PASSIONATE RATIONS

Apples have made it to this page before , but our neighbors have made it necessary to write about them again, having just hosted their 2d Annual Harvest Party.

What is a Harvest Party you ask? Well, our neighbors’ goes like this:

8:00 a.m.: Leave for local apple orchard (or, in this year’s case, leave for Vermont apple orchard an hour away); pick as many apples as you desire

12:00 noon: Return from orchard laden with every variety of apple grown by the orchard

Noon to 11pm (yes, that’s right, all day): invite friends to drop in and, together, devise ways to use apples in every conceivable recipe you can find; use them in such recipes; eat all day.

This year’s delicacies included:

pasties (that’s the English puff pastry, not those, umm, Las Vegas modesty-makers) filled with chicken, apples and onion

applesauce

chicken stuffed with apples and sausage

bread stuffed with brie and apples

apple slices with a selection of cheeses

pumpkin bread made with applesauce

fresh-pressed apple cider

etc. etc.

I have determined from this experience that, like tomatoes, apples really should be eaten straight from the plant that bore them (not just Pink Ladies taste great that way).

I’m thinking this idea lends itself to other foodstuffs too. Blueberries, maybe? Strawberries? Peaches? Sushi? Let’s see, fishing in the a.m., sushi rolling in the p.m.? Maybe not.

Well, next year I hope I’m not too thwarted by the early time to make the actual apple-picking part….

One can always dream. Dream of apples.