Apple picking!

Last year sashagee and I went apple-picking together as just about the last date activity we did before her pregnancy made her too sick to do anything. We always wanted to go back, though, and since we missed the Apple Fest in Lincoln Park this would be our main chance to get a huge horde of apples this season. And since our parents still had never met, we invited both of them along to apples and lunch.

Last year when we went it was chilly and misty and we arrived just after a rain, so there was barely anyone there. This year it was sunny and warm, almost 24°C when we got there and 26° by the time we left, so the parking lot was packed. Fortunately, most of the people seemed to be there for the pumpkin patch or to go to the shop, so while there were many more people waiting for the apple picking than last year (when it was literally just six people including sashagee and myself), we still had plenty of room in the orchard, and by the time we made it over to the shop to buy another apple bread package--we made it last year for britshlez's Rosh Hashanah dinner but sashagee felt sick and so we left before we actually got to try any of it--as well as apple cider donuts, strawberry wine, various jams and sauces, and sadly no pumpkin donuts because all the donuts there were glazed and sashagee didn't want that much sweetness. And after all that was done, we all went to Crusade Burger Bar and bought both sets of grandparents burgers!

It was a lovely day and I have the pictures to prove it:

( Pictures! )

Apples picked: Jonathon, Golden Delicious, Empire, and Snow Sweet. Jonathon were definitely the best for me--they said that the crispness and tartness made them good for baking but crispness and tartness are the two best parts of an apple so they