apple picking!

Back in July, my parents and I went on a failed adventure to Morgan Orchard. Yesterday, we actually made it there. It turned out that we gave up and turned around only about half a mile away. I am super sad about those would-be berries, but…I got a little over 4.5 pounds of Fuji + Golden Delicious apples for under $5, so that kinda makes up for it! :D!

Long long ago (7 years), at one of my three times as a camp counselor at Walden West, we were teaching our kids to leave zero waste. So we taught them to eat the cores of their apples. Technically, it’s biodegradable and all that good stuff, but we were practicing the art of “leaving no trace behind.” I’ve basically adopted this into my everyday lifestyle because having a core sitting around is really annoying when I can’t get up to go to the trashcan, and it also reinstates my lifetime membership to the Hardcore Club. Yes, I really did just go there. I’m a dork. So sue me. This had nothing to do with Sunday other than the fact that it’s related to apples.

This was half (all the Asians, haw haw) of our group!

We affectionately captioned this picture as, “Diversity.” These are all the Asian females in our class of 216.

And here’s the other pictures from our biking adventure the day before. This was seriously one of the most chill weekends I’ve had in a while. I had a lot of trouble shaking the feeling that I should be doing something productive. :'( I also apparently automatically wake up after 3 hours now. It sucks.

All our bikes loaded up at the back of Merrick’s car.

Our biking group!

The helmeted crew. I was the only one who ended up wearing a helmet for the actual ride. Safety is cool, kids. I borrowed Camilia’s sunglasses but my head was too big so I eventually took em’ off.

Pictoral evidence of us on the trail/at the river. Please note that I am no longer in any way, shape or form capable of running a half marathon. I question how I ever managed to complete one in the first place. There may be a day where I decide to try for another one, but it’ll probably be a long way away. I like my type II muscle fibers more. :X

Advertisement

pumpkin picking

Apparently, pumpkin/apple picking is one of the quintessential fall activities that you really shouldn’t miss out on over here. As such, I embarked on my very first pumpkin-picking expedition today with one of my housemates! I rode a tractor with her and some of her friends out to the pumpkin fields.

Here’s me with my 15 lb. pumpkin! (I was doing arm curls with it. >_>) I have grand plans for this goodness, including roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin muffins and all kinds of other pumpkin goodness. Recipes will likely follow after next weekend.
This picture is, by the way, proof that I have indeed grown taller, however slightly, since freshmen year of high school. (I wore the oldest pair of jeans I had here in case the fields were super muddy.) I am not understanding how I fit into these still because my butt does not fit into a size 1 at any store anymore (including the one I got these from), and yet, it fits into these. Mysteries of life.

They also had apple butter! So yep, again, more recipes with this will likely come soon. Under $4 for a 19 oz. jar seemed like a great deal to me, especially considering that it’s free from preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and all those crazy things they usually put into them. They had peach butter and pumpkin butter too, but I had to limit myself to just one, and apples are more of a fall fruit than peaches (I think). I’d love to try making my own sometime when I’ll be staying in a place for longer than a year (and have a bigger kitchen).