Thursday, October 29, 2009

The A's of Autumn: Apple Cider and Awesome Awards!

OK ... awards first, then apples!

I recently received three awards from three absolutely, positively fabulous ladies whose blogs I adore!

Thank you to Sharon McPherson at Bookish Blonde for awarding me The Lemonade Stand Award! This award recognizes sites that show great attitude and/or gratitude. I am proud to be a recipient of this award.


And, thank you to both Lynnette Labelle at Chatterbox Chit Chat and Stephanie Faris at Steph in the City for awarding me the Heartfelt Award. Do you reach for a cup of cocoa or tea when you're relaxing, seeking comfort, sharing a plate of cookies with family and friends? You know the feeling you get when you drink a yummy cup of cocoa, tea, or a hot toddy? That is what the Heartfelt Award is all about, feeling warm inside. This one is often symbolized by a picture of a sweet little mouse in a teacup ... but, I thought the vivid red hearts on the black dandelion-like sketch was just too cool to pass up (apparently, this was created for any guys receiving the award who weren't interested in the whole 'cute mouse in teacup' kind of look!).

On to apple cider!

My normal Tuesday posting was preempted by a trip to the Pumpkin Patch with my son's class.

The skies were supposed to dump rain, thunder, and lightening across the region on Tuesday. It rained the night before, it rained the morning of, it rained as we drove to the pumpkin patch. And, then ... as we arrived ... the sun came out. And - with the exception of about three minutes of sprinkles - it was sunny and dry during our entire three hours at the Pumpkin Patch. It then rained on the drive back, and continued to pour for the remainder of the day. A-MA-ZING!

My favorite part was learning how Bauman Farms makes their oh-so-delicious apple cider. Here is the process in pictures:

Washing the apples, thank you very much:














Grinding them into a pile of mush (umm ... yuck!) within seconds:















Pressing out all the sweet juice:













Here comes the final product:



















I love to see the behind-the-scenes workings of products like this. And, the final outcome was like drinking an apple pie (without all the extra sugar and butter!).

Happy Autumn!

19 comments:

MG Higgins said...

Congrats on the awards and that cider looks fantastic! We have an apple orchard not far from us where they make their own juice. I've never been and your pictures make me wish I'd gone to their festival this year. Yum.

Jennifer Shirk said...

Congrats!

My daughter and hubby LOVE apple cider. :)

Tamika: said...

Congratulations on the awards!

The apple cidar looks yummy. I love warm mugs of piping hot drinks. Apple cidar is one I don't get to have often.

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Yay for sunshine at just the right time. I love apple cider too and seeing the processing of it. The other processing I love to see is Maple syrup--ooooh, that one is amazing with the sugar shack and all.

Congrats on all the fine awards!!

lisa and laura said...

This makes me want to drink apple cider right this very minute. Yum!

Congrats on the awards!

Sarah Laurence said...

Congrats on your awards! Great cider pix. We are off to our local orchard today to get a last minute pumpkin, cider and doughnuts.

Susan R. Mills said...

Congratulations on the awards. You deserve them! There is a cider mill and pumpkin patch about fifteen minutes from us. When the kids were little, we went there often. We haven't been there in a while. I'm thinking it's time to take a little trip out there.

Unknown said...

Congrats on the awards!!

And love the pictures of making apple cider! I love apple cider too and now I'm really kicking myself for passing it by in the grocery store earlier today. I will vicariously share yours!

Kelly Polark said...

Congrats on your awards, Kelly!
That was a great picture essay on apple cider making! I love the picture of the apples being washed!

Suzanne Casamento said...

YUM! Now I want apple cider!

Thanks for the pics and the inner workings tour. Love it!

Willowbrook Mom said...

This made me think about that part of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood when you get to see the behind the scenes process of making things we love. My favorite was the crayon factory. How cool that you got to see the making of Apple Cider up close! Thanks for sharing!

storyqueen said...

Nice photos!

And the taste of freshly squeezed apples.....heaven.

Shelley

PJ Hoover said...

I love behind the scenes stuff. I loved that about the Mr. Rogers show. (only thing I loved about that show). They always did a behind the scenes which was cool.
that is some apple mush!

Beth Kephart said...

You are nothing if not gracious, grateful, and dear....

Diane said...

I used to be the official apple cider pourer at our local orchard. Very exciting job as you can see. :O)

Cathy C. Hall said...

That cider looks yummy (and I don't even like cider)...also looks like a great kid's non-fic story. :-)

Beth Dunn said...

Congrats on your award! I love apple cider. xoxo

SC

Kelly H-Y said...

Love hearing from everyone! Thanks Cathy ... I agree!! Just might make a good non-fiction story!!

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Yey for a beautiful apple cider day!
And that reminds me...I have some in the fridge! I'm off to microwave!