What a weekend!
Yesterday we celebrated Nora's fourth birthday with 42 of our friends and relatives. The theme of the day was "butterflies," and we had lots of butterfly-related activities for the kiddos. They made butterfly charm bracelets, butterfly ornaments, and even butterfly suncatchers to hang in the windows. It was a lot of fun to introduce some of our friends to others that, prior to the party, they had heard about only through stories.
After yesterday's huge celebration, today was decidedly low-key. We met Matt and Renee this morning at Cafe Flora in Montlake, a vegetarian restaurant which has become our new favorite brunch place. The food was absolutely amazing. Nora's pancake was shaped like a fish, complete with fruit fins and gills. The eyes were made of bananna slices with little raspberries on top.
With happy tummies, we got back on I-5 and headed north to the Skagit Valley. It's apple season in Washington, and we were on a mission to find the best ones we could. Our destination: the Jones Creek Farm, a "U-Pick" farm near Sedro-Woolley.
We were greeted at the gate with cups of hot apple cider and dispatched to the orchard with a cart and lots of plastic bags. There were hundreds of different varieties of apples, on trees that were low enough that Nora could pick them without any help from us. One of the most fascinating varietals that we saw today was the "Pink Pearl," a yellowish apple with a pink flesh inside.
The farmers encouraged us to eat as many apples as we wanted while we picked...and we certainly obliged. Nic rode along with me in the Baby Bjorn, and with every apple I tasted, he would crane his head up to look at me with his mouth open like a baby bird. I gave him little bits of apple and he did the happy food dance, smiling and kicking his legs up and down.
As we made our way up and down the rows we were treated to beautiful views of the Cascades to the south. Despite a gloomy forecast, the sun peeked through the clouds every few minutes.
At the end we filled up the truck with 64 pounds of apples and pears, a bag of beautiful tomatoes, and squash. What in the world does one do with 64 pounds of apples, you may ask? Stay tuned. We have quite a few ideas already...do you have any you would like to share?
4 comments:
Ethan says, "eat them" and Logan agrees. I suggest, based on our own experiences with 50 pounds of apples that you make apple pies and freeze them, apple butter, apple sauce, and apple chips. Lots and lots of apple chips! I hope you have a dehydrator for that yummy treat. The boys can't get enough of them.
What a fun weekend for all of you!
Was the "pink pearl" sweet or tart? Did it taste kind of like a "granny smith"?
The obvious choice is to make hard cider.
You could try making the cider like this: http://gallery.me.com/ericwagoner#100044
...but he used 10 bushels.
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