Fall Break

By her hungry heart (Visit website)

Phew! Sorry for the long hiatus--things have been extra crazy around here these past few weeks and I'm carving in just a little moment of down time in the middle of it all. Hopefully I'll be able to be a little bit more consistent now that my school's big Halloween festival has come and gone and I am relinquished of my event-planning duties.

Anyway, one of the greatest perks of attending my particular college is the week away from classes during mid-October. After seven weeks of pushing ourselves to the limits of sanity, I'd like to think that we have earned ourselves a little respite before plunging right back in and chugging along until the end of the semester. It is with much appreciation that I reveled in my break, and I was marginally restored to sanity by the week's end. Well, almost.

This year in particular, the normally cloudy fall skies in Portland were kind enough to remain bright and sunny during my week away from the library. Perfect weather, as luck would have it, for apple-picking--and that's just what Sara, David, Josh, and I set out to do two Sundays past. We drove forty-five minutes southwest to Sherwood, home of the apple orchard where I passed one of the most idyllic afternoons of my life during my first year of college. The orchard boasts trees with eighty-five varieties of apples, not to mention pears, cherries, quinces, and grapes, for its visitors to pick on their own. Arming ourselves with five-gallon buckets for each of us, we eagerly made our way up a grassy slope onto a small hill lined with rows and rows of trees bearing the richly varied fruits.

After we plucked dozens and dozens of firm, ripe apples of all shapes, sizes, and flavors, we mosied back down the hill to pay for our loot. I added four bright yellow and deliciously fragrant quinces to my big cardboard box, and we drove away from Sherwood all the more immersed in the bounties of fall.

Back in Portland, we stopped by Cacao (this is becoming a dangerous habit for me, it seems) for drinking chocolate. Josh also gave us some nibbles of a mint truffle and a PB&J truffle whose origins I have since forgotten. The mint was exquisite--bright and fragrant with the herby aroma of the real stuff, not the extract that flavors toothpaste. I was less sure about the PB&J, if only because I am such a stubborn supporter of the crunchy style of peanut butter that this truffle was, regrettably, lacking. Call me particular, but I would have loved that truffle a hundred times better if I had gotten a burst of chunky peanut butter mixed with smooth jam and silky chocolate. If I ever go into the chocolate business, I'll know my charge.

Later we stopped by Whole Foods on Burnside so Josh could pick up some groceries, and I was almost tempted by a huge wheel of Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam--until I saw the price tag. I instead opted for a ripe, creamy goat cheese speckled with grape leaf ash from a dairy in Humboldt county whose name escapes me.

So tangy and pungent, and especially delicious with a little drizzle of wildflower honey from my stand at the farmers' market. And sometimes a cheese is so good, a girl just ends up eating an entire meal of the stuff spread across a handful of thick, toasted slices of baguette--all the while standing in her kitchen with two lovely friends and a lot of laughter.

Josh and I decided to top the evening off with a batch of homemade caramel corn. The four of us had initially planned to go to the pumpkin patch and corn maze on Sauvie Island after apple picking but we ran out of time. I had my heart set on kettle corn or something like it, and what we came up with certainly did the trick.

COULDN'T-MAKE-IT-TO-THE-FAIR CARAMEL CORN

FOR THE CARAMEL (these are estimates--feel free to tinker around):

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 ripe Braeburn apples, sliced

FOR THE POPCORN:

2-3 tsp light oil (canola or vegetable)

1/3 cup popping corn kernels

1. Melt butter in heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, then add both sugars. Stir constantly until the sugar begins to dissolve, then lower the heat. Stir occasionally until the mixture is completely liquid and starts to turn a light brown. Add the salt, cinnamon, and vanilla and stir to combine. Place the apple slices in the caramel mixture, cooking until soft. Remove the apples and eat them while you prepare the popcorn.

2. In a large pot with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Test the temperature by throwing in one kernel--if it pops, the oil is hot enough for the rest of the kernels. Add the kernels and shake once to coat with oil, then cover the pot with the lid. Once the popping has slowed, turn off the heat and set the pot aside.

3. Pour the reserved caramel into the pot with the popcorn, cover with a lid, and shake to coat. Enjoy!!

Apple-Infused Caramel Corn

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