Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The revolution will be supervised.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

This blog will pay for itself.

I was promised a recession.

The words do not have to be perfect.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / It’s Apple Season

It’s Apple Season

by | 88 Comments

This post is in: 

I had a bear of a week, so it was very nice to spend some time today heading to the orchard. Not many varieties are availablke yet, but I did score a big 10lb bag of mixed apples for dad to make applesauce, a 5lb bag of Zestars, a 5lb bag of Honeycrisp, and a 5lb bag of Gingergold. Snapdragons and Crimson Crisp come in next week, and I am excited about that.

One of the things I most look forward to every day is around 9 o’clock, I have a big bowl of fruit of whatever I can find or is in season. I’ve been doing a lot of watermelon and papaya the last couple weeks, and tonight I am happy to be eating a really nice gingergold. I’m so happy my dad introduced me to so much fruit as a kid.

Other than that, not much going on at the homefront you all would care about.

Reader Interactions

88Comments

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @feebog:

    Oh man, I haven’t made Beef Stroganoff in decades! When I was married, and occasionally called upon to be a Corporate Wife Who Entertains, it used to be one of my go-to recipes for those evenings when Ken brought the boss home for dinner. I should do that some time this year, once the cool weather is settled in for the season.

  4. 4.

    Starfish

    Last Saturday, I spent about five hours shaking apple trees with people to knock down the fruit for cider pressing. On Sunday, we had a large group involved in a fairly big cider pressing operation. A few days later, one of the men with the cider press said that the refrigeration on their milk tank had failed and that people needed to come get the cider ASAP.

  6. 6.

    geg6

    Whatever, dude.  We know you are holding out on pet pics.  Quit being an asshole and post some.  A Thurston would be nice.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    Found somewhere online, for the IP crowd.

    Amish Apple Butter Recipe

    6 sweet apples
    1/4 cup apple cider or pure apple juice
    1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
    1 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 cinnamon stick
    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    .

    Peel, core and slice each apple into 8 slices.
    Place all the ingredients into the Instant Pot and stir to coat apples.
    Using the manual setting (pressure cook) set at high pressure for 8 minutes with the valve sealed. When the time has run out, turn off and allow for natural pressure release.
    Take off the lid and remove cinnamon stick.
    Use an immersion blender until mixture becomes smooth. You could also use a food processor or a blender filled to no more than half full.
    Turn Instant Pot to sauté and push the adjust button to LESS. Simmer until thickened to desired consistency – approximately 15-30 minutes.
    Turn off and let apple butter cool completely.
    Store in an airtight container.
    Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 6 months.
    .

  9. 9.

    Dan B

    I’ll take your nothing interesting and double it with our life around this house.  It’s been a doozey of boredom.  The most exciting thing was our backyard neighbors cut down an Apple and a Pear that screened their house from ours.  Shocking, I know!!!  /s

    And the aluminum tracks for my high CRI LED Strips came!!!

    And the Galaxy Note 9 I ordered for my partner couldn’t be activated.

    Ken Burn’s ‘Ali’ was probably definitively the most exciting experience of this week.

  10. 10.

    Kayla Rudbek

    I made Boston brown bread in my bread machine this week (with only 0.5 cups of molasses instead of 1 cup because I ran out, then having to add in about two more cups of whole wheat flour because I added 0.5 cups of water – still turned out good in my opinion) and now I’m trying to figure out how to alter the recipe to use less molasses and the same proportion of flour (1:1:1 whole wheat, rye, and cornmeal). I was thinking that agave syrup might work in terms of matching the viscosity. (Baking, like analytical chemistry, is an exact science, and doing it vegan kicks up the difficulty setting by several notches). Or I may just try out the recipe from King Arthur Flour

  12. 12.

    Ella in New Mexico

    I grew up in upstate NY where we had a ton of apple orchards. My favorite growing up were McIntosh apples–do they even exist anymore?

    My dear Uncle Vincent, God Bless his sweet soul, was of Italian descent and taught me from early on the joys of fruit with cheese.

    Apples with thin slices of sharp cheddar or fontina or provolone are so delicious! “Apples and Cheese,Please” was my 4 kids (and their Hispanic friends because their families, too, appreciate cheese and fruit) favorite after school snack.

    Enjoy apple season, John. Every sweet bite.

  14. 14.

    Gin & Tonic

    Macouns or GTFO.

    ETA: One of the benefits of having an orchard every half mile is unpasteurized cider.

  15. 15.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    My wife fell in love with Cortlands when she went to school in Syracuse. We know one local orchard here in PA that has them, and just bought a bunch. Although I grew up in New York apple country, I’m actually quite fond of a PA apple called the Stayman Winesap. Those come out later in the fall, as they need cold nights to ripen.

    Apple cider is my personal marker of apple season, especially when it gets cold enough to justify mulling it.

    @Ella in New Mexico:  We get Mcintosh all the time, they’re pretty common around here.

  17. 17.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @NotMax: Somehow I doubt an Amish recipe that uses an Instant Pot and an immersion blender. Perhaps the recipe is a modification of an originally Amish recipe? Anyway, yum!

  19. 19.

    Mary G

    My apple tree should not be able to grow here – aged somewhere between 52-71 years old, in Zone 10 that gets warmer every winter, and gets only a bit of morning sun because it’s blocked by next door’s McMansion. It is full of apples. Soon a possum will come trundling down the top of my wall to eat some of them. If I’m ambitious enough I’ll bake pies, but probably I’ll make applesauce. Or crisp.

  20. 20.

    Another Scott

    Apples are good.

    In other news, AFMag:

    The Air Force has selected Rolls-Royce North America as its contractor for the B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program, or CERP, which will supply new F130 powerplants for all 76 of Air Force Global Strike Command’s B-52H bombers, the Pentagon announced Sep. 24. If all options are exercised, the work is worth $2.6 billion.

    The F130 engine is flying on the C-37 transport and E-11 BACN (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node) aircraft. The first part of the indefinite quantity-indefinite delivery contract is worth $500.9 million. The contract calls for Rolls to supply 608 engines, to equip 76 B-52s with eight engines each, with manufacture and installation to be completed by Sept. 23, 2038. Rolls said the actual number of powerplants, including spares, is 650.

    The Air Force did not say when the installs will begin. The engines will be built at Rolls’s Indianapolis, Ind., facilities, where the company said it has invested $600 million in an “advanced manufacturing campus.” The work will require 150 new hires, the company said. The contract value is substantially below initial estimates, which ran as much as $10 billion for the CERP.

    […]

    2.6E9 / 650 = $4M/engine, $32M/plane

    A nice win for Indiana.

    25% of the estimated worst-case cost!

    The CERP is one aspect of a multi-pronged update of the B-52, which is also slated to receive a new radar, digital cockpit, and new connectivity upgrades. The Air Force plans to retain the B-52 into the 2050s, as a standoff weapon platform and as a direct attack aircraft when enemy defenses are limited or already beaten down. The last B-52H now in service was built in 1962, but the type is still flying with its original Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines. Early in the program, Pratt proposed an upgrade of the TF33, which the Air Force rejected.

    The CERP is supposed to deliver up to 40 percent improved range and fuel economy for the B-52, reducing its tanker requirements and increasing its on-station loiter time. The engine is also supposed to be of such improved reliability that the engines need never come off the wing during the bomber’s remaining service life.

    Implies 40% lower emissions. Lower maintenance costs.

    What’s not to like?

    Except who wants to fly a – literally – nearly 100 year old airplane??!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    Spanky

    @Mary G:

    Soon a possum will come trundling down the top of my wall to eat some of them. If I’m ambitious enough I’ll bake pies,

    Mmmmmm! Possum pie!

  22. 22.

    Jim Appleton

    I support this thread.  Apples and pears (and quince) are above even peaches in my frutopia.

     

    Since OT:

    This is directed to the small crowd (including children!) outside the Hood River County School District offices Wednesday 9/22 afternoon, waving signs and making noise at passing cars. You were apparently protesting mask mandates.

    You made your point. Now I’d like the courtesy of hearing mine. I’m not angry at you and I don’t want an argument. I respect you as a neighbor and friend.

    There are essential facts that you may not fully take into account.

    Covid is killing 2,000 Americans every day. That’s equivalent to the population of the City of Hood River every four days, or the population of the County every twelve days. Cases and fatalities are getting younger and more severe. Children’s hospitals are often full beyond capacity with Covid patients. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/09/us/covid-children-cases-icu.html

    It didn’t have to be this way.

    The parts of our country which are hardest hit are where the least has been done to prevent infections. Right now Tennessee has the highest rate of infection relative to total population. There are no mask mandates and vaccination numbers are low. https://youtu.be/G6yCr0yvlow

    In contrast, things are a lot better in Puerto Rico. Mask mandates are part of the reason, as is a high vaccination percentage. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/puerto-rico-covid-cases.amp.html#aoh=16325063994745&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s

    For now Puerto Rico is a best case. Life is not completely back to normal, but close enough that their situation is likely what the rest of the U.S. would like to be in, likely you too if you look into it.

    I don’t know why Puerto Ricans behave differently than Tennesseans. I suspect part of the reason is that many of them are less immersed in the echo chamber of poorly sourced information which underlies your protest.

    Again, I’m not angry with you. I’m outraged at the flawed systems and circumstances which influenced you.

    If you don’t now understand the urgency of what it takes to tame the pandemic — mainly vaccination and masking — you are sadly misguided and prolonging the dire situation which robs us all of the freedoms which inspire your protest.

  23. 23.

    prostratedragon

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Oh yes, NY Courtlandts in late October. Never had any quite as good elsewhere. I hope Macintosh are still around. I last had some good ones maybe 2 years ago. Michigan Empires are pretty good with cheese, my favorites there being Jack or Havarti. Right now I’m still on tomatoes, which I eat as fruit.

  24. 24.

    Barbara

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​Cortland is my favorite, but hard to find where I live. Arkansas Black is also a fave and also hard to find. I have recently found Lady Alice, which has some similarities to Cortland. My daughter worked for one of the apple vendors at the farmer’s market in Troy NY and he always had Cortlands. That market was awesome.

  25. 25.

    Dan B

    @Another Scott: One of the thrills (/s) of having many clients in Gravelly Lake, south of Tacoma, was driving under the B-52’s taking off from McCord AFB.  They were low to the ground serming as though they were struggling to get aloft, and belching four black trails of smoke.  They seemed like slow metal dragons from Hades.  New engines would be great.

  27. 27.

    Stuart in Austin

    @Dan B: Give me details about you high CRI led strips. I have a large pentagonal living room that I want to light with high CRI leds (CRI about 97).

  28. 28.

    prostratedragon

    @NotMax:  Heh! Does lack a certain je ne sais quoi, though tomatoes are juicy, peelable, and delicious. Too many syllables I guess.

  30. 30.

    Poe Larity

    Look John, I love you, but I’m note going to buy an iPhone 13.

    @Another Scott:  Not only is the reengine a good deal (P&W will sue), but it drastically cuts the need for more tankers, which is a non-stop Boeing c*fuck.

  34. 34.

    Barbara

    @Suzanne: ​I feel like when you need peanut butter as a snack it should be combined with semisweet chocolate chips, preferably Guittard. I like my apples clean.​

  40. 40.

    VeniceRiley

    My mom made incredible apple pies (Granny Smiths) and Isfahan is all the poorer without getting any at Luigi’s since about 1978. I think I’ll give it a go at my sister’s on Thanksgiving? Maybe the 2 of us can manage and mom and my wife-by-then can pass judgement. That would be FUN!

  41. 41.

    Dan B

    @Stuart in Austin: I’ve gotten light strips from Waveform Lighting.  The have lightstrips in 95+ in 5 meter / 16.5′ lengths and 2700K to 6500K.  Their 4000K I love – I love em all but I’ve got 3000K, 95+ and 5000K 99CRI.  The light strips are $95 for 95+ and $275 fir the 99CRI, a splurge.  Their LED’s seem better than any others I’ve tried.   I have some Soraa that are good where I need PAR lights but would prefer if Waveform made them.  The difference between their 95+CRI and other brand’s 90+ is striking.  They use phosphors that render a whole series of wavelengths with high fidelity.  Other brands do not.  It’s most obvious in red, yellow, green and blue.  Others use cheaper phosphors that leave these murky.

    I’ve got photos of the differences if Watergirl or Anne Laurie would send your email

  42. 42.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of fruits and vegetables, …

    Daaaaamn. Merkel is a stone cold bad ass negotiator. Buzzing off the President to weed a vegetable garden and walk by the lake and whatnot. #Impressive

    Almost as merciless as Obi Wan Pelosi. pic.twitter.com/VcT2UUUEaZ— Senator Scott Surovell (@ssurovell) September 24, 2021

    Too many people don’t appreciate that women know how to do this politics stuff, and know what’s important.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  43. 43.

    Dan B

    @Dan B: Ive bought and tried dozens, if not hundreds  of LED’s during the pandemic.  It’s a hobby that alleviates the boredom.  I did outdoor lighting design and installation for dozens of clients from the days of buried line voltage to 12 volt halogen and LED’s.  I got to do some 8ndoir projects as well because clients liked the landscape lighting amJackals?

    LED’s made lighting very easy and much less expensive.  No $600 transformers or calculating voltage drops.

    *Am I allowed to use this word or will I be eaten alive by jackals?

  44. 44.

    Dan B

    @Stuart in Austin: Waveform has great technical specs on almost all of its products.  They include about 18 different colors in their CRI.  Most manufacturers use just 8 and most of those are murky, especially noticeable is the lack of a clear vibrant red and yellow.  And the greens in these eight are not good.

  45. 45.

    joel hanes

    When I’m in the midwest in summer and autumn, Braeburns are my favorite apple, less insipid than Honeycrisp and better looking too.

    I can’t get them in California.

  46. 46.

    Comrade Colette

    @feebog: Mmmmm, one of my favorites. These days I usually just do the Skid Road Stroganoff recipe from old Peg Bracken “I Hate to Cook Book,” but with sour cream as nature intended.

    We planted a Pink Pearl apple sapling this spring and it actually achieved a respectable crop of 15 or so gorgeous, tart pink apples. I’m really looking forward to greater abundance next year. I love apples, but I’ve become allergic to many varieties and have to be very careful – and sadly, many of my old favorites like Macintosh and Honeycrisp are on the forbidden list.

  47. 47.

    joel hanes

    @NotMax: ​
     

    Back when I was a sprout, my dad used to go by the Harrison Lakeshore Orchards roadside stand every sixth week, traveling on business. One or two quarts of apple butter every time, to spread on toast at breakfast.

    But really, my grandmother’s chunky, strongly-cooked, cinnamon-tinged homemade applesauce was even better on toast. Nothing I’ve ever been able to buy even comes close.

  48. 48.

    joel hanes

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    McIntosh apples–do they even exist anymore?

    Yes, but very seasonal, and falling out of favor because they bruise very easily, go bad right away if bruised, and don’t keep well even when unbruised.

    I love them too, for the two weeks a year in which I can find them and they’re good.

    ETA: The first two years I worked at Apple, whole apples were given away free in the corporate cafeteria, 24 hours a day, because of course they were, and whenever Macintosh were in season, those apples would be Macintosh, because of course they would.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    In other news, …

    S&P: reinsurers could be underestimating their exposure to natural catastrophes by as much as 50%.

    Says "climate change may not be fully reflected in catastrophe modelling"https://t.co/548tpFTVrE

    — Ian Smith (@iankmsmith) September 23, 2021

    Zooks! But of course… :-(

    (via dsquareddigest)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  52. 52.

    CaseyL

    On pins and needles here, less than an hour before I leave for the airport. After so many months, and so much indecision, I am off to Maine!

    My favorite apples are the tart ones, like Granny Smiths, though for a while I was heavily into Braeburns. Apple fervor comes and goes: this summer, my go-tos were stone fruit (peaches, nectarines) and berries. But cheese-and-apples, or PB-and-apples, has long been a favorite snack/meal.

    @Another Scott: If they could all just stay there, it would make me very happy.

  53. 53.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @John Cole: it’s good! Particularly with butter or cream cheese.  Probably very bad for blood sugar levels, though. Which is why I may experiment with an agave/molasses mix.

    And this other recipe is very close to the recipe I started with. The New England tradition is that it’s steamed, but I figured that a proper Connecticut Yankee would use any patented gadget possible to get the bread cooked…(use that ingredient list, put it into the bread machine on quick bread/cake setting, 1.5 pound loaf)

  54. 54.

    danielx

    @Another Scott: 

    No shit? Partying with foreign fascists who DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH? And the money it will to get there! What hope for attendees who don’t have wingnut welfare?

    Oh, right….

  55. 55.

    frosty

    We have an old apple tree in the back yard, possibly Granny Smith? It’s dropped most of the fruit by now and a few weeks ago for the first time in the almost 20 years we’ve lived here I picked up a bunch before the yellowjackets got them and made a pie. And it was good!

    I now have a recipient for the ones I used to throw away, too. A former co-worker and horse woman takes them to the barn. I drop a box off on her porch every week or two.

    First pie recipe was Joy of Cooking, second was on the McCormack Apple Pie Spice jar. Both good!

  59. 59.

    Sfinny

    @Kayla Rudbek: My grandmother made an amazing brown bread that we had with butter or cream cheese.  After Grammy went to the nursing home, I remember we had the canned version.

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    The King Arthur recipe looks good. Their whole site is well done. I tagged a few more recipes, too.

    ETA: The King Arthur recipe uses only half a cup of molasses, I think.

  61. 61.

    BigJimSlade

    We slice apples and sprinkle them with cinnamon for a fine hiking snack. Other times chopping them up into yogurt at breakfast, or just eating them as they are.

  66. 66.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    From early Friday evening:

    Donald Trump has issued three statements in the last 90 minutes raging about press coverage of the partisan “audit” in Arizona, which confirmed that he still lost Arizona.

    — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 24, 2021

    Trump also said he will speak about it at a rally in Georgia on Saturday.

  69. 69.

    Dan B

    @Yutsano: Jayapal was our Rep and her launch was 5 blocks from our house.  We got moved out but Adam Smith is also great.  I believe he’s head of the Armed Services Committee.  I’m glad.  He’s sharp and seems to know how to represent this minority majority district.  Pretty good for a straight white guy.

    And Jayapal has charm and charisma, not a saint, but a valuable voice in DC.

  70. 70.

    Ms. Deranged in AZ

    @Suzanne: I have been eating black olives, bits of smoked ham, wheat crackers and extra sharp cheddar for lunch. Sometimes I throw in a spicy dill pickle. And I know it’s nuts… wondering if it’s my hormones. I didn’t eat this weird when I was pregnant!

  71. 71.

    sab

    @joel hanes: Well that explains this year’s missing mcintosh apples. The orchard I usually buy them at had none this year, although they were still on the schedule. They have a bunch of new west coast varieties this year, none of which are particularly useful for applesauce or apple pie.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    Began the final season of Goliath, which dropped on Prime today. Appears early on that the writers and producers took advantage of the extensive pandemic delay in production to catch up on some heavy duty drugs.

    Trippy as hell so far.

    ;)

  74. 74.

    Yutsano

    @Dan B:  I honestly wish she was a bit younger, because if Patty or Maria decide to hang up their shoes she’d make a great Senator. I’d vote for her in a heartbeat.

  76. 76.

    Dan B

    @Yutsano: Jayapal has been a bit rigid in her ideology which doesn’t look good in media, MSM or social.  It’s not a big crutch.  She’s very smart and adds to her wisdom every day.

    And there are probably people in Washington’s quiver that might be better but she’s in the sweet spot at the starter’s block when others are just warming up.

  79. 79.

    Abnormal Hiker

    My mother grew up 2 miles from Dundela Ontario where the first McIntosh apple was found. It is wonderful when it is at its peak (now!) , but as others have said it does not keep well. Cortland and Macoun are both McIntosh derivatives developed in NY State (as I suspect Empire is). Macoun is a favourite of mine but they are hard to find in Ontario. I will head out to my one source this weekend to get some. In early October my favorite is the Jonagold.

  82. 82.

    lowtechcyclist

    Now that I’ve read the thread, I really have to run out and get some apples. The local farmers’ market opens at 8am. ‘Nuff said.

  84. 84.

    S. Cerevisiae

    I had a couple apple trees at my old house, not sure what type but they were common around here, green and red. We had to pick them before the bears did.

  87. 87.

    J R in WV

    My Grandma, with whom I spent weekends once I was old enough to be away from the parents over night, had a tiny farm, grape arbor, apple orchard, before my times there was a diary cow, pigs, etc, and a big garden. She made apple sauce, pickled green tomato relish chow-chow, etc.

    Her early apple was Golden Transparent, not so much for eating out of hand, but great for cooking, pie, apple sauce, apple butter, etc, in early summer time. I would wander her small orchard with her while she pruned the suckers off the limbs of the apple trees. The apple sauce was great!! They were a little mealy for mouth feel, but cooking them down did away with that issue, very tangy tart. Not common any more, tho they used to be at the farmer’s market around the home town.

  88. 88.

    Denali

    For eating, I like Gala apples-just tart enough. For apple crisp, Granny Smith. For applesauce, 20 ounce. Its getting harder to find 20 ounce apples. I don’t know why.

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