Apples and Pumpkins

We spent the weekend gathering apples and enjoying fall flavors. The Indian summer days started cool ( low 40's), but by mid afternoon, when the sun shining bright, it warm and enjoyable.

Emmie gathered apples with her class Friday morning, so the girls made apple crisp for dessert. The aroma from it cooking was a nice welcome home for Eric from work.

Saturday morning at the market, we picked up a pumpkin and Federweisser along with our normal items. Click to read about Federweisser The tasty Federweisser reminded us of the Esslingen Onion Festival and how we had onion cakes with it. Next week, my grocery list will consist of onion cakes, Federweisser, and another pumpkin.

Saturday afternoon, the Lotz family came over. Our two families went for a stroll along the fields at the edge of Hofheim. We picked more apples and then fed some of the apples to the horses on the way back home. We came back to our house for doughnuts, apple pockets, and drinks. Unfortunately, they have only apple orchards and no cider mills for an afternoon outing of sweets to go along with the apple picking.

Saturday evening, I made pumpkin soup for Sunday's dinner. It was a good thing I made a large batch as 1/3 of it ended up all over the kitchen when I was pureeing it in the blender. Everyone else found the the pumpkin explosion in the kitchen to be funny when I screamed as it started exploding out of the blender. I was just happy to have it cleaned up quickly and the pumpkin raviolis did not overcook meanwhile for our current dinner. However, I should have taken a note with the blender incident, as I then burned the pumpkin seeds because I forgot to turn the oven temperature down when I put them in. Adeline did not mind though as she initially questioned why we were having pumpkin seeds even though it was not Halloween.

Sunday afternoon, I took a break from the kitchen and went to a Tupperware Party. I was Melanie's quiet guest as I did not have much to say. I was able to understand about 85% of what the consultant and many of the other attendees were talking about due to my German class and helping Adeline with her schoolwork. Eventually, I will comfortable with the conversation part.

I came home to enjoy the 1st batch of simple Pumpkin soup. Everyone ate a bowl of it, so that is a good sign.  Now I just need to find a few more easy recipes that make it a little more creamy and with a little more flavor for the next batch.