Why Go Apple Picking?

Someone recently asked me "Why go apple picking? I don't understand the appeal/point." Here's my answer.

To support small farms that depend on income from apple-picking tourists. Because making a living profit from farming and resisting the pressure to sell off farmland to McMansion developers are hard to do these days. The cost of Pick Your Own is still about the same as already-picked apples for sale at farmers markets or stores, around $1/lb, but the farms deserve to make money for their labor of growing the apples. And it's about the experience.


For the pleasure of walking around beautiful orchard paths and fields in good company on a sunny fall afternoon.


For insanely good views of fall foliage


For climbing trees to snare hard-to-reach fruits, especially late in the season.


For snacking on juicy freshly picked apples.


For the exercise that comes with carrying around a twenty pound half bushel bag.


For the vinegary smell of fallen rotting apples that might inspire you to make your own hard cider or try some from the local wineries.


For saying hello to goats that live in barns.




For picking out a pumpkin to carve.


For the sound of children running around. And for rolling down hills like children.


For spying on honeybees and buying local honey from the farm store.


For rewarding yourself afterward with hot cider and freshly made donuts.


For bringing home tons of apples to eat, to freeze, to make crockpot applesauce, apple pie, apple muffins, apple cake, apple pancakes...

My place of choice for apple picking is Ochs Orchard in Warwick, NY, ninety minutes outside NYC, for its stunning views, charming farm store, and proximity to my childhood home. To find a Pick Your Own farm near you, take a look through this comprehensive list of farms in the US, Canada, Britain, and other countries.

photos 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10 by Jamie Santamour. rest by me.

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Homebrewed Pumpkin Ale

I got together with friends for a skillshare day a couple weeks ago. Among the various food and drinks we made, the highlight was pumpkin beer, led by our resident expert homebrewer who provided all the necessary equipment. As a craft beer snob, I have always been curious about homebrew, so I was psyched to get an inside look at the brewing process.




Fall is the perfect time to make pumpkin ale. Like Sixpoint Craft Ales did for their Pumpkin Brewster beer, we chose to use real pumpkin rather than canned. I roasted a three pound sugar pumpkin, which yielded approximately 3 cups of puree, or the size of a 30 ounce can of pumpkin. Why use canned when you can easily get fresh, local pumpkins this time of year? Make sure it is a sugar pumpkin, though - the same kind used for baking, and not a regular jack-o-lantern pumpkin for carving.


Roasting a pumpkin is easy: Slice the pumpkin in half, scoop out the guts, and place it on a deep baking tray, flesh side down, in an inch or so of water. Roast at 450 for about 40 minutes, until flesh is tender and easily mashed with a fork.


I also roasted pumpkin seeds to snack on during the skillshare: Separate and rinse the seeds from the goop in the center of the pumpkin, toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread seeds out in an even layer on a baking sheet, and roast for about 10 minutes. Crispy pumpkin seeds are addictive.


You can now find brewing supplies in Brooklyn at places like The Brooklyn Kitchen and the Brooklyn Brew Shop, but this kit was ordered online from Midwest Supplies. It was handy how everything came included in the box, even various spices associated with pumpkin pie like cinnamon and nutmeg. The complete recipe we followed can be found here.


It is important to keep in mind throughout the process that everything needs to be cleaned and sanitized, including the stirrer spoon, fermenter jugs, and transfer tubes. The first step was to bring a giant pot of 3 gallons of water to 155 degrees, which took a long time - probably over half an hour. We then steeped a bag of crushed grains in the hot water for 30 minutes. Then we removed the pot from heat and let it sit for another 5 minutes before discarding the grains.


Next, we stirred in a whole container of malt syrup, which is similar in consistency to molasses, as well as brown sugar, although most beers do not typically require sugar at this stage.


After adding the malt and sugar, we brought the water to a boil, added half the hops, and let it boil for 60 minutes. At 55 minutes, we stirred in the pumpkin puree, and at 58 minutes, we added the remaining hops and spices. Here you can see the pumpkin swirling in the wort as it boiled. Note: during this first day of the brewing process, the beer is called "wort."


Afterward, we had to cool the wort to 80 degrees, which we did by putting the pot in a sink filled with ice and cool water. This also took a long time, another half hour or hour, as we swapped out the water every 10 minutes or so to continue the cooling. The sink nearly overflowed as the ice melted.


Once the temperature dipped below 80 degrees, it was time to transfer the wort from the pot into the primary fermenter, a large glass jug.


Normally, the wort should keep streaming on its own through the tube after a couple pumps. However, the pumpkin sediment prevented a steady stream, so it took some time to manually pump all the beer into the fermenter. Somehow, beer sprayed everywhere when the tube accidentally got off course. I think we had one too many (storebought) beers to drink during the course of the skillshare day.


The final step was to add proofed yeast (similar to baking bread) to the top of the jug. This airlock stopper was put in place to allow air to escape without letting air or bacteria enter as the beer bubbled away occasionally for a few days. After a week, it was transfered to the secondary fermenter, or a second glass jug, to help reduce sediment.


Another week later, it was time for bottling. At this time, the beer is done fermenting, and a little sugar was added just before bottling to activate the carbonation process. We rinsed, sterilized, and rinsed again about 40 beer bottles and caps. You can collect empty beer bottles and recycle them for this second life. Using a special tube, we transfered the beer into the bottles, and capped off each one.

Normally you can get up to 50 bottles from a five gallon batch, but again, the pumpkin sediment caused some problems. Toward the bottom of the batch, sediment blocked the beer from flowing into the bottles, so we had to scrap the last dregs. In total, we ended up with 39 bottles. Lesson learned: beer with pumpkin or other ingredients added are tricky to work with.

We poured a sip to try, and it definitely tasted like a pumpkin ale, with a little sweetness and bitterness, but unfortunately it did not seem very strong. For whatever reason, it didn't bubble or ferment for as many days as normal. Now that the beer is bottled, it will be ready to drink in two weeks, and hopefully the taste will improve with carbonation. I am excited to drink it!

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Cocoa Zucchini Cupcakes

I had a little party this weekend, a housewarming of sorts, although I am living in a sublet, so I can't take credit for the beauty of the home, and I will be moving out again in just a few months. But does one ever really need a reason to gather friends together, old and new alike, and prepare a storm of snacks and drinks to offer them?





There was a spread of roasted red pepper hummus, white bean garlic herb dip, cheeses, crackers, and other sundries, and cupcakes per usual. I originally thought I would turn my recipe for cocoa applesauce muffins into cupcakes, but apples equal fall, and I'm not quite ready to accept the turn of seasons yet. I'm a big advocate of continuing to take advantage of summery produce until it disappears from the markets. With my schedule busier lately than I'm used to, I also didn't feel like taking the time to slowly cook apples down into sauce, so a simple grated zucchini from the greenmarket made sense.





I ended up adapting Heidi's recipe for chocolate zucchini cupcakes on 101 Cookbooks, but left out the chocolate chips because they actually aren't necessary. I've never before been able to achieve a rich chocolatey taste through cocoa powder alone. The key, I've now learned, is to use a full cup of cocoa, as a quarter or third of a cup won't cut it. My cupcakes tasted sharply of dark chocolate, with moist shredded zucchini hidden secretly and healthily inside. I paired them with bourbon cream cheese icing, but lemon or peanut butter icing might also be fun.



Cocoa Zucchini Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup milk
1 zucchini, about 2 cups grated
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
bourbon cream cheese icing

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Whisk in honey, eggs, vanilla, milk, and grated zucchini. Add flour, cocoa, baking soda and beat until batter is combined and smooth. Bake 20-25 minutes. Remove, let cool, and top with icing. Makes two dozen cupcakes.

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How to Eat at Summer's End

Somewhere along the way, I forgot to keep taking photos of my farmers market hauls, but I've still been bringing home bags of produce and finding time to cook despite my newly busy schedule. This time of year, I like to focus on tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, which in past summers, I would have grilled and turned into caponata. Lacking a grill has required me to get a little more creative this year. Below are some dishes I've enjoyed in the past couple weeks, showing how seasonal vegetable driven meals can be as lazy or as complex as you have the time and inclination for.

For a still hot summer night when you don't feel like cooking:
Deconstructed cheese and tomato sandwiches
Top one cube of Bread Alone organic baguette with one slice of Bobolink grass fed cheddar and one cherry tomato (preferably from a mother's garden) and pop in mouth. Chase with a sip of Troegs Sunshine Pils.



For a cooler late summer Sunday when you have time for a cooking project, so that you can eat quick meals with little prep later in the week:
Roasted red pepper hummus
Cook a large batch of dried chickpeas, let cool, drain, and apportion into jars in freezer for future meals. Also roast two or three red peppers until blackened on each side, remove skins, slice into strips, and marinate in olive oil and garlic in refrigerator. Either that day or sometime in the next week, prepare the hummus - thaw one jar of cooked chickpeas, and blend in food processor with 1/2 cup roasted red peppers, a generous stream of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of tahini, juice of 1/2 lemon, and a sprinkling of crushed hot pepper. Serve this special sweet and spicy hummus with warmed pita as an appetizer or as a dinner for one.





For a cool evening when you have time to make a more complicated dinner, company to help, and/or a desire for leftovers:
Eggplant parmesan sandwiches
Slice one large eggplant into thin rounds. Salt heavily and let drain in colander for 30-60 minutes, rinse, and dry with paper or cloth towels. Dredge eggplant in a bowl of beaten egg and then in a plate of homeground breadcrumbs. Fry in a shallow layer of hot oil until browned on each side. As you dredge and fry, have a helper remove the cooked eggplant from the pan and layer it in a baking dish with homemade tomato sauce and grated parmesan cheese. Warm in oven for 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted, alongside slices of Amy's rustic Italian bread drizzled with olive oil. Plate sandwiches, enjoy with a red wine, and remember to thank your helper for doing the dishes.

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Scenes from a Bike Tour of NYC

I crossed off one of my 25 things last weekend when I rode the New York Century Bike Tour, organized by Transportation Alternatives, New York City's advocacy group for pedestrians and cyclists. I'd been wanting to do this bike ride for years, but was deterred by having to haul my bike an hour to Central Park at 7am on a weekend morning. This year they launched an alternate starting location in Prospect Park, a doable mile or so from my apartment, which meant I no longer had an excuse. I will admit it was hard to say no to all my friends party harding on Saturday night in order to get to bed early-ish, but I am still glad I did it.


TA offers varying distances from 15 miles to 100 (that's the "century") to accommodate beginners and families through experienced bikers. I chose to ride the 35 mile route, which was longer than I've ever biked in one day before. I actually rode about 31 miles, factoring in my trip to the starting line and my more direct route to finish at my apartment in Brooklyn rather than at the park. I wasn't sure how I would feel when I hit the halfway point at Central Park, but I was totally fine with continuing to pedal back to Brooklyn.

I was on my own, but the fellow riders and marshals were all friendly, and I was able to join another single rider along the way at my same pace so we could have company. My fear of getting lost alone in the backstreets of Queens was unrealized. It was a gray day, but the cool air was actually perfect for biking. Serendipitously, the only rain was a half hour drizzle that didn't bother me once I had my rain jacket on.



The route is designed for on-street cycling, to demonstrate that bikes have a real place on roads alongside cars, so no roads were blocked off, and that meant we took both protected bike lanes and scary busy streets (ie. what were they thinking with having us on West End/11th Avenue and all its fast traffic heading for the tunnels?)

My favorite part was getting to see so many different parts of New York City in one day, including some locations I'd never been before. From hipster Brooklyn, to the view at the top of the Triboro bridge, to swamps on Randalls Island, through Manhattan's quickly changing neighborhoods, and over the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

The 35 mile start time in Prospect Park was 8am, during offleash hours for dogs.


We headed north through Bed Stuy, quiet on a Sunday morning, and up the North Brooklyn waterfront. Loving the two-way bike lane on Kent Ave in Williamsburg, and capturing the strange juxtaposition of the neighborhood's artsy charm and its new towering condos.


Crossing Pulaski Bridge over the excessively polluted Newtown Creek from Brooklyn to Queens, with Manhattan in the distance.


We followed the Queens waterfront from Long Island City to a rest stop at Astoria Park, under the shadow of the Triboro and Hells Gate Bridge (awesome name). I was excited to cross the Triboro Bridge, a giant highway of a bridge I have traversed many times by car, for the unique opportunity to see views that you can only take in at this slower pace.


Looking west over the Triboro Bridge to Manhattan


Looking at Randalls Island and the industrial beyond from the Triboro




We meandered through Randalls Island's bizarre sports fields and swampy landscaped waterfront paths, which I'm now realizing were next to a psychiatric institution, before crossing this pedestrian bridge to Harlem.


Rest stop at the top of Central Park, at 110th street and Lenox Avenue. I don't think I'd been north of 85th street in the park before.


We rode down the west side, not on the Greenway, but on Riverside Drive then scary West End Avenue, and then to this protected bike lane on 9th avenue from 30th street to Bleecker street in Manhattan, complete with light signals for bikes!


After passing through the West Village, Soho, Chinatown, and City Hall, I headed over the Brooklyn Bridge, in the homestretch.


The Manhattan Bridge, as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge


I took a little shorcut through Downtown Brooklyn and Carroll Gardens to finally get home! 31 miles. 4 1/2 hours. 4 bridges. 3 boroughs. 2 wheels.

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Season's End

Summer's season is ending, and so too are peaches, I hear, although they could still be found heaped aplenty at last weekend's farmers market. But while Labor Day appropriately felt like summer's last hurrah, this week has already transitioned to crisp breezes asking for jackets to be worn and leaves to fall. The golden September light is a reminder to hurry up and enjoy summer's produce before it passes by.


Summer is my favorite season, so I'm sad to see it go, but at least I can look back fondly on it this year. I filled my last long weekend with warm weather activities: Free kayaking in the Hudson River aka sunbathing and paddling on a personal boat in a protected pier...


A dance party in a museum courtyard... Walking in the sunshine... Biking around Prospect Park...


And a boatload of cooking projects, including peach coconut ice cream. I like peach smoothies, so why not peach ice cream, with coconut leftover from a cupcake endeavor. Follow the almond chip ice cream recipe, but add two pureed peaches and 1 1/2 cups toasted coconut when making the custard, and obviously leave out the almond and chocolate.


Then enjoy ice cream instead of dinner on the remaining warm nights of the year. Do not fear that this will be the last of the ice cream, though, now that my sister is a milkmaid market lady for the Milk Thistle Organic Dairy Farm.

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