Apple Picking Season!

Fall, in my opinion, is the best season.  The summer's heat and humidity are replaced with a crisp breeze that transforms the trees into a colorful backdrop for all the fun fall activities.  Near the top of my list for "Things I Can't Wait to Do in the Fall" is apple picking, which is closely followed by apple pie making.  Since Montreal is an island, and to my knowledge there are no orchards on the island, I was not sure how we would go apple picking without a car.  Luckily, AMT offers a fall orchard excursion with transportation over the river and through the woods to orchards in the Lower Laurentians.  It even includes a ten-pound bag of apples we would pick ourselves.  Voila!

Ditching the city on a
train to the orchard.

As we headed out with a group of friends last Saturday, I was very excited about the whole thing.  Adam was less than thrilled about apple picking.  On our way to the train station, we saw an unusual number of people dressed in costume.  As Halloween is more than a month away, I thought this was odd until we realized that Montreal's Comiccon was happening that very weekend.  If we hadn't already purchased our train tickets, I'm certain Adam would have ditched the orchard for Comiccon.  He sulked, listened to some Metal on the train ride, and then proceeded to enjoy being at an orchard.

Scotty & Adam at the orchard.

We started with a picnic lunch, then got busy picking apples.  The rows of trees were not labeled and I am not well versed on the variety of apples, so I have no idea what kind of apples we picked.  Some are red, some are green, and some are a combination of both.  They are all delicious.  And a trip to an orchard is not complete without purchasing some fresh apple cider and delicious apple donuts.  Miam! (That is French for yum!)

I need more apple recipes!

On Sunday, Adam (finally) made it to Comiccon, while I tried to figure out what to do with 20-pounds of apples.  I started by making a delicious apple pie and discovered that KitchenAid mixers are great for making pie pastry.  I had tried once before, laboring with a pastry cutter to make my own pie crust, and decided it wasn't worth the effort.  Since I am in love with our KitchenAid mixer, I thought I would try again and let the mixer do all the work.  It was quick, easy, and came out perfect.  No more store bought pie pastry for me!


I also tried making applesauce for the first time - which I discovered was incredibly easy and delicious.  I barely made a dent in our stash of apples.  There is an apple crisp recipe I want to try, but if anyone has delicious apple recipes please send them my way! :)