But we weren't at the big orchards today, but with Barbara and Charlie (otherwise known as Bärbel und Karl, but they love their Americanized names!). They have such a variety of apple trees at their charming house in the countryside, only one that's really YUGE, and once a year they invite folks to come and pick some apples and eat and drink a lot of apple-related yummy things.
Werner and I are transportation handicapped at the moment. Our BMW is old, 28 to be exact, and as wonderful as she is, she's having problems. The most recent is a leak (we know about those, as old ladies) but the new part will have to be ordered and the surgical improvement will take place next week - we hope. So, we are dependent on public transport for a bit. Thankfully, that isn't a YUGE problem for us. The train station is around the corner and we can connect to the world from there. But it takes some time. And sometimes the trains are not on time.
So it was today. We got up relatively early for a Sunday, had a minimal breakfast - anticipating plenty later - and headed to the train with our bikes. The train was late, therefore we missed our connection! Regular travellers mess with this all the time. Take a breath, get a cup of coffee and wait. The next train was just 30 minutes away.
It's only about 4K from the train station in Bassum to Barbara and Charlie's. Last time, Barbara picked me up in Charlie's red Mercedes SL convertible. Hey, when you hit 80, you need a red convertible. This time, Werner and I pedalled.
Our arrival was a bit later than the others, but we hadn't missed anything important. First, we were offered an Apple Schnapps by the decorated table. What great sunshine!
Charlie used to climb up a really rickety high old ladder to pick from the very high old tree, but wisely Barbara forbids that (and Charlie still objects). So we get windfall from the big old tree and pick from the newer ones.
Barbara loves to decorate for the season. On the table there were walnuts and beechnuts and little acorns. She'd put a nasturtium blossom in little vases for each of us, along with miniature daisies. How sweet! And of course there were apples all over the place - painted, drawn, printed and of course the genuine article.
Then the Feast: pumpkin soup (sweetened with an apple), fresh made apple sauce for the potato fritters with smoked salmon, black sausage, smoked pork loin and fresh hard Cider to wash it down. Then apple pancakes. Oh, my! It was delicious.
Along with the stimulating conversation about US politics, the summer weather and immigration issues, we had espresso. And after even more conversation about integration in Germany and the perils of learning the German language, there was coffee with apple pie and apple tart and apple streusel cake. Meine Güte!!! (In English OMG!) I can't say Barbara and Charlie outdid themselves because this is only another example of their amazing hosting!
And then it was time to leave. Elizabeth told us taking the apples on our bikes was not good -they'd get bruised and mushy from being bounced around. Makes sense to me! So our friend Ilonka from here in our neighborhood offered to take them home by car. We'll get our goodies tomorrow.
I'm thinking apple cake. Apple sauce. Baked apples. Maybe a Tarte Tatin. Ooooohhhh the possibilities!
Thanks Barbara and Charlie!
P.S. Our apple harvest that we picked up from Ilonka today. It doesn't look like all that much, but we can make more than a few apple goodies with this little harvest. I am tempted to just eat them all and discover their various tastes! Do notice that Werner tried to make our apples look like an apple.
And lucky us got a little tour of Ilonka's studio at the same time. She is a paper-maker, and that quite good!
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