly better than apples bought from the farmers' market - I had no idea. The apples we picked at this orchard are so much sweeter and more flavorful than the ones I previously thought of as good. Also, now when I pick up the ones I got at the farmers market, I realize that even those are waxed. They actually feel rather gross after handling the ones that are not waxed. I think we ended up with about 15 lbs of apples among the lot of us. Charli liked to take one bite from each apple, and then put it back in the bin, and of course, she was super cute the whole time. Afterwards we had wagon rides, then we had a little picnic at a park we found, and then we headed home.

Once we got home, we got to start using the apple toys I bought. I bought an apple peeler/corer, which I thought was pretty prosaic, and a little thing to make adorable hand pies, which I thought was adorable (weren't you listening?). Warren's friend came over for dinner, and they made DELICIOUS pasta sauce and we had pasta and salad for dinner. Pretty much everyone contributed at least a little bit to the apple hand pies, but I was definitely the driver there (because they're so adorable). We made a ton of filling using the apple peeler/corer, which is, by the way, completely awesome and the coolest new kitchen thing I've bought in a long time, and it was pretty yummy. Then we handmade the dough, and I thought I'd throw in some whole wheat flour in place of some of the regular flour to give it some redeeming qualities, and we had to use a recipe that didn't need chilled butter to be cut into the flour, as I didn't have a food processor or one of those hand things that cuts butter into flour. We didn't have a rolling pin either, so we used an empty wine bottle, and it took forever to make these hand pies. But aren't they adorable? Unfortunately, they tasted terrible. The dough on mine was actually inedible - I just dug out all the filling and ate it with ice cream. I'll have to try another dough recipe the next time, if there actually is a next time.

In retrospect, I'd have to say that if you decide to have an apple picking day and also want to use it as an opportunity to buy some kitchen gear, get an apple peeler/corer and don't bother with an adorable hand pie mold.