Apple Picking Adventures!

On Saturday, Matt and I went with a bus load full of students from 3 of the dorms and headed out to the Honey Hill Orchard to pick some apples!!  It was a super fun trip, and included a 15 lb bag to fill with apples, free donuts, cider, and caramel apple, and a hayride AND a hedge maze.  We did everything except the hayride--it was a bit wet out and sitting on wet hay and getting dragged behind a tractor just did not sound like as much fun as it could be.

Delphine!

A handful of students from E-Entry (that's the group of students we live with) went on the trip.  We spent most of the trip with 2 of them in particular--a lovely French fresman named Delphine...





 ...and a self-proclaimed apple-aholic vegan sophomore named Seva.  Seva actually BOUGHT extra bags for more apples and got 2 unclaimed bags from our collective stash, and managed to pick and bring home 170 apples!!!

Seva sorting his 170 apples

That doesn't include the 14 (I think) that he ate while we were in the orchard.  He's the type who eats the entire apple including the core and seeds.  Craziness.  He's also a monkey when it comes to climbing the trees.

This picture is typical of the entire trip

Matt climbed a lot of trees himself, and brought down dozens of delicious apples!!

Complete with farmer-approved plaid style!

 Eventually Matt convinced me to actually climb a tree myself, and Delphine turned it into a photo opportunity.  What newlywed couple could resist the urge to be literally sittin' in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G?

Exchanging cooties.

 In the end, the four of us collected a LOT of apples--Seva had to check in with the Official Orchard Apple Checker to make sure all his apples fit into the bags, but once that was done he piled them into a duffel and a backpack so he could actually carry them all.  We weighed them when we got back--100 pounds of apples!!  The Orchard Official walky-talky-ed the personnel in the parking lots to warn them there was a young man carrying apples in non-official bags to tell them that he's not an apple thief, just a very honest apple-lover. 

 

So. Many. Apples.

There are many more pictures of the apple picking.  Go check out my MIT adventures Fall 2011 album on facebook!

But the festivities did not end with the actual apple picking!  Once we returned to Cambridge, we had to prepare for the most important part--the BAKE OFF!! E-Entry is REALLY into baking, so we took the contest quite seriously.  Even though GRTs aren't technically allowed to compete against the undergrad residents, we decided to make a pie in the spirit of the thing.  First, I had to turn the card table that usually serves as my desk into kitchen counter space.



In the meantime, Matt was responsible for chopping apples with our pathetic knife (no, we still have not managed to buy a knife set).  He had to use his desk too!

The final result was delicious American apple pie!!  The crust was a little unevenly cooked because we were almost late for the bake off so we had to take the pie out a few minutes early, but it was still quite tasty.

"E" for Emily, "E" for E-Entry, "E" for EXTRAORDINARY!

So as it turns out, Delphine, Seva, and we were the ONLY people to actually show up with desserts for the bake off.  So we got to eat delicious desserts and only share with the F-Entry GRTs (the wonderful couple who organized the apple picking trip) and our RLA (an official adult staff member who helps with dorm stuff), who served as the judges.  Delphine and Seva tied, and we were disqualified by that pesky technicality of being GRTs.  Everybody's desserts were super delicious!! Delphine made an apple crumble (very French, FULL of butter) and Seva made a tasty vegan cake/pie thing with lots and lots of fruits including the new apples.

E-Entry sweeps the baking contest!!

 Matt and I STILL have like 40 apples though so I'm pretty sure there will be more pie in our future.  I will have to make one for this weekend's adventures with MARK!!!!!!  That's right, it's already October break at Purdue and MIT this coming weekend, so we will be spending our long weekend hanging out with Mark, who flies in Friday evening. 

If you're craving some apples after reading this post, come swing by Boston real fast and Matt and I will hook you up.  We miss all of you Indiana folk!!!  (and not because we just got back from a farm :-P )  I have to say I felt like an old-fashioned American wife rolling out dough for an Apple pie.  Oh the domesticity!

Patriotically yours,
Emily