Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Additional Autumn Adventures

Yet another busy, fall-flavored weekend! To start with, Saturday morning I went over to the farm stand for more pumpkins and apples. Thought of you, Jeff: lo and behold, they actually had McIntosh apples! However, they were in the sort of gourmet apple section and were quite a bit more expensive than more local varieties like Honeycrisps. I was tempted for nostalgia's sake, but my inner Scot put a kibosh on the idea.

Wagon

Saturday afternoon, I got to hang out with friends and play music at Hope Grange's "Octoberfest" in Winlock, WA. This is an annual community event, kind of old school: the kids dress up in Halloween costumes and there are activities like face painting and games like bean bag tosses, for which you can win candy. They also have a hay ride on a wagon to a nearby pumpkin patch, where kids can select a pumpkin to bring back to the grange hall and decorate, or take home to carve later. I rode along for one of the trips. The weather was beautiful, and the sound of the tractor (no horses on this hay ride) drowned out any mistakes. Bonus! I think we may have had more fun than the kids did.

When I got back from the hay ride, I made apple sauce from apples I got from friends and got apple butter started in the crockpot to cook overnight and into the next day, and Sunday afternoon, I canned nine little jars of fresh apple butter. It turned out nicely, I think! I still have enough apples left to make another batch, too! I want to vary this next batch a bit, but haven't decided just how. Maybe find cinnamon oil to make it exceptionally potent? Hm. Ponderable.

apple butter
New apple butter!

Next weekend our office is moving locations, so no big major plans for me. Should be relatively uneventful, aside from Saturday morning. I hope. I need some time to do some NaNoWriMo plotting. More on NaNo plans in my next post!

3 comments:

Bill M said...

A fun weekend. Your posts on Apple Butter are tempting me to make some myself.

Elizabeth H. said...

It's really pretty easy to do in the crockpot, though I did have to heat it briefly on the stove to get it boiling before canning it.

I think the next batch will be maple and cinnamon!

Anonymous said...

That sounds (and looks) like another wonderful weekend. I understand about the inner Scotsman approach but it gets kind of weak concerning good apples!

I envy your mandolin. I've handled a couple and the fretboard is just too small for my big ol' fingers. (Some talent for the instrument might help, as well.)

I hope your autumn continues to be such a pleasure.

Jeff The Bear