scenes from this weekend...

a wonderful weekend...

{beautiful gala apple}

...in an apple orchard.

with a plan to fill my gut with apples and other wonders from the farm's kitchen, i started my day with a glass of freshly made green juice (not pictured). and, since i hate produce waste, i could make good use of some greens threatening death and start the produce clearing process before leaving for a week. it was bright and refreshing with the spicy zip of ginger.

we forwent our saturday scone tradition in lieu of fresh apple cider donuts and coffee.

{sugared apple cider donut}

i didn't think to capture a shot the donut in its right setting: atop a small stack of napkins, next to a paper cup of coffee, all set at a wooden picnic table. the weather was perfect. cool enough to enjoy sitting in the sun and still be able to enjoy hot coffee. the perfect starting note of the day.

the donut wasn't too sweet. a coating of cinnamon sugar complimented both the cakey donut and the coffee.

when we finished, we were off to get our collecting bag. we went with the larger option, as the smaller one didn't look like quite enough {though i'm sure a peck would be sufficient for two normal folk, i love my fruit}

once amongst the trees, our eyes bulged like the proverbial kids-in-a-candy store. we couldn't wait to get our hands on the jewel of the apple season that is the honeycrisp. we plucked a well-blushed {and massive} specimen from the first tree we reached. balanced. with an acidity that cuts the sweetness. juice ran down our hands as we hunted for apple perfection.

our first row was lined on one side by honeycrisps and galas on the other. a beautiful apple, galas just don't offer enough flavor for me to justify adding them to my bag. however, since i was not hunting solely for myself, we threw in a few for good measure.

once my picking partner had deemed our honeycrisp collection sufficient, we moved on to the ginger gold - a young golden delicious varietal. deciding i needed a sample, i pulled a small one for immediate enjoyment. i should have tried one earlier. it was a close rival to its orchard-mate. the dwindling space in our half-bushel bag was almost enough to start throwing apples overboard to make room (the galas perhaps? he tried one in the field and decided they were not so glorious as the appeared. so why not? remember, i'm not a waster.) so i made due with the space we had, leaving just enough for one last stop.

{our 17-plus pound apple haul}

when we'd first arrived to the fields we were surprised to learn we could gather both apples and peaches...so we did.

{a pretty peach in her tree}

being the last peach-picking weekend of the season, i'm sure in weeks past the trees hung heavy with sweet fruit. that said, it took little effort to find plenty of heavenly, tree-ripened bulbs (some the size of large apples). 

{our modest peach harvest: more than seven pounds}

once home, the remainder of the day was comprised mostly of football watching highlighted by a visit to a yummy food truck.

{mama kim's: beef bulgogi with rice and kimchi, veggie dumplings}

mama kim's is our first and only experience with Korean barbecue. how we've thus far not experienced such cuisine is a sad thing indeed. not much a beef-eater, the shaved beef bulgogi dish is one that i now can't pass up.

a great end to a great day.

{apricot pecan white chocolate chip scones}

sunday started with scones and kept us on the couch with NFL sunday ticket. it also featured way too much taco dip (not pictured - sadly).

a delicious weekend.

next weekend: wisconsin