Pie Mania

Apple picking was quite a time. It really brings out the child in you! We drove about 30 minutes west of Waltham, MA to Bolton, MA to the Bolton Spring Farm for some apple picking and of course warm cider donuts! First stop on arrival, donut booth. I had never had cider donuts. They come warm, covered with cinnamon and sugar and completely melt on contact with the tongue and roof of the mouth. I was pretty hungry, hadn't eaten lunch and it was about 12:30 at this point. So that was a good short term fix and it was quite delicious as well!

Off to the orchard we go across the street. We buy a 1/2 bushel sack (about 25 pounds) for $20. (I want to say right now - 25 pounds is A LOT of apples!) Anyway, so off we go - there is a mountain covered with apple trees in front of us. I dart off with one of my friends as we decide to race each other up the side of this apple tree mountain (like this is a good idea), we got half way up and ran out of gas - literally. I grabbed an apple off the ground and started munching. It was crisp and juicy, and almost exploded when I bit into it. There was not a hint of the mealiness which plagues store bought apples. The flesh was so white and the skin so red with a small spot of green making it look quite fabulous! Spam won the prize for the most perfect apple right off the tree, with a leaf and it was shiny right off the tree!!

The five of us ladies roamed the orchards for about one hour, picking apples, discussing Halloween costumes, restaurants, an upcoming wedding and high school drama until that 1/2 buschel sack got to be to much of a pain to carry. We started back to the car with 25 pounds of apples and one very bruised nose. You see, the toddler in me needed to get the perfect apple from WAYYY high up in the tree. In my effort to reach it, I shook another apple loose and it plummeted to the ground, only my upwards facing face was in the way of it hitting the Earth. Instead, it smacked my sunglasses right into the bridge of my nose and that doesn't feel to nice - I assure you of that!

Then after a picnic and the purchasing of more cider donuts, we headed home to commence the pie baking. Spam brought a recipe for hybrid between a pie and a crumble. That recipe only got used for one of the 6 pies though. The rest were termed 'experiments' which lacked precise measuring and even any realm of thought at all. We filled some with pecans or walnuts, cinnamon, sugar, butter, nutmeg, cloves, apple cider and obviously apples! Some had pie crust tops, some the crumble/streusel topping - one even had both! The "purse" pie was deemed best looking, due to folded appearance on top, but all of them tasted fantastic. We even got the three boys up from the basement (with very little coaxing - they kept coming up to check on the status of the pies under the pretense that they needed more beer). We conned one into going to Shaw's to buy ice cream and then sat them down to help us consume these fresh fruit wonders. It really is amazing how different a frozen pie tastes from a homemade one with store bought apples to a homemade one with hand picked apples. There is just no comparison. The fresh apples melt down slightly with the heat, their sweet nectar fills the pie and spreads the sugar and spices throughout, covering each apple slice perfectly. As the crust browns up the smells of browning butter fill the house and relax your mind and body - taking you back to childhood winter holidays! I could do that at least one day per week - how relaxing - especially with great friends!