…For apple picking! (Don’t worry, I’m not going to burst into any Christmas carols, despite there being a mere 92 shopping days left….) This is the time of year where the weather, presumably starts to turn crisp and the leaves start to turn the vibrant colors of fall. Though, with the summer we’ve had and the heat we’ve been experiencing the days are more muggy than crisp and I’m not holding out too much hope for vibrant oranges and yellows and reds. The apples, however, have been great. I got some McIntoshes from Brooksby Farm the other day that were exactly what Macs should be – crisp, tart and so juicy. With all of our unseasonable weather, those apples have been the first real sign of fall for me.
One good thing about the lack of rain is that there are more days to go out apple picking (less good for the apple trees, but still…). We’re so lucky in New England to have great farms that offer pick-your-own. Right here in Peabody we have Brooksby Farm, there’s also Connors Farm in Danvers, and only a short drive away you can find u-pick apples (and in a few more weeks, pumpkins!) in Ipswich, Amesbury and even New Hampshire. It’s a great opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine and it’s an opportunity that not a lot of people outside of New England have. I have college friends who grew up not too far from New England and have never experienced the quintessential fall joy of eating an apple right off the tree, have never snacked on a cider doughnut, warm and coated in cinnamon. They’ve never had their mom pull them back by the hood of their hoodie to stuff a few extra apples into them to make *sure* we’re getting our money’s worth (or maybe that’s just me….). Anyway, we’re extremely fortunate to have such great farms and opportunities to get outside so close to us.
If, like me, you just can’t get enough apples this time of year whether or not you’re able to pick them yourself, here are some book choices that will help with the cravings both literally and metaphorically:
Good Enough To Eat by Stacey Ballis
Stacey Ballis is a bit of an under-the-radar author who writes charming, endearing books about food, love and life. We have a couple of her books here at the South and they spend very little time on our shelves. In this one, main character Melanie loses a great deal of weight and seems to gain control of her life, only to have her husband leave her for another woman, forcing her to reexamine everything she was working towards. If this cover alone doesn’t make you want to run to the nearest apple orchard, I don’t know what will.
The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs
Another book of food and family with almost as enticing a cover. Perennially popular Wiggs writes of Tess Delaney who has spent her professional life returning stolen treasures to their rightful owners. One day she finds that she is set to inherit half of a 100-acre apple orchard with a heretofore unknown family member.
Biting the Apple by Lucy Jane Bledsoe
Eve Glass has led an enviable life as an Olympic sprinter and then as a well-known, successful motivational speaker who finds that her professional self and personal self are increasingly at odds. She manages to lose nearly everything in a search for an authentic self that may no longer jive with the life she has carved out for herself.
Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke
Now featured on TV as Murder She Baked, this installment of Fluke’s endearing cozy culinary mysteries Hannah Swenson encounters the body of a man with whom she shared a youthful indiscretion. In the hopes of keeping the secret from her policeman beau, she does a little investigating on her own. If you’re not sure what to do with the abundance of apples, the recipe for apple turnovers in this book might be just the thing to help with that surplus…
A La Mode: 120 Recipes in 60 Pairings by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough
What kind of librarian would I be if I didn’t offer a tried-and-true outlet for apples? Bring on the baking!! This new book is particularly well-suited to apple pies and the ice cream that pairs so well with it. You’ll find a host of delicious recipes in this colorful, extremely well-photographed cookbook any one of which is likely to make your mouth water.
Whether you’re able to take advantage of the apple bounty this fall or if, perhaps you’re just looking for a new beginning, often represented, particularly in some of these books, with the imagery of an apple, I hope you’ll be able to take some time to enjoy the beginnings of autumn. Till next week, dear readers, I’m off to munch on another crisp, delicious, local MacIntosh!