apple picking.

On the occasion that I am not in New York, I am most likely in New Jersey. After particularly stressful weeks, I am lured to the suburbs for some quiet R&R by my boyfriend of the past 5 years. We met in college and traveled to the great white North together. While he lives and works over there, and I in Manhattan, we see each other a good bit since the distance in between is not far.

A couple of weekends ago I convinced him to take me apple picking. After buying my seasonal pumpkin from the Chinese Quick-mart on the corner of 82nd street, I decided it was time to get out to a real patch where the weather would be nice and the farm fresh produce abundant.

 For the picking we traveled out to Oldwick, NJ - not far from where Josh lives. The the farm was perfect: plenty of pumpkins, homemade cider donuts, hay rides and rows and rows and rows of apples.

We tried to reach for the biggest, juiciest looking apples and obviously came home with way too many. My grandmother makes a mean apple pie, but I decided to go with this version instead. Mainly, because I also snuck a gallon of fresh apple cider up to the register and this recipe calls for cider caramel.

Oozing Cider Caramel Apple Pie

 I regret having bought frozen pie crust, since this one didn't hold up so well. Could have gone with store-bought dough (or home-made!), but the 38 apples had my head spinning and I wasn't about to consider the mess associated with the crust situation. The pie was pretty awesome, though. Go make this now while the weather is still crisp

Even with the pie, there were still so many apples left. Using this recipe, I made apple cider sangria to sip on while waiting for the pie to cook. It was perfect for an afternoon of college football with the windows open.

We didn't finish all the sangria that the recipe made, but we ate apple pie for breakfast and lunch the following day. Fall is slowly becoming my favorite season.