Apples

Eat With Me isn't the only one cooking his signature fall dishes. Last weekend the gang had our annual apple pick followed by a fall potluck at the Timily's.

We went to Homestead Farms in Poolesville, MD and boy was it crowded. Our usual orchard was already picked over but we were led to an orchard with Pink Ladies (insert Grease joke here), Sun Fuji, Golden Delicious, Braeburns (meh), and Romes (Meh). It was a totally perfect fall day with bright sunshine and a little nip in the air. My apologies to the Homestead Farms folks but we must have eaten a pound of apples. There truly is nothing like freshly picked fruit. You just don't taste it, you FEEL it just infuse your body with its fragrant goodness. Golden Delicious, which I would never buy in a store, live up to their name when picked off the tree. The key to most apples (except for Granny Smith) is to look for the blush of pink. If it's completely yellow or green, it's likely underripe.

For the potluck I made an apple crostada and fried some premade Vietnamese spring rolls that I brought to DC with me from the O.C. My mother was fairly adamant about the high quality of Little Saigon spring rolls which Eden Center spring rolls couldn't hold a candle to. So I take a styrofoam cooler with those blocks of fake ice filled with 100 spring rolls, a bag of won tons, and several rolls of cha, which is Vietnamese sausage. Other dishes at the potluck were an almond scented pear pie, pumpkin cupcakes, cheese platter, salad, the Timily's barley, and squash soup.

Tomorrow I will have the time to turn the 15 pounds of apples into applesauce. For both applesauce and apple pie, it's really useful to have a variety of apples involved. The firmness and tartness of a granny smith is a great compliment to the more butterly texture and flavor of a golden delicious. And heaven knows I have plenty of each.