cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.....

This morning I woke up and it felt like fall.  The floor was cold.  Matthew had slept (on the floor, next to the perfectly good bed) with his window wide open all night so the hall was freezing, well maybe 65, but freezing nonetheless.  The sky was cloudy and I thought to myself  yes! finally!  This is the day fall will start.  So we had a Fall breakfast to celebrate! 

drum roll please.......

I give you pumkpin pie pumpkin pancakes.....

these are the only photos because as soon as they were flipped onto a plate they were gone.  Just imagine a pretty plate with a pile of pancakes, some melting butter, with syrup slipping down the sides and maybe, just maybe a cloud of whip cream on top with some pecans......  yea, that's what it looked like to me too!  Plus they kinda tasted like warm pumpkin pie!

*get the recipe here

dreaming.....

I get tired of summer.  Sun is wonderful.  Fantastic even.  But after a while, I am ready for it to be over.  Not the kids home from school, schedule free part.  Never that....just the unrelenting heat. 

I love fall.  The changing from summer to winter.  Leaves turning color and falling from trees.  Cooler windy days.  A crispness in the air, fuzzy socks, soft sweaters, sheets and towels warm from the dryer.  Crunchy apples.  The smell of cider.  Orange pumpkins lined up in a row.  Baking.  The anticipation of winter. 

The only thing that could make it better is if we lived somewhere fall actually occurs!  It sort of happens here in CA.  60 & 70 degree weather feels cool after 100+ days on end.  Santa Ana winds stir up the leaves.  The neighbors Cottonwoods turn yellow before the leaves fall.  I can go to the farmers market and stock up on apples and pumpkins.....

Someday this will be in my backyard, but for now I am dreaming...

Fall fun.....

Fall is here again which means our annual trip to Oak Glen to pick apples.  This year we were a little worried we wouldn't be making the trip with all the recent wildfires in the area but fortunately the apple orchards and all the farms were spared as a direct result of all the efforts of the fire crews.  One of the first farms we ever visited, Riley's, had fire directly across the street, but their 100+ year old orchards weren't damaged!  We figured it was eight years ago that we started the fall tradition of a picnic and apple picking.  It is so nice to go up to the mountains and enjoy cooler weather, the smell of fall (because fall does have a smell), the scent of apples and crowds of people!  Over the years our outing has evolved.  When the kids were little we'd get a late start, buy lunch, pick apples, go to the petting zoo,  and maybe get some old fashioned candy from the general store.  One year we even fished in the "special" pond and took home fresh trout for dinner at a hefty price tag!  These days since Matthew and Katie can put away more food than we the adults can, we pack a huge picnic basket full of food, take some quilts and have a picnic on the sprawling lawn at Los Rios Rancho.  There is a beautiful view down the valley and up over the pass.  It is nice to just relax, watch the little kids run around and spend time together.  After our bellies are full we head off to the orchards to pick apples.  This year there was a late spring frost which sadly resulted in no apples left to pick.  We did ok though - lots of different apples in the packing shed to pick from.  We wound up with:  granny smiths - nice and tart for our caramel apples;  honey crisp - crunchy, sweet and a little tart perfect for snacking;  and a box of gravensteins seconds for me, mom, to can apple pie filling! 

Tasty treats...

Katie coats all our apples with melted caramel...

then it's time for toppings.....

marshmellows.....

nuts, chocolate chips & sprinkles......

make sure all that caramel is covered!

yep, they taste great!

We love caramel apples, so this year we whipped up a batch of our own! Actually, they are so easy to make we have made several batches! What a yummy dessert! We didn't have any apples left from our apple picking so we used little tart granny smiths. The sweet caramel with the sour apple is delicious!

Fall in Oak Glenn.....

The trees were loaded with yummy apples...

Katie explains to Matthew which

apple to pick next.....

are you sure that's the one I wanted??

Mom says to pick more.....

couldn't quite reach that last apple!

looks like we will be

snacking on apples for a while!

chestnut pods still on the tree...

hmm....which one should we check next?

under the chestnut tree...you
can see all the pods scattered on the ground!

look at what I found!.....

Katie prying open the chestnuts.....

Katie's technique for opening the pods

without getting stuck!

yummy chestnuts!

lots of good nuts to roast!

looks like it's time for dessert!!

One of our favorite fall traditions is to drive about an hour from our home to a little town called Oak Glenn. It is up in the mountains and is a little community of apple growers. There are lots of farms where you can pick your own apples, and there are lots of varieties we don't see in the supermarket. This year we took our picnic basket and ate a picnic lunch on the lawn at Los Rios Rancho. When we were full (and ready for a nap) we wandered into the grove and picked a huge bag of Winesap apples. They were super crunchy and a nice tart sweet, my new favorites!!! Once we gathered all the apples that would fit into our bag we wandered down the road to another part of their farm where you can pick chestnuts! This is even more fun than picking apples! The chestnuts fall off the tree in these prickly pods (which are really sharp) and you have to pry them open to gather the nuts. All that work got our appetite up so we bought a pie to bring home for dessert!