It’s Gravenstein Apple time! That means apple pies! That’s because the Gravenstein is considered by many to be one of the best all-around apple with a sweet tart flavor perfect for baking and cooking. It has a short season and it doesn’t keep well, so the best place to find them is at farmer’s markets, on the west coast, especially within traveling of Sonoma Country, California and Kimberly Orchards in Kimberly, Oregon.
I first started making apple pies in 1973. David’s mother, April, made the best apple pie and I wanted to learn how to do it. That August, I made 50 apple pies with boxes of Gravenstein apples, Julia Child piecrust and Joy of Cooking pie recipes (with April’s secret twists) and the Apple Peeler Corer Slicer gadget, still available today! Wrapped in gallon size plastic bags, the pies went into the freezer raw, ready to bake in mid-winter when no fresh Gravenstein apples could be found. April charged 6 pies for “freezer rent”, well worth it.
Because it was 1973, when we were all Martha Stewart hippies (before Martha existed), I saved the peels and cores to make apple jelly. The leftover apples turned into applesauce, which I canned, with my big canning pot and Ball Mason Canning Jars. I’ve made Gravenstein apple pies just about every year since then, but never again on this grand scale.
In Sunriver, about 10-12 years ago, I made a deal with a friend in the resort to pay her freezer rent for keeping my apple pies in her big freezer. It worked out great, but somehow, I never got the bug to make pies by the dozen or two or three again.
This year, I took the ingredients for apple pie to Nevada City, and made my first Gravenstein apple pie in a couple of years. We split it among 9 people, and it was really really good.
Back to the future, I’m going to make one pie for the freezer, make a pie in Medford on an upcoming visit with David’s parents, and for tonight: apple frico. Take a hard cheese, like a cross between parmesan reggiano and cheddar, and grate it in the large holes of the grater. Sauté slices of apple in a good olive oil, until caramelized and sticky with their own juices. Place a handful of cheese in the pan and cook until crispy, layer with apples, then add more cheese and flip. Crisp the other side and serve. You will think you’ve died and gone to apple & cheese heaven!
September 4: Kimberly Orchard Bounty! (Another Full Circle)
After 14 years, I’ve come full circle. I’ve just returned from Nevada City, California, where the three of us visited family friends. We had to stop by our former home, have coffee at Flour Garden, and drive around a bit.
Bird biologists bought our house. When we arrived, the “big rocks” in the driveway got up, stretched their wings and jumped into the water. They have about 30 ducks! We used to have ducks too, with Purina Duck Chow supplementing the natural food in the pond (which we calculated could support about 1.5 ducks). They’ve added a bridge over the creek, two sheds, an office building in the clearing across the pond (where my quilt studio should have gone), and fruit trees and chickens behind the office.
I miss my friends in Nevada City, but I have to say life in Oregon is good.
August 28: Full Circle
What’s not to like about shot cottons, silks and rayons? The batch of Skinny Scares, about 1″ by 280″, is finally finished. It’s a scarf, it’s a necklace, it’s a belt…it’s a fun accessory! This morning I felt confident I’d never make another one, but now, short segments of black and white fabrics sounds like a lot of fun…someone has to stop me!
I stopped at Farmers Market yesterday to pick up Kimberly Orchard peaches, nectarines and dried apples and Rick Steffen Farm tomatoes. I stopped by Pat’s house on the way home, and she gave me two dotty dishtowels. What a great day with fresh fruit and veggies, a gift and a warm greeting from Frida and Ruby, Pat’s dogs.
August 14: Eating My Way Through Summer
My sewing machine is going to the Maintenance Spa (A Common Thread, Portland, Oregon), so I am at loose ends. Literally. When I first constructed this zipper bag, I wanted shoe laces, but used what I had. I felt proud as I heard Tim Gunn’s words “make it work” in my head. It didn’t. Work that is. So now, the bag features shoelaces to cinch up the sides. After shopping, let the ties loose and the bag expands. Magic!
Carol Webb demonstrated her UnBlock Of the Month August 10th, at the Mountain Meadow Quilt Guild. First we cut, then we sewed, and at no time did we stop to think. This is my block.
July 9th I woke up with an idea for a Skinny Scarf. I made one using shot cottons and shot silks and absolutely loved it. It’s a Love/Hate thing- others either love it or hate it. Pat Pease requested a Skinny Scarf with the seams on the outside, washed and dried so it ravels to the utmost possible. I made a few more- they need to be turned right side out. Project Runway here we come!
The Owl Zipper bag is in the hands of Kari Hicks, recent college graduate who is doing an internship at a law firm before going off to law school herself in the fall of 2011. She loves her zipper bag and I love it that she loves it! Congratulations, Kari.
And finally, this is my great-niece Sydney Smith, who is a pretty great niece! I designed this ballerina skirt for her two years ago, with a way for it to keep fitting her into the future. It worked! She loves her skirt and again, I love it that she loves it.
With guests in the house, things get hectic. I found a dirty glass in an odd place, but just before soaking it with water, I noticed an interesting pattern in the dried milk at the bottom of the glass.
Doing dishes together is a good way to keep visiting with people you haven’t seen in a long time. But when both people reach for a dish at the same time, the dish might not survive. Actually, this is a really clean break- I believe this bowl will be saved. You can’t tell it’s already broken in the first photo, right?
August 8: Adventures in the Kitchen
This is the start of The Extra Quilt for our Color Cascade special exhibit. We need the additional quilt as a kind of poster to bring people down our aisle to see our quilts. I volunteered to make it, using the 20 colors of the individual quilts in the collection. My Method of Operating is usually ‘take on too much and then scramble‘ to get things finished. Not this time- I’m starting early. I hope to finish this quilt soon…keep a lookout for it.
For the challenge, nineteen people created twenty quilts, each a different color. With a few simple rules, we could do just about anything we wanted as along as 1) the quilt “reads” as our color from 10 feet away, 2) it finished at 18″ by 40″ with a facing, and 3) nothing stuck out from the edges.
We are excited to announce that our collection of quilts will be included in the special exhibits of the 2010 Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California. It’s my favorite quilt conference for a lot of reasons. It has all the bells and whistles of larger events but is affordable and just plain do-able.
As October gets closer, I hope to have more Sneak Peeks of the quilts in the Color Cascade exhibit. In the meantime, check out PIQF!
Rainier Cherries and Kimberly Orchard Dried Granny Smith Apples…must be summer!
Harold Fogle crossed Bing and Van cherries in 1952 at Washington State University and named his new cherry after Mt. Rainier. What’s not to like about the sweet creamy yellow cherries, harvested at their peak for best flavor? In fact, birds eat about 1/3 of the crop before the cherries get harvested. They retail for about $5 a pound around here but can go for $1.00 each in Japan, where they are much loved.
Snake Oil or Just Too Good: This fruit is high in fiber, Vitamin C, antioxidants, and melatonin (for better sleep). These cherries (allegedly) fight inflammation, ease the pain of arthritis and gout (?) and headaches, and help fight cancer and heart disease (all according to the source pnw.localnews.com).
I’m a big fan of Kimberly Orchards (think the best peaches in the world) and now I’m addicted to their dried apple slices- dried with nothing but their natural juices and a little lemon juice. Yummm…
The apples can be purchased just about year around if you know where to shop (such as Whole Paycheck/Foods) but the rainier cherries have a short season. It’s hard to practice moderation, but something so good for you can also make you sick if you eat too much!
July 25: Life in the Pacific Northwest
Our Mountain Meadow Quilt Guild, in collaboration with The Village Mall at Sunriver, holds an outdoor quilt show every August. The women of MMQG hold workshops to learn about and make items for the annual fundraiser bazaar held at the outdoor show. In exchange for the free workshop, an item must be donated to the sale.
I took the table runner workshop offered by Pat Pease and Sheila Finzer, who each presented their approach to string piecing. Using all scraps (except for the 1/8 yard I bought for the binding on side one) I made this reversible table runner to donate. I had to break out my 2nd book to read up on my reversible double French fold binding technique, but it was like riding a bicycle (it all came back to me- not that it was hard and I fell!).
I brought a tub o’ strips to share. I shouted with glee as people took masses of strips for their table runners, so how did I come home with more strips than my original pile? Turns out rascal Pat dumped her tub o’ strips into my pile!!
Fish like David? Well, check out the little piece of trout fabric- it’s the last bit of this fabric I had!
I love this plant! It’s a wonderful bitter cocoa powder color with appealing texture. One can get a “fiber fix” just about anywhere, and this plant is proof of that. Makes me want to stitch it into the underwater coral reef quilt or appliqué it or just enlarge the photo to hang on my sewing room wall.
July 17: Circles Outside My Kitchen Window
