Good Things: August 2006 Archives

I drug everyone off with me Saturday to Mount Vernon in Fairfax Co., Va. About a 45 minute to an hour drive from our house. On the front veranda of Mount Vernon.I packed a picnic supper for us to have later in the day. I packed a cooler of drinks. I packed the diaper bag for the baby. There was nothing anyone had to do at any time in the day. It was for once a truely 'free' day. I loved seeing everything there was to see. The house, the outbuildings, the gardens, the farm, the wharf, the washington's tombs, the view of the river. Everything was just as I expected and wanted it to be. Except - To my huge disappointment everything was "General Washington this" and "General Washington that" so much so that only at one point was Patsy Washington mentioned and she wasn't mentioned in a nice way. The historic interpretors only mentioned her contribution to the plantation as the decorations in their personal bedroom suite -and not in a nice way. (FYI - The Washington's bedroom is the most lovely in the house. Cool white walls, pale blue trims, beautiful flowing white bed curtains and linens, the seats of chairs covered and the furniture polished.) My Martha with Martha.I found it offensive that no one thought to mention that George had little personal wealth. It is because Martha married him that he came into the money (her money) to restore and build Mount Vernon into what it was in his life. Martha had great wealth and no need to marry again. She chose to marry him and in his personal writings he is always concerned with her choices and wishes when things were selected for their home. Now for the times, I am sure Martha would have never wanted the spotlight on herself. She would have stood back and let George shine -as she did all the time. In interpreting history there is a responsibility to tell a story as truthfully and completely as possible. At Mount Vernon no one seemed interested in telling the part of the story that was Martha (Patsy). My children on the Potomac River.I had a long discussion with Steve as we walked the grounds. We discussed many facets of her life and what it must have been like to live at Mount Vernon. The day grew late and Steven woke from his nap. He needed to nurse. I headed to a bench far from the foot traffic, tucked inot the wall near the upper gardens. Down at the entrance to the garden sat a woman in period dress. No one approached her. Steve struck up a conversation. Finally someone wanted to talk about Patsy Washington. The living history interpretor did a beautiful job in character and it was the highlight of our visit. Steve and Steven picnicing on a saturday evening.We chose a spot along the Potomac River north of Mount Vernon, south of Alexandria and had a wonderful picnic supper. The wind blew off the river and smelled of salt and the sea. Gracie loved it and stood with the force of the wind on her face and inhaled deeply trying to save the scent for some memory to be tucked away. Steven laughed and squealed. Colby was smiling and happy. Steve was relaxed. We supped on cold fried chicken, cheeses, fruits, breads, sweets and many drinks. I had a wonderful Saturday with my husband and children. How was your weekend?

Tend your orchard very well in the fall. Prune and apply insecticides to prepare for winter. In late February tend your trees once more. Feed them and if needed prune them after the winter weather. In spring the orchard will put on its best dress to show off for you.
In late spring your orchard will show signs of fruit. The fruit will grow and grow and grow all throughout the summer.
At the end of summer the fruits will begin to ripen. When you can smell fall in the air some of the fruits will ripen before the rest.
Send your husband out to pick some of the early ripened fruit with his handy dandy fruit picker.
Pick a small bucket full. Bring them in and wash them.
Peel and core the apples. I stopped at about 7 cups of sliced apples -just over a dozen apples.
Soak the apples in lemon juice or fruit fresh to keep them from turning brown.
Mix together in a large bowl: 1/4 cup flour 1/2 - 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 Tbsp cinnamon 1 dash of salt
Drain the apples from the lemon juice/fruit fresh water. Toss them in the dry ingredient mixture. Then pack them into a pie shell.
Dot the top of the apples with 2 - 3 tbsp of butter. (I do not use butter substitute or margarine. I use real butter.)
Cover pie with dough top. Brush with egg wash. Cut slits in the top of the pie to vent the steam while baking. I also sprinkle with coarse sugar to make it pretty. A note here about pie crusts: Unless you are hell bent on perfecting a homemade crust and have lots of time to learn to do so I suggest the deep dish frozen shells from the local grocer. There are so many to choose from and they are almost always fail proof. They come in packs of 2. Lay them out and let them begin to thaw while you prepare everything for the pie. Once the deep dish is filled use the 2nd crust from the package as the top crust. Ease it out of the tin, lay it over the pie and pinch the edges together. As good as from scratch and far quicker than making pastry dough.
Bake at 425 degrees for 40 - 50 minutes (maybe longer -depends on your oven). If the edges of the pie are browing to fast make a ring of foil and cover the edges.
Cool. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Speaking of apples - Steven is the apple of all our eyes. *Start to finish this pie takes 6 - 8 months to complete. If you do not have an orchard and go out and procure some apples, your pie could take as little as 30 minutes to prepare and 40 - 50 minutes to bake. **P.S. This is the first time since Steven was born that I actually feel like myself. Imagine that. 9 months + 6 months = a very long time. ***P.P.S. They ate the whole pie. I'll bebaking another one today and one for Steve to take to work to share. Imagine a kid telling you that your pie is better than any pie Mrs. Smith's could bake. LOL